My mom ordered me new pickups (DiMarzio) for my birthday (in a few days). I plan on installing them with my dad (he's good with soldering and electronics). I currently have EMGs in my guitar. Which other parts will I need to order to replace them? I know I'll need two 500k pots, but how do I choose which toggle switches, capacitors, and anything else I'll need, and what's a good place to order it all from? Also tips on how to remove my current hardware from my guitar (things like pulling the pre-existing pots out) would be nice. Oh, and do I need to replace the input jack?

All depends, really - what guitar do you have? You don't need to replace the input jack. Your toggle switch does not _need_ to be replaced but a 5-way multipole toggle would be neat for diverse coil split options (or push-pull pots if that's your thing). If those are active EMG's going out you need one 500k pot for each to replace.

Capacitors: 0.22µF (micro-farads), silver mica or polystyrene film (ceramics ("guiar-caps") are microphonic). You need one per tone control.

To replace pots: Look on the side of each knob - if there's a screw hole, unscrew it - then use a cloth or rag or something similar to wrap around the base of the knob and pull the cloth up (don't use a screwdriver to get them off, this will scratch your guitar). Unscrew the nuts you see and pull them out the back.. nothing more to it.

Electronics - order from mouser.com or smallbearelc.com

will follow up - have bad time here..

Is there complexer wiring for coil splitting? Also, isn't it .022uF that I need?

Complex wiring? Probably for you since you don't know much about wiring/electronics but if your dad knows what you say he does it shouldn't be a problem. Yes it's a .022 uF caps.

YES it's 0.022µF, sorry, i was tired. Wiring a guitar cavity is simple.

Wouldn't it be a 250k pot for a passive humbucker pup?

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I wouldn't go with anything less than a 500k.

250k would be mud mania - a lot of high frequencies would be lost and clarity would go bye-bye.. 500k is best IMO. 1M sounds good too but the adjustment's too "jumpy" and not smooth enough i think.

Understand there isnt a great deal of difference in sound with different rated pots. Unless its the quality of the manufacturer.
Guitar wiring is not hard, as long as you can (and any dumbass should be able) to solder. Its just common sense and trial and error. Once you work on a few guitars, you can work on the wiring and electronics in your guitar to make it more unique.

Who would you recommend as a manufacturer of high quality pots?

Best value for money, and what's pretty much standard: Alpha 16mm. They're a little prone to breaking if you overheat them (i.e. hold your soldering iron on them for 30 seconds) but no problems with sound.

Else, for push-pull pots, the Gibson CTS pots are decent.

Hey Jopop what do you suggest as a soldering kit that's simple and cheap but effective enough for wiring pickups? I wanna see if Thomann has some but I can't find any, don't know what to search for.

I have a 500k pot and a switchcraft jack, some 0.22 capacitors and I'm also gonna buy another 2 500k pots one with push/pull for single coil splitting on the neck humbucker. Cuz I'm gonna gut all the EMG electronics on my Ironbird and stick a Dimarzio Tonezone + PAF Pro in.

Do I need anything else? I already have my guitars 3-way switch...

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What a small world after all... I'm also gutting my EMGs to replace them with a ToneZone/PAF Pro .

Kind of a dumb question I suppose, but what are push/pull pots? I've never seen one so I don't know.

I use Hakko and Pace soldering stations but I solder as part of my job so they're expensive for just guitar work. I'd get a high watt iron with a medium and large tip.

Oh and try to use a no clean solder. Water soluble and rosin leave corrosive residue behind that needs to be cleaned. You can use alcohol to clean if you use those types.

Imagine a volume knob and a toggle switch have butt sex and out pops a push/pull mongoloid.

Hm, check out local hardware stores - you want at least a 15w, probably 30w (the ground point can be a pretty big soldier joint).

I use a 60w temp-controlled Weller W61, it's the best iron i ever laid hands on, and i can exchange the tip for different temperatures. Right now i use a 260 degrees celsius 1,6mm tip since i still have around 85 meters of 60/40 solder left (melts at around 190 degrees celsius so it's a little overkill really but it's the coldest tip i can get afaik), but when that is used up i need to go over to a 370 degree tip (lead is prohibited in solder now so they only sell lead-free, which melts at ~350 degrees celsius) and i expect that to suck since it's way hotter so i have to be really careful not to melt insulation.. And that half-conductive thing they use in microphone cable melts really fast.. will be a bitch. Anyway, i parted with around 135$ for that iron, a little expensive.

Tips: Get something versatile, a 60w unregulated one gets hot as hell and probably has a 5mm tip or something so if you ever want to mod on a PCB you're screwed, stick with 30w or something and get a tip that's either somewhere around 2,5mm flathead (works really good for guitar cavites, very easy to use) or if you want something more precise for those joints on PCB's that are like 0,5mm apart (some PCB mount input jacks come to mind) a 1,5mm needle tip (this is my fav. tip for just about everything) will be your best bet but it's more of a presicion tool so you need a little more practice and a steadier hand (with the flathead it's just press and hold, a little more sophisticated with the needle tip, you need a suitable angle and a somewhat steady hand). Look for tips with a very smooth surface, if it's full of pores and whatnot it sucks ass most probably. - The suggestion to go with a high-watt (60w++), medium-large tip would be excellent for a guitar control cavity, but if you ever want to mod your wah pedal you'll melt it.. hehe

I suggest you buy tinned copper nets with a 5mm mask width to practice soldering on, it's what i did in school and i turned out to be pretty decent eventually (i tend to use a little too much solder and maybe overheat some but not by much). What you do with these is to solder on every part where two threads cross one another so the net becomes more solid. Also try soldering wires on to the nets to get a feel for it, it's a little hard at first but when you get it it's like second nature (like riding a bike).

Remember to always pre-tin the two surfaces you're going to attach and then melt them together, never clamp unprepared surfaces together then heat and apply solder (beginners usually never get this). Also pre-tin the tip to get optimal heat transfer between the tip and the surface, else it'll take hours.

Maybe i could make a "Soldering 101" thread with pics.. would be neat..

Edit:

Here's a nice tutorial - it clearly explains the concept of "pre-tin and join" and to put the tip on one place and apply solder a little away from the tip or on the other side (the surface should be used to melt the solder, so to say). Two obvious mistakes i see;

#1. Too much solder, there's huge lumps of it.
#2. Too much heat, the jack is starting to develop blue rings around the solder lump

One more he might make (not sure but it looks like it):

#3. Using the solder as a conductor - you want to really press the two surfaces together when soldering, not solder a huge lump on one surface then just "put the wire inside the lump".. if that makes sense.

Also the solder is not flowing smoothly on the surface but lumping up - symptom of bad solder (or rather solder with a bad flux in its core). I has a horrible batch once, filled with some sort of powder and making the same kind of noise like when you spill water on a really hot surface when it was melting.. The one i use now is fucking insane, it flows over everything, cleans everything and melts very easily.. plus it was a steal at a "cheapo" hardware store. I can actually solder wires onto aluminum foil.. so it's very good at removing corrosion..


link: http://hallgeir.no/hmt/soldering/soldering.html

To clarify, solder is still obtainable in leaded versions. The ROHS and WEEE directives are mainly for European countries and do not heavily affect the United States and other countries quite yet. (if you're shipping product to europe from the states then yes, it affects you.)

Be careful with lead free, it does require higher reflow temps and you will burn up tips more quickly. For quick and dirty work like soldering a guitar you don't need a fancy iron. Check local hobby shops for better irons than you can usually get at radio shack or whatever. If you want to order online, I recommend Goot irons as they're japanese made and work wonderful - or stick with Hakko.

I'm class 3 certified by IPC standards and i've been soldering and programming/running smt machines for a while now. Any more questions please let me know.

Yes, but I'm in Europe so i didn't give the lead issue much thought, i just know it's illegal up here

I know about the temperature issues with lead-free, it's pretty much a bitch, by the time your solder melts the insulation will probably have melted.. I miss the good old 60/40 days.

For soldering wires on to potentiometer and jack lugs any iron will do but some of the cheaper pots break if you heat them just a little too much and really thin tipped low-wattage irons may have a problem soldering the ground point (which can be pretty big with complex switching schemes) - my 1.6mm 260 degree needle tip requires a quirky angle to to this, which can be a pain.

I don't even know whan an IPC standard is but I'm a certified level 8 crack dealer so i don't know shit ;-)

IPC is an organization that seeks to standardize the soldering industry. Basicly it's how to solder and what it should look like when you're done. Anything from wire tinning to surface mount. Certification just proves to other companies that your people know what they're doing - or at least are trained in the right way to do things. Not very metal but it is melted metal so maybe it is the most brootal job ever!!! Ok maybe not.

Does anybody know how good the parts from GuitarElectronics.com are?

Also check out www.stewmac.com and www.warmoth.com

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Somebody in this thread mentioned to only use silver mica or polystyrene film capacitors. What's wrong with ceramic capacitors? Does everybody else here agree with him?

Also, is it worth the money to buy copper shielding?

The base material in ceramic caps will "sing" when given voltage or even when aggitaged/shaken. Stick with a more "audibly inert" cap.

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