Wiring replacement pickups

[ZMAN]

I have a line on a set of Burstbuckers. They are out of a 57 VOS Les Paul.
The seller has disclosed that the leads were clipped and may not fit my les Paul. He said I could solder longer leads on and they would work.
I was wondering if new leads could be soldered, and what issues I might end up with. I will have a tech do the work but I don't want to buy them if I will run into problems.
I am not sure what length of lead I might need for a Les Paul. I have heard that some guys "cheat" by clipping the wires and joining new leads to them so they can quickly change pickups. I have not heard if this would cause any problems.
I am hoping to install them in my Les Paul Gold top Classic. I am not sure if I will need to change any of the electronics. I am a little tired of the stock ceramics. The new pickups have the aged nickle covers and are a BB 1, and BB2.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Shouldn't be a problem. Your tech would just splice in a short length of additional wire, if the leads have been clipped too short to reach the controls cavity.

 

[ZMAN]

Thanks: On another note, how hard is it to get the bumblebee caps. .022s.
I have been told that they work well with the pickups I am looking at.
I would like to get it all done at once.

 

[Duff]

Technicalities of Splicing

There are good and better ways to splice wires. Since these wires go from guitar pickups they need to retain the original signal of the pickup. I believe that a shoddy soldering job can change that signal, and probably the resultant sound you will hear from the amp.

There is a "right" way, or ways, to do this, and a wrong way.

Also regular lead wires are covered with insulation, so the joint should be insulated.

Some people use "quick connects" to swap out pickups relatively quickly. I'm not sure how much signal degradation happens at the quick connect.

The more connections, jacks, cables, effects boxes, etc., that you put in line to the amp will degrade the original signal adding up at each connection. That's why a straight, uncoupled guitar cable is better than coupling two or more guitar cables into one long one; and a shorter cable is better, assuming of course that all cables are of high quality to begin with.

A good solder joint should always be a better connection than a quick connect or other crimped connection.

Because solder is not copper, I don't know how much of an affect on the sound solder will have; but I would twist the copper wires together well and use a minimum of solder. But I still don't know what affect the solder melded with the copper will have, if any appreciable amount.

Some of the engineers on here will definitely know and be able to suggest the best approach to take, if they see your post. I'm not sure if a regular guitar tech would know about splicing pickup leads and the affect of the solder joint on the sound.

One thing you have going for you though, is, you won't have any sound to compare it to. Sometimes we wish we didn't know what experience has taught us.

No matter what you do to splice it should be sufficient though, even a less than perfect job will be as good as a lot of guitars out there, brand new.

 

[otaypanky]

I have a '58 historic with Burstbuckers. Some days I love 'em but a lot of days I hate 'em. They're awfully bright to me.
I have a few other PL's. One is a '91 Custom from the custom shop. For a long time I loved the way it played but it just wasn't very versatile by using the pots. I figured I needed to change out the pups. I got a WCR American Steel set and one of Jim's wiring kits. They sounded great. About a year later I read a thread somewhere about how much some guy loved his stock Gibson pups. It intrigued me so just for fun I popped the stock pups back in. WoW!
Did they ever sound great. I think the wiring kit I got made all the difference. When I installed the kit, I wired it up 50's style which I have been enjoying a lot too. I ended up selling the WCR pups and kept the stock ones in there. So I guess what I trying to get at it here is that it might be a good idea to swap out the pots and caps and see what you've got with the stock pups. Even if you get the Burstbuckers you might not get the most out of them with the wiring in your guitar at present.

 

[ZMAN]

I have a '58 historic with Burstbuckers. Some days I love 'em but a lot of days I hate 'em. They're awfully bright to me.
I have a few other PL's. One is a '91 Custom from the custom shop. For a long time I loved the way it played but it just wasn't very versatile by using the pots. I figured I needed to change out the pups. I got a WCR American Steel set and one of Jim's wiring kits. They sounded great. About a year later I read a thread somewhere about how much some guy loved his stock Gibson pups. It intrigued me so just for fun I popped the stock pups back in. WoW!
Did they ever sound great. I think the wiring kit I got made all the difference. When I installed the kit, I wired it up 50's style which I have been enjoying a lot too. I ended up selling the WCR pups and kept the stock ones in there. So I guess what I trying to get at it here is that it might be a good idea to swap out the pots and caps and see what you've got with the stock pups. Even if you get the Burstbuckers you might not get the most out of them with the wiring in your guitar at present.

Yes I am thinking about getting the RS Guitarworks kit. I have been told that the 300k pots in the classic and the ceramic caps hold the guitars tone way back.
Your 91 custom, did it have the 490/498 set? I have them in a Standard and an Epi Elitist Custom, they do sound really good. In the Gold Top Classic it has the Ceramic 496/500 set and they are pretty high output especially in a chambered body. I am hoping they will give it a more vintage tone.
Still in the process of gathering bits and pieces, and waiting for replies.
What caps were in the kit you purchased. RS uses a .015, and .022 bumblebee repops that they contracted Jensen to make.
Update:
I talked to the seller and he has the bumble bees. The pickups came out of a 57 historic Les Paul. He installed Lollars and an RS guitar works kit. So all I need is some 500K Pots and we are off to the races.

 

[ZMAN]

I picked up a set of BB1 and BB2s out of a 2007 Historic VOS. The guy put a set of Lollars in it. I picked them up for 70 a piece. They have the aged nickel covers as well. I have an RS Guitarworks Vintage kit on it's way to my daughters and I will pick it up when I am down there next week.
So when I get back I will have it all installed in my Classic Gold Top.