A plea to anyone selling pickups

[Frails]

DON'T CUT THE FKING LEADS! It's so goddamn lazy. I just received a set of Burstbuckers from a forum member and the leads don't even reach the pots. Hell, they barely extend out of the worm hole. I will never understand why people cut them instead of unsoldering.

[Zenzeypher]

when I took delivery of my old Tokai Love Rock, when replacing the previous owners terrible, god awful pots I noticed when I unsoldered the pups there was a huge clump of black tape half way up.

when I took the pups out (to replace the plastics) the owner had snipped the previous pups wire and spliced them into the original pickup wire.

I don't know why but it pissed me off enough to buy new pups, after some time I rewired the pickups by unsoldering the old braided cable and what not and attached new ones.

I don't get it either, it's quick, easier and tidier to unsolder and melt in some new ones.

[SKATTERBRANE]

When I install new pickups, I do not even cut the leads to fit. I work the excess back into the channels, that way if I want to put those pickups in say an ES-335, I still have long enough leads to do so. There is not need to cut the leads to install them, nor to take them out.

[Pinkie]

Always pisses me off too.
Just nothing but laziness.

[Mookakian]

This said, i dont like the leads bunched up in the pickup cavity, the pressure added by bunched up cable holds the pickup from vibrating freely in the cavity, so i bunch it up in the control cavity if it can be done, strats can be a bit hard to do this so ill ask if guys want them trimmed a little and usually they say "Sure".

[captain tightpants]

Not exactly considered correct, but I always leave the full length of the leads in place and just artfully wind them around the cavity until the cover can close

[michaelinokc]

Yeah, short leads suck. If I know it before hand, I wouldn't even buy them. Just hacks me off.

[HOT-BRIT]

send them back

[SKATTERBRANE]

Well in Les Pauls, there is plenty of channel to use, without using he pickup routes, to artfully store longer pickup leads. I NEVER had a problem with the excess lead length interfering with the pickup's mounting attitude or disposition.

You do not have to store it in the control cavity either. If done right it is impossible to tell you have stored lead wire in the channels of a Les Paul, until you actually have to change the pickups again.

[captain tightpants]

Me either, even in a cramped Tele cavity.

[Zenzeypher]

as said above, if I have excess cable I just neatly wind it in the control cavity, I like neatness... but sometimes trimming cables especially if you piss about a lot is a no no for me.

[cooljuk]

If you pay shipping both ways, I'll put some new leads on 'em for you free of charge.

Of course, maybe you already fixed them yourself? Just lemme know.

[River]

I was highly annoyed when I went to move a bridge Phat Cat to the neck of another guitar. 1.5" short.

It all worked out for the best, as it lead me to put it on another guitar I hadn't seriously considered upgrading, but still.

I don't know if it came that way from Seymour Duncan, but I doubt it.

[Frails]

Originally Posted by cooljuk

If you pay shipping both ways, I'll put some new leads on 'em for you free of charge.

Of course, maybe you already fixed them yourself? Just lemme know.

Very kind of you, thank you. I do have a strand of braided wire. But I'm not sure it's something I want to be doing. I hate soldering as it is. I might just send them back but the guitar might sell at any moment. What a harang.

[tazzboy]

I would take advantage of cooljuk offer.

[smorgdonkey]

There is a guy selling a pickup locally who installed it in a semi-hollow...


Can you guess where this is going?

He says that he cut the lead off to do the 'lazy install method' or something similar so there is only about an inch or two of lead left on it. It was a $150 pickup and the doorknob still wants $75 for it.

Doorknobs...they're everywhere.

[Mookakian]

I hate short leads as well, the trimming should be left to the players choice. A winder skimping on leads is prob best avoided all together

[GitFiddle]

I try to leave as much as possible. There's plenty of room in the control cavity. These leads are also bunched up somewhat in the channel cavity too.

[JLH]

Why do people cut them ?

[android13]

Originally Posted by JLH

Why do people cut them ?

Because then it's easier to remove them from the guitar. They think that unsoldering them from the knobs is too much of a hassle.

If you can't be bothered to even unsolder, you shouldn't even touch a guitar's electronics, I'd say.

[jiveturkey1]

Ok, confession time I used to be one of those guys who cut leads. It wasn't being lazy in taking them out. I did it for cavity neatness when installing them or upgrading pots.....well, now it's come back to bite me. In my LP I just swapped out magnets, and there was barely enough slack to do it w/out unsoldering them from the pots. Another worse case is a Squier '51 I installed a JB/Jazz set in. The bridge wires are very short now, and I'd like to try them in my Les Paul.

This is weird because I was just about to post a thread asking how to change leads. I'd like to change the JB/JAZZ set to 2-wire braided leads, from the shortened 4-wire leads because I don't need any fancy wiring. I did do a search and couldn't find anything btw.

Anybody have a link, or can you give me a quick how to?

Thanks, I don't mean to hijack, I thought this would be a good place to ask and confess. I would NEVER cut a lead now that I know better.

[Ed hunter]

Originally Posted by SKATTERBRANE

When I install new pickups, I do not even cut the leads to fit. I work the excess back into the channels, that way if I want to put those pickups in say an ES-335, I still have long enough leads to do so. There is not need to cut the leads to install them, nor to take them out.

+1 i always just tuck the extra length away,i hate those that cut them down. You know there are some that swear the shorter the lead the better the tone! seriously i have heard it stated before!

[GitFiddle]

Originally Posted by Ed hunter

+1 i always just tuck the extra length away,i hate those that cut them down. You know there are some that swear the shorter the lead the better the tone! seriously i have heard it stated before!

When I did my first one, I was actually concerned whether the extra wire in the cavity could cause hum but I just left it anyway. And guess what? No hum.

[your idol]

its better to have and not need than need and not have

[zontar]

Hmm, I do believe that when I had the pickups changed on my LP copy the guy I took it to, did desolder them--it certainly looks that way.

And I'm fairly sure that years ago the guy who put the new pickups in my Les Paul desoldered the old ones--because he wanted the pickups I had in it and I traded them in towards the cost of the work.

Makes sense...

[Zhangliqun]

Look, I'm a winder and I'll always make sure you have plenty of lead length on any pickup coming from my little 'plant'. That's part of my job.

But I can't believe all this crying about short leads when it's so easy to just extend them. The previous owner didn't cut it to make you mad, or to make it easier to pull it out to sell it. Most likely it was to keep there from being a bunch of coiled lead in the control cavity that can cause problems, especially with braid lead that can slither around and short out the hot lugs on a pot or switch.

[tazzboy]

Well no they cut it short so it doesn't touch anything that is correct. However, they shouldn't cut is so short that you don't have to wire reach to the pot lug either. That's what this argument is about leaving enough braided wire to reach the lug part of the pot so you can solder on.

[korus]

Originally Posted by Frails

DON'T CUT THE FKING LEADS! It's so goddamn lazy. I just received a set of Burstbuckers from a forum member and the leads don't even reach the pots. Hell, they barely extend out of the worm hole. I will never understand why people cut them instead of unsoldering.

You my friend are lefty, like me. And your guitars are left handed, as mine are.
He just cut the leads for a right handed guitar. They would reach the pots in a right handed LP. And we need 1"-2" more in LP (a diagonal in neck and length in bridge) - leads are coming from a further corner of a base-plate. That's just the way it is - right is right and left is .... wrong?! There's no help with it, ever.

IMO

[121064]

I don't know why y'all are making such a big deal about it. One of the used Seth Lovers I bought had to have an extra inch of wire added. The iron was hot, the solder thin, I remembered to put some heat shrink tubing over the solder joint, shrank it down and I was fine.

Yes it was a little bit of a PITA but I looked at it as one of the risks of buying used. I always clip my Strat pickups to length because I can bundle them like aircraft wire (using dental floss to tie them together) and on the occasion I've sold Strat pickups (I have several sets I want to get rid of right now) no one has had a problem.

If this is the worst problem you have, life must be good.

[cooljuk]

Do you use mint waxed dental floss so it matches vintage pickguards?