Changing Pickups for the First Time

Updated
Redbeard
Howdy, Heres my situation: I have a owned an ESP LTD F400 guitar for a few years now. The guitar came setup with 2 emg 81 active pickups. It has one volume knob and one tone knob, along with a 3 way pickup choice switch. I've been thinking of switching pickups on the guitar now that my playing is finally improving a bit and I feel more confident trying to mess with the sound. I've been thinking of either dropping one of the 81s for an emg 60 for the classic 81 / 60 combo or perhaps picking up the JH Set that recently released as i have heard nothing but great reviews about it. That being said, had some questions: 1) Either way I go, the pickups come with separate tone / volume controls. Is this something I should look into modifying my guitar to take advantage of (i.e. drilling 2 more holes in the guitar for the extra pots) or would I continue to run my pickups from the same 2 controls? (I would have to get this done by a professional). 2) Assuming I am not adding any more controls and stick wtih the 2 knob configuration, the hardware is advertised as "solderless"... is it difficult to install this stuff or is this something I would need to get done somewhere? I work with computers but dont have much direct electronics experience. Any other advice / comments are welcome, Thanks for your time.
WildeStarr

It should be pretty easy for you to do yourself. The EMG's come with clip on connectors on the back of the pickups, so all you have to do is take the neck pickup out and put in the new one. No soldering or any mods at all. Should take you all of 5 minutes to do this. I would not worry about adding controls to your guitar, leave it as is.

:cool:

Redbeard

EMG 60 should arrive today.

Thanks for the advice.

Redbeard

So it was as simple as you said... took me longer to restring the thing than to put in the new pickup.

Only problem now is that I'm not sure if its working or if my guitar is having other issues.

I put it in the neck position. When I toggle between the two pickups I am getting pretty much identical sounds. I assuming they should sound quite a bit different.

So I dont know if I have a bum pickup, if my switch is having issues, or what.

Hrm.

WildeStarr

crank up the guitar and tap on the neck pickup with a screwdriver or some other metal object. If its live, you will know it. If not, check all the connections. Make sure you don't have the pickup connector cable on backwards, it will only work one way. The side with the small arrow on it should be facing you.

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