Pickup Install
- Thread starter GoBlue
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Malloc
New Member
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It will probably triple the install cost for shipping both ways to PTC if they even do installs for non PRS pickups. Do you have a local luthier or even GC? Realistically pickup swaps on a solid body guitar are like tech level 3 of 10 (I.e. no big deal unless you’ve never touched a soldering iron in your life).
alantig
Zombie Four, DFZ
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If you have enough soldering skill (and it doesn’t take super-expert level), it’s not the most difficult thing to do. Honestly, if you’re not sure, I’d recommend taking the cavity cover off after you get the new pickups and look at the wiring and see if you can understand the connections. If you’re comfortable w/that and the soldering, it’s probably worth a shot. I don’t have a problem swapping pickups - I’ll do that on my own - but I’m not as comfortable trying to convert wiring (like on my Jackson - it’s MV + 2T, but I wasn’t comfortable enough to convert it to 2V + MT).
GuitarJammin
Guitar Player
Good local tech is all you need, if you can't do it yourself.
davesultra
New Member
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Just about any local shop can do it with little to no difficulty. I do my own pickup swaps. I’m much better at doing that than playing!!
Thanks for the input guys. I never thought about the PTC not wanting to installing them because it's a non PRS pickup. I think I'm just going to do it myself. I understand the wiring, I guess I'm just a little nervous since I've never installed pickups before.
SinSir
Mad Scientist
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- Sep 7, 2020
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Don't be, we're here to help. The biggest difference may be different color wires between the pups. There's wiring diagram resources here that are very helpful and countless other sites.
Maybe this will help... Right now I have a broken arm and leg but ordered pups, switches, pots, knob, caps, and wire for a few guitars to tweak on while recovering. I have confidence in you!
Thank you SinSir!
bodia
Authorities said.....best leave it.....unsolved
Keep in mind, different manufacturers have different wiring coloring schemes. A PRS wiring diagram for a PRS pickup may say red here, white there, while Bare Knuckle may say black here, red there. Best bet is to use the Bare Knuckle wiring diagrams. I’ve worked with BK before and they are very communicative and more than willing to help out.
pac90
Helix user
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- Jun 15, 2014
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they have a series of videos as a how to guide, which are really helpful
You don't need to change the core PRS pots necessarily, but if you do change the tones then its well worth reusing the PRS resistors for the splits
You can duplicate the original wiring easy enough
https://www.prsguitars.com/documents/594_2017.pdf
If you get stuck ask here, I have a BK set installed in a 2 tones 2 vols S2 guitar
You don't need to change the core PRS pots necessarily, but if you do change the tones then its well worth reusing the PRS resistors for the splits
You can duplicate the original wiring easy enough
https://www.prsguitars.com/documents/594_2017.pdf
If you get stuck ask here, I have a BK set installed in a 2 tones 2 vols S2 guitar
Dirty_Boogie
Still got the ol' tagger on it
Just make sure you have a soldering iron that has the wattage to melt solder on the back of a pot (where all the ground wires usually are soldered.) The pot body tends to absorb a lot of the soldering iron heat, so most small hobby soldering irons tend to have a hard time quickly melting the solder on the pot.
I've done Bare Knuckles into one of my SEs/ The question was polarity. I think PRS uses opposite polarity between the pickups, this won't be true for the BKs. With the coil split it takes a bit of doing. I ended up redoing the job a couple of times. It wasn't the end of the world.
mookyshoots
Mom always told me I was special
Personally, I find the wiring diagram that I want to use and print it off. I then take the manufacturer's color coding for the pickups I'm using and make notes on the diagram itself as to how I need to hook them up vs what's on the diagram itself. This way, you go into the job knowing the correct way to hook it all up.
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I have a Hakko FX-888D soldering station
I emailed BKP today about the polarity of the Silo's and this is what Tim had to say, "polarity is fixed internally by the bar magnet and the coils are symmetrically wound so the pickups can orientate in either direction without affecting phase."
Thanks again guys. I really appreciate all the info.
bodia
Authorities said.....best leave it.....unsolved
We’re here to help
mookyshoots
Mom always told me I was special
I have the same. Can't beat it in my opinion.
Hey guys, what service is the best for sharing photo's? I am assuming I need something like photobucket, etc... for sharing pics on the forum. I have before and after pics and thought I would share. I don't have the pickups wired up yet but, I did manage to get them installed today. Getting ready to work on making a plexiglass template to mount the pots to so they can be soldered.
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