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13
Install the pickups
Temporarily attach the pickguard to the body with a few
screws and place one of the pickups upside down into the
routs on the pickguard. The neck pickup has the letter “N”
stamped on the bottom. The bridge pickup is stamped “B”.
Run one of the mounting screws through the holes in the
pickup using light pressure to mark out the proper location
in the body. Note: you may need to press through the inner
wax coating to get the screws through the pickup.
Remove the pickguard and pickups. Drill pilot holes 1/4"
deep using a 1/16" drill bit.
Mount the pickups to the body. The springs packaged with
the screws are meant to go between the pickups and the
bottom of the pickup routs.
Wire the pickups
If the switch has lead wires attached, detach and discard
them. You'll connect the pickup leads directly to the switch
instead.
Trim the neck pickup lead to 7" long. (The neck pickup has
the letter "N" stamped on the bottom.)
Twist the strands of the braided shield together; this is the
pickup's ground lead. Heat this braid with your soldering iron
and melt a little solder into it. This is called "tinning" the lead.
Strip 1/8" of insulation from the white (hot) and tin it also.
Solder this hot lead to the switch's neck position lug—the
lug that's closer to the neck when the pickguard is installed.
Solder the braided ground wire to the side of the switch
body as shown.
Trim the bridge pickup lead to 9" long. (The bridge pickup
is stamped "B".) Tin the ground and hot leads as you did for
the neck pickup. Solder the hot lead to the switch's bridge
position lug, and solder the braided ground to the body of
the switch.
Feed the ground wire through the hole leading into the
spring cavity and install the pickguard.
For tips on soldering, see our Trade Secrets video #0186 “How
to get a good clean solder joint!” at stewmac.com.
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