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Rcfs1834
Username: Rcfs1834

Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 10:39 am:   

Are there any online resources on how to swap out pickups and pots on a semi-hollow guitar? I have a AS-80 and I'd like to change the pickups and pots.

Thanks.
Guitartim
Username: Guitartim

Registered: 04-2001
Posted on Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 4:25 pm:   

You might try the Stewart MacDonald website

www.stewmac.com

Check the link to Dan Erlewine's CD/DVD series on guitar repairs. He is the master.

http://www.stewmac.com/cgi-bin/hazel.cgi?client=9b10ea805862defaa4e7650cd27654e0 &action=search&search_field=NB%3BNM%3BWORDS%3BSPECS&SEARCH_COMP=%3A&SEARCH_LOGIC =%2B&SEARCH_MAXHITS=10&SEARCH_SPEC=dan+erlewine&SUBMIT_ACTION_SEARCH.x=13&SUBMIT _ACTION_SEARCH.y=8

Hope that helps.

Tim
Writersf4011
Username: Writersf4011

Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Wednesday, August 09, 2006 - 12:18 am:   

I just did this job and it took me days longer than I expected, because I was taken by surprise several times. Getting things in and out is not hard. Tying dental floss around parts before you drop them down inside makes it easy to pull the new ones back up into position. This matters with the tone pots, less so with the vols. If you change the tone pots, bear in mind there's a capacitor across each of them that needs to be reinstalled, and if you're changing to a different impedance of tone pot, that cap will need to be a different value. Have the right tools, e.g., a good small wire stripper, maybe a dental pick, a multimeter is useful for checking that a pot is good before you install it (I put in a bad one) -- and most of all a good soldering iron, or two with different wattages if possible. The job requires soldering multiple leads to the back of the pots' cases and that is a pain with a low wattage iron. But you need a lower wattage iron for the thinner gauge wires or you end up with melted insulation and potential shorts. Watch out for the fact that pots can have different width threaded shafts: it's a real drag getting one all wired up only to find it won't fit thru the hole. Most important: be clear on how it's all supposed to wire up as there are two ways to wire a Gibson set-up: one gives you neck, bridge and a middle position mix whose volume is governed by whichever pickup's volume is lowest (that's how the directions on my Seymour Duncan Phat Cats had it); the other way, you get a true blend in the middle position (much better, that's how I did it). Research all this, because when you pull out your pickups, if the wiring doesn't seem to be the same as the directions that came with your new ones, it's real confusing. I learned all this and more the hard way -- and I have some prior experience wiring thing up. Overall it's a fiddly job, but patience gets it. Good luck. - John

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