BadgerDave Posted February 27, 2005 Posted February 27, 2005 Here’s something that’ll make you nervous. Your new custom order Hamer laid out on the bench with its guts pulled through the bridge pickup hole. If you’re like me, you’re waiting for the first slip with the screwdriver (or worse yet, the soldering iron) to leave a permanent reminder that some things are better left to the pros. Fortunately, other than having to take everything apart twice to fix a broken lead, the procedure was successful, no lacquer was damaged, and the Monaco now sports a set of Harmonic Design Classic humbuckers.
custom53 Posted February 27, 2005 Posted February 27, 2005 I just did two like that. Good for me, they weren't mine.....!!!!
hardheartedbill Posted February 27, 2005 Posted February 27, 2005 I have beat my Monaco to death , looks like it's was hit w/ buckshot, it's mine now for sure
JES1680 Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 I've done that to my Newport a couple times. It makes things easier if you tie dental floss (I prefer MINT), around the pots, switch and input jack so you can just pull everything back through. Even then it's no fun doing pickup swaps on hollow bodies. I'm keeping the WCR darkbursts in there. At least for now...
Caddie Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 {use a scottish accent on this} Fer Godz sakes man, can't ye at least put an old hand towel over the body while ye work on her ???!!!! {resume your normal mode of speaking} Like on "the surgery channel" where they surround the opening incision with material. Hey wtf do I know, but it works fer me.
earachemyeye Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 Gettin it ready for the jam on Friday? Can't wait to hear it.Joe
John E Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 Let me use my first post on the new forum to give Badgerdave kudos for doing a pickup swap on a hollowbody. I've done 'em on solidbodies because I'm a cheap bastard, but the merest suggestion that I do it on (say) my Newport makes me incontinent. Nein danke!
JJ Paul Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 I looked at the pic, Dave...How did you manage to get the pots back up thru the respective holes?I personally would have tied a string (dentale floss?? c'mon!...) around them to help me find "the way home".Or did you manage to get your finger under the f-hole to wiggle things around?
JES1680 Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 I've tried string. Dental floss works better (for me) as it is stronger and thinner gets a good grip on the threads on the input jack. Dosen't slip off like I've had string do. Oh and of course it keeps my guitars are minty fresh!
BadgerDave Posted February 28, 2005 Author Posted February 28, 2005 The Monaco is relatively easy to work on since the bridge pickup hole is completely open to the body on two sides. Plenty of room to slide the electronics in and out.For the most part, I just jockey the parts back into place using fingers, screwdrivers and a pair of forceps. However, I do have a neat trick for getting uncooperative pots back into their respective holes. I use plastic tubing (available at Home Depot). I slip it through the hole where I want the part to end up, then work it through the body and slide it over the pot shaft - it needs to be the right size so that it stays firmly in place. Then you can pull on the tubing to slide the pot back home. You can also slip the washer and nut on the other end of the tubing and tighten the pot in place, eliminating the need to hold the pot from behind. Works great and no tying or untying string required. I once did a pickup change on a Gibson ES-135. It was a nightmare since there is virtually no access to the inside of the guitar. That one required pre-attaching tubing to every pot and the pickup selector switch before disassembling anything -then praying that the tubes didn't slip off. I'll dig up an in-process photo. It looks like a cross between a heart transplant and a science project gone bad.
BCR Greg Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 Surgical tubing works very well, and holds on to the pots like crazy.Good work, Dave. Next time, just send me the pickups and I'll do it before I ship it out.
Aceldama Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 When I was swapping pups on a Gibson ES135, I finally just soldered the wiring harness to RCA jacks. All I had to do was pull the pups, solder another RCA jack to the pup and I was done.
HamerHokie Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 Dave,You got any plans for the old SDs?I'm interested in the Custom Custom at least.email me, interzon @ comcast.net
mike_levitt Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 Here’s something that’ll make you nervous. Your new custom order Hamer laid out on the bench with its guts pulled through the bridge pickup hole. If you’re like me, you’re waiting for the first slip with the screwdriver (or worse yet, the soldering iron) to leave a permanent reminder that some things are better left to the pros.Fortunately, other than having to take everything apart twice to fix a broken lead, the procedure was successful, no lacquer was damaged, and the Monaco now sports a set of Harmonic Design Classic humbuckers. Dave, That looks just like my superpro a couple of days ago. Fun job... The superpro is probably worse, as there are no F-holes to work with. But the worst of all is the Les Paul Supreme I did recently- all of the pots have to be pulled out through the (larger than normal - barely big enough for a pot to fit) jack plate hole! Now that's a job... How do you like the HDs? I put a set of WCR crossroads in the superpro, and it is very detailed and airy now... Put a NOS bumblebee in as well, so now it's "vintage" ha ha ha... I've done a lot of jobs like this, and it is never fun while you are looking at the guts, but it's greatly rewarding when you get it all back together.. Mike
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