extending pickup conductor wire?

[RavenMadd]

bought a set of pickups with short wires .... anyone got any tips or know of any good videos ....I am gonna attempt this...damn it

 

[moreles]

What do you mean? Extending the leads?

 

[Roxy13]

What kind of leads? Just remember on vintage braided that the outer braided part has to be connected as well. I've used a piece of bus wire to do it since it was easier than sliding the outer braided part over a piece of heat shrink tubing over the hot wire.

 

[RavenMadd]

4 conductor ...pickup lead

 

[RavenMadd]

What kind of leads? Just remember on vintage braided that the outer braided part has to be connected as well. I've used a piece of bus wire to do it since it was easier than sliding the outer braided part over a piece of heat shrink tubing over the hot wire.

yes that type I may have someone do it

 

[Roxy13]

yes that type I may have someone do it

It's easy. Slip a piece of heat shrink on one end (or you can use electrical tape after you solder), solder your two hot leads together and then slide the heat shrink over the exposed wire that is now soldered and heat it with a lighter to shrink it tight. Then wrap your bus wire around the braided snug and and run it to your extension piece and do the same thing and solder both the wraps and check for continuity and it should be good.

 

[RavenMadd]

It's easy. Slip a piece of heat shrink on one end (or you can use electrical tape after you solder), solder your two hot leads together and then slide the heat shrink over the exposed wire that is now soldered and heat it with a lighter to shrink it tight. Then wrap your bus wire around the braided snug and and run it to your extension piece and do the same thing and solder both the wraps and check for continuity and it should be good.

....

thank you boss.....I keep screwing up here rushing ...gonna give it a go tomorrow

 

[Roxy13]

If it's 4 conductor (I'm a little confused which one you have, that or braided), just cut a small piece of heat shrink tubing for each of the plastic coated strands and slip those on first. Solder each of your wires to the right one on the extension piece and then slide your tubing over the bare, soldered joints/wire and heat them. The bare ground wire doesn't need any heat shrink.

 

[CB91710]

Also, stagger the cuts/splices so you don't end up with a HUGE thick wad of shrink tubing that won't fit through openings in the body.
Extreme example is installing ape hangers on a motorcycle with internal wiring.... my bars are 16" tall, and the splices in the electrical cables span about 10" of that.
Pickups obviously don't need to be done to that extreme, but 4 splices plus the shield is going to be double or triple the thickness of the original cable, so you do want to stagger them.

 

[Roxy13]

Also, stagger the cuts/splices so you don't end up with a HUGE thick wad of shrink tubing that won't fit through openings in the body.
Extreme example is installing ape hangers on a motorcycle with internal wiring.... my bars are 16" tall, and the splices in the electrical cables span about 10" of that.
Pickups obviously don't need to be done to that extreme, but 4 splices plus the shield is going to be double or triple the thickness of the original cable, so you do want to stagger them.

Good point. The one I had to extend a pickup lead on was a hollowbody so not an issue. A nice member here gave me some BK Stormy Mondays for it but one pickup lead was too short. I was ecstatic to get the pickups so happily extended it.

 

[RavenMadd]

If it's 4 conductor (I'm a little confused which one you have, that or braided), just cut a small piece of heat shrink tubing for each of the plastic coated strands and slip those on first. Solder each of your wires to the right one on the extension piece and then slide your tubing over the bare, soldered joints/wire and heat them. The bare ground wire doesn't need any heat shrink.

a Dimarzio Air Norton

 

[Pete M]

You can splice in a new extension to the lead easily. However, it's pretty easy to replace the leads entirely on most pickups.

 

[cmjohnson]

Get new lead (Stew-Mac carries it) and just replace the entire lead assembly. Decent soldering skills required.

If you do not have decent soldering skills, practice and learn until you have achieved it. Soldering electronics in a guitar
needs to be done neatly or it won't be reliable.

 

[emoney]

Listen to the two people who've recommended replacing it all. It's the same amount of work and you'll be much more pleased with the outcome.

 

[Barnaby]

Listen to the two people who've recommended replacing it all. It's the same amount of work and you'll be much more pleased with the outcome.

Agreed, although, in the interests of full disclosure, one should point out that the risk of ruining the entire pickup is much greater that way.

 

[duaneflowers]

While undoubtedly the best approach replacing the entire lead requires some skills and as Barnaby pointed out you can do some irreparable damage if you don't know what your doing. Extending the lead, OTOH, is quite simple and takes just a few minutes. My favorite method involves splicing and covering the lead wire (electrical tape is fine) and then covering it all with aluminum tape. It gets the job done painlessly and efficiently.