Replacing coil split HBs with P90s

[Darth Sabbathi]

So... I've got myself some humbucker sized p90s to stick in my SG. Normally I'd pay a bloke to install them, but I'm keen to upskill myself, and there is a reasonable chance I'll want to swap back, and I don't fancy paying twice.

But I have no idea what I'm doing... Before I trawl YouTube for some instructions, a couple of stupid questions:

1. The humbuckers I'm replacing have coil splitting via push/pull pots. Do I need to replace the pots?

2. Do I need a wiring schematic? Is there a good source?

3. Any general tips or advice?

[willow13]

So... I've got myself some humbucker sized p90s to stick in my SG. Normally I'd pay a bloke to install them, but I'm keen to upskill myself, and there is a reasonable chance I'll want to swap back, and I don't fancy paying twice.

But I have no idea what I'm doing... Before I trawl YouTube for some instructions, a couple of stupid questions:

1. The humbuckers I'm replacing have coil splitting via push/pull pots. Do I need to replace the pots? NO....you just don't use the bit the sticks out the back of the pot. Is the P/P on the vol or the tone pot?? you can wire a P/P to act as an off switch of you leave the lug where the split is wired to empty

2. Do I need a wiring schematic? Is there a good source? Depends on how many wires the p90's have...i'm picking 2 or 3 at most

3. Any general tips or advice? take photos of how the buckers are wired up...watch a couple of videos but not to many...you tend to over think it then

[Zaulkin]

1.
You don't need to replace the pots, but the neck push/pull won't do anything unless you wire it up for some other function.

2.
A wiring schematic will help if you don't know what you're doing. Seymour Duncan have loads on their website and they are pretty clear. If your pickups are not Seymour Duncan branded, then the wires may be coloured differently to the SD diagram, so you will need to look up a colour code chart.

3.
Do some practice tinning wires and soldering before you start.
Clean your soldering iron on a wet sponge after each time you use it, and when you're done.
Try not to heat up pots for too long, as too much can fry them.

[Darth Sabbathi]

Awesome, thanks for that. The P90s just have one big wire, so looks like it will actually be very simple...

[willow13]

Awesome, thanks for that. The P90s just have one big wire, so looks like it will actually be very simple...

oops no it won't have one big wire, if you look inside that wire there will be another one (or 2 wires). That big braided (?) wire is the ground wire

[jeremyb]

Awesome, thanks for that. The P90s just have one big wire, so looks like it will actually be very simple...

oops no it won't have one big wire, if you look inside that wire there will be another one (or 2 wires). That big braided (?) wire is the ground wire

^this, the braided stuff is cool tho', I rewired my edwards with it, so much easier to do the grounds when you can solder the braid to each pot as you run the wire around them!

[Darth Sabbathi]

Awesome, thanks for that. The P90s just have one big wire, so looks like it will actually be very simple...

oops no it won't have one big wire, if you look inside that wire there will be another one (or 2 wires). That big braided (?) wire is the ground wire

Yeah, just one big braided one:



I'll grant you it looks like a ground wire, but then it also seems to match this schematic from Seymour Duncan:



And the video I watched on YouTube from Lollar had the same thing for P90s... He just soldered to the volume pot, grounded it, and that was it...

[jeremyb]

See the black bit coming out of the braid, thats the signal wire, it's insulated, peel back some of the braid and you'll find it

[Darth Sabbathi]

See the black bit coming out of the braid, thats the signal wire, it's insulated, peel back some of the braid and you'll find it

Ah ok, thanks. So I can see that, but any tips for peeling back the braid? I've tried and now it is just a mess and I can't see where the braid ends and the signal wire starts...

[TmcB]

Uh, just push it back? no need to clip it

[jeremyb]

I snip down the length of it a little, and then peel it back, roll it into a piece that I can then tin with solder

[Darth Sabbathi]

Uh, just push it back? no need to clip it

Cool, thanks Tony! Now we're looking like this:



Ok, bear with... This is the neck volume pot:



Do I solder to where the black wire is now? Or am I going where the red one is? Red looks like the SD diagram...

Grounding... the stuff I've seen has the braid wire soldered to the pot itself, but the push pull thing means I've got a big bit of plastic in the way. Can I just solder to the tone pot? (I'm figuring the pots are all grounded, and I just needed to stick it to something that is itself grounded...)

[Darth Sabbathi]

Well, I somehow managed it - yay me! They certainly look pretty badass...



Not sure about the sound yet. I've only tried them at bedroom levels through the jube, which sounds arse at that level anyway. But there is possibly a bit more twang there than I am looking for. I'll wait till I get a chance to fire them up at full throttle before passing judgement though.

Final stupid questions: could my crappy solering affect the tone? Also, the pups had really long wires on them, which I didn't trim, and ended up coiling up in the control cavity - would I be better to trim them, or alternatively, try to coil the excess in the pup cavities?

[AiRdAd]

The best thing to is get stuck in and muck with pickup Heights. Over the next few days tweak them to get them where you want them

[TmcB]

What were they?

No, crappy soldering won't affect the tone, only if you managed to not connect something.
Longer wires would possibly increase noise and knock some of the top end off.
Since you don't seem convinced with them yet, I'd try and coil the excess somewhere just in case you trim it back too hard.

What value pots are in there? If there's too much twang maybe try lowering the values from 500k to 300k or 250k

As Danny mentioned, pickup heights are pretty crucial with P90's, even more so with the HB sized ones