Was talking to the tech at GC about changing pickups...

I have an MIM Tele, thinking about switching to OV pickups.

While there, I played a 52RI with the OV pickups, which sound great (though I hate the neck on the guitar- eeeesh). He suggested that if I got the pickups redone, I could have them done LIKE the 52RI.

What does that mean? What's the difference between how my 06 MIM is wired and the way a 52RI is wired?

They charge $40 per pickup, which is crazy to me. Might as well learn to do it myself!

Thanks in advance-

You should ask him what he meant. The 52RI comes stock with the original wiring scheme, which is considered by most to be one of the few mistakes Leo ever made and probably 99% of the 52RIs out there get changed to the modern wiring scheme that your '06 has.

So what I'm saying is that what he said doesn't make any sense.

$40 per pickup is a little high, but not totally out of line. $40 is a common hourly charge for electronics work, and he ought to be able to install both of those pickups in an hour.

Changing pickups is easy once you learn to solder. Before you try it on your pickups, go to the Radio Shack and buy a 20-ish watt soldering pencil and some cheap electronic parts to practice on. They often have a cheap bag of capacitors or something.

When I was in college working on an electrical engineering degree, they had a class that was kind of like "intro to what electrical engineers do." It was kind of cool, all project based and no theory. They taught us to solder by turning us loose with a bucket full of scrap parts and told us to sculpt whatever we wanted to. (I'd been soldering since I was 12, but I didn't let on because I wanted the TA to know how cool I was. It didn't work.)

52AV schematic

http://support.fender.com/service_diagrams/telecaster/010-0202C_SISD.pdf

MiM schematic

http://support.fender.com/service_diagrams/telecaster/013-5102B_SISD.pdf

From the Fender website, so they could be considered accurate :wink:

You should ask him what he meant. The 52RI comes stock with the original wiring scheme, which is considered by most to be one of the few mistakes Leo ever made and probably 99% of the 52RIs out there get changed to the modern wiring scheme that your '06 has.

So what I'm saying is that what he said doesn't make any sense.

$40 per pickup is a little high, but not totally out of line. $40 is a common hourly charge for electronics work, and he ought to be able to install both of those pickups in an hour.

Changing pickups is easy once you learn to solder. Before you try it on your pickups, go to the Radio Shack and buy a 20-ish watt soldering pencil and some cheap electronic parts to practice on. They often have a cheap bag of capacitors or something.

When I was in college working on an electrical engineering degree, they had a class that was kind of like "intro to what electrical engineers do." It was kind of cool, all project based and no theory. They taught us to solder by turning us loose with a bucket full of scrap parts and told us to sculpt whatever we wanted to. (I'd been soldering since I was 12, but I didn't let on because I wanted the TA to know how cool I was. It didn't work.)

Thanks for the tips! I especially liked the class you took- I would KILL for a class like that right now! I'm just not much of a hands on, make things with my hands guy. 20 years of guitar and that's the most my hands are useful for-

Soldering electrical or plumbing is a skill that is easy to learn the basic techniques, but you still learn as you go.

Gotta get the objects, as hot as necessary to get the solder to flow, without burning up a component. So practicing is a really good idea.

Tinning is where you get the solder points hot enough to leave a deposit of solder on the object, like a wire end or pot, This makes the jobs a lot easier.

I use a little hotter iron than many, but they are quick and I have soldered a lot.

52AV schematic

http://support.fender.com/service_diagrams/telecaster/010-0202C_SISD.pdf

MiM schematic

http://support.fender.com/service_diagrams/telecaster/013-5102B_SISD.pdf

From the Fender website, so they could be considered accurate :wink:

Thanks! I don't have a clue what I'm looking at, but a good place to start learning!

OH!!! I see! The Neck/no tone is ridiculous! Holy crap why would you want that??

OH!!! I see! The Neck/no tone is ridiculous! Holy crap why would you want that??
I think the original concept was to be able to mimic the sound of a bass. (prior to the development of the electric bass)
They only wire the RI's that way in order to maintain historical accuracy, but most people switch it out asap.

Here is a good intro to reading schematics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cps7Q_IrX0

And I am sure that you can find a great soldering video online as well. There is an art to it, but it is pretty easy to pick up. The first thing I soldered was a pong game. Then a telephone kit. Now I work on all kinds of things... It can be frustrating at times, and you will get singed fingers, but that is all part of it. :)

I think the original concept was to be able to mimic the sound of a bass. (prior to the development of the electric bass)
They only wire the RI's that way in order to maintain historical accuracy, but most people switch it out asap.

Makes all kind of sense! Not for me, certainly, but for the time. Thanks, Flemtone!