I want to wire my bridge humbucker straight to the volume

[MatthewK]

The selector switch seems to be crapping out and I don't use the neck pickup at all so I want to wire it up so that only my bridge pup works. I think we have a soldering iron around here somewhere, but I've never used it. Do you think I could do it myself easily enough? It's a seymour duncan pup and the guitar is my KE3 if that means anything at all.

Oops, title probably make me sound like a n00b (well, I am to wiring). But I'm sure you know what I mean, I want it set up bridge-hum ->volume-> output

[mustaine-who?]

Real

Real easy. Just go to www.seymourduncan.com and look up that diagram under "support". Take your time and get good soldering points...GTG

The selector switch seems to be crapping out and I don't use the neck pickup at all so I want to wire it up so that only my bridge pup works. I think we have a soldering iron around here somewhere, but I've never used it. Do you think I could do it myself easily enough? It's a seymour duncan pup and the guitar is my KE3 if that means anything at all.

Oops, title probably make me sound like a n00b (well, I am to wiring). But I'm sure you know what I mean, I want it set up bridge-hum ->volume-> output

[dg]

Good solder joints are very important. Here's the soldering tutorial:

http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=521165&postcount=16

This is just my opinion, but I figure if you're going to go to the trouble to rewire the guitar, for just a few bucks you could get a new switch & put it back to full working order. You may eventually decide to use the neck pup, plus it will help with resale value if you ever decide to sell it. Again, it's your axe & just my opinion.

[Mr Metal]

If you've never used a soldering iron, have somebody who's good at it show you, and practice before you attack your guitar I don't think you can learn all the tricks by looking at tutorials.

Cold solder joints create all kinds of issues (intermittent sound, scratchy sound, etc.) and you cannot really recognize them by looking at the solder joint unless you have experience in soldering. Good solder joints look eventy flown and glossy and cold solder joints look dull and caked up . Plus if you keep the soldering iron on a part for too long you risk damaging that part by overheating it. Good luck

[Norton]

By "keeping the soldering iron for too long" ,how much of a time period are we lookin' at?

[UFORocks]

Took me a lot of trial and error to learn to solder properly, and I'm still no expert, but I can at least do it correctly now.

My advice; buy a PC board and roll of stranded wire (not the solid wire) from radioshack and start soldering pieces of wire to the pc board for practice. This way you'll be able to get the 'feel' for it before attacking your guitar. You'll also need some rosin core solder, 60/40 (tin / lead), get the thinner solder as it's easier to work with in tight spaces.

When you think you're ready you'll want to delsolder the black wire leading from the pup where it connects to the switch, and desolder the wire from the switch where it connects to the volume pot (probably a white wire), then solder the black wire from the pup onto the volume pot where the switch was. Here's and example diagram from the SD website. http://www.seymourduncan.com/support...atic=1hum_1vol

-Steve

P.S Be careful with the soldering iron around your guitar. Pay attention to how you're holding the iron and at what angle. And don't get pissed if/when you touch the iron to the guitar, it happens, just try to minimize the chance of it by paying attention to what you're doing. Lastly, get a rest or stand for your soldering iron if you dont have one, they're pretty cheap at RS.

[Newc]

One more very important point - make sure the guitar is not plugged in when soldering.

[MatthewK]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll go check out radio shack after xmas.

[j4vice]

what dg said

[MatthewK]

Actually, I've had my ibanez wired that way for a year or so now. I prefer the rawness of the bridge pup. I also like that you really can't "cheat" with it, when you play with only the bridge pup for a while it's really a bit of a shock to play with the neck pup. It smooths everything out and is much more forgiving. I'm not knocking people that use the neck position a lot, but for my style I want the definition that the bridge provides. Also, I like not having to worry about knocking the switch by accident. I don't think the guitar has any resale value as it is. I bought it from a friend of mine who routed it for an Ibanez lo-pro edge trem and in addition to that it's a little banged up at the points and has some scratches on the body. It's a GREAT player though. Hell, I could probably sell the trem for more than I paid for the whole guitar.