LTD EC1000 Active to Passive change

[Nameless164]

So I've got a SD Hotrodded set to install into my EC1000, but I'm having problems.

Before people ask, I went for the active version because I wanted the ebony fretboard and not rosewood, so I figured changing the pickups would be easier than living with a fretboard I don't like.

I figured.

Turns out it's not. I picked up a liberator to make life easier and I only require 1 volume knob so the other 2 will be disconnected and sit there for aesthetics.

This is my first guitar with EMGs, and not only am I not happy with changing batteries and the tone itself, guitars wired for EMGs apparently don't come grounded. ****ing brilliant. I don't exactly fancy taking apart my entire guitar because before I learnt about this grounding crap, changing the pickups was relatively straight forward and apparently finding an answer actually relevant to me is damn near impossible on the internets.

Can someone tell me in a straight forward manner... Speak to me like someone who has NO experience with this **** (because it turns out I don't).

Has anyone here ever changed the EMGs in an LTD to passive SeDuncs? Is it's the EC1000 then that's even better.

What did you do? Explain every excruciating detail. I'd would rather live with EMGs than be drilling holes into a brand new guitar that is the most expensive thing I have ever bought.

[Nameless164]

I've just done some reading and for my set up in this wiring diagram it says to solder to a ground on the Liberator itself.

This got me thinking, would this count as the ground that people recommend to prevent noise? Would this prevent noise in the same way that drilling a wire into the saddle would?

[dreadguard268]

I did this but took it to a tech. He said that he had to pull the bridge post and drill a hole from there into the cavity in order to ground the bridge. He did the whole thing, which included changing the pups, drilling for the ground wire, drilling out the control holes and all the wireing. Charged me $125, I'm not sure if that's worth it or not, but that way I didn't have to do it myself...this being my go to guitar I didn't fancy taking a drill to it.

[Nameless164]

I did this but took it to a tech. He said that he had to pull the bridge post and drill a hole from there into the cavity in order to ground the bridge. He did the whole thing, which included changing the pups, drilling for the ground wire, drilling out the control holes and all the wireing. Charged me $125, I'm not sure if that's worth it or not, but that way I didn't have to do it myself...this being my go to guitar I didn't fancy taking a drill to it.

Unfortunately there isn't anyone nearby to do that for me (I rely on online shopping) and I'd rather not drill into the guitar myself. Are we absolutely sure that the solderable ground on the liberator won't fix any possible hum that could occur?

Fingers crossed it does stop hum.

[MojoMonster]

If you were careful, you could always snake ground wire on the top of the guitar, from a bridge post, through the bridge pickup route into the control cavity.

But, yea, you should drill a hole to the bridge or tailpiece post and run a wire from there.

Fingers crossed it does stop hum.

No, sorry.
There needs to be a mechanical attachment between the strings, since you are touching them, and the pots(or in your case, the jack).

[Dr.K]

I did this with a Michael Kelly Patriot Premium and it turned out great. You have to pull a bridge post and drill a hole inside to do it so it can't be seen. Use a softer peice of wood with a hole, just so the post can pull through it to pull the post, so you don't damage the finish.

[Nameless164]

So if that soldering for ground on the liberator itself won't stop hum... What is it for?

I got everything else sorted I know what's going where, but that grounding part is where I get lost..

[MojoMonster]

So if that soldering for ground on the liberator itself won't stop hum... What is it for?

Effectively, it's the back of the volume pot.
Easiest thing to do, in your case, is wire the ground from the bridge post to the output jack.

I got everything else sorted I know what's going where, but that grounding part is where I get lost..

It's easy to do. I learned about ground loops when I wired up my first Jimmy Page mod.

[Nameless164]

Effectively, it's the back of the volume pot.

Ah that makes sense...

Easiest thing to do, in your case, is wire the ground from the bridge post to the output jack. It's easy to do. I learned about ground loops when I wired up my first Jimmy Page mod.

Any good sources for a very safe guide? I have the tools and I want to do this, but I want as little room for ****ing up as possible.

[Nameless164]

According to some lucky ones... Their EC1000s came with a ground wire already installed but not connected. I had a route around looking for the same mysterious black wire but unfortunately mine didn't have one. Looks like I'm doing some drilling.

[Snoogles]

i had an EC1000 with the emgs, and i changed them to passives

i found there WAS already a ground wire from the bridge into the electronics cavity.
don't know why it was there. maybe they just do that automatically
but you might want to check if there already is a ground wire

you've probably already been told that you need new pots as well. 500k

[Bfeeney]

I'd drill a hole into the bridge post area to run the ground, the way it should be. Don't be intimidated by a drill. If you take the necessary precautions you'll be fine. Take the drill and hold it where you want to drill, if the chuck is anywhere close to a painted part then take masking tape and put like 5 layers where it could hit. You'll damage the tape and not the guitar. Really it isn't hard, don't be skerd!

[Nameless164]

i had an EC1000 with the emgs, and i changed them to passives

i found there WAS already a ground wire from the bridge into the electronics cavity.
don't know why it was there. maybe they just do that automatically
but you might want to check if there already is a ground wire

you've probably already been told that you need new pots as well. 500k

I got myself a Liberator as I only need the one pot (500k) and the other two will sit there disconnected to just look nice. Where specifically was the ground wire? I've looked in the control cavity but I can't see any wire going unused.

[MojoMonster]

Any good sources for a very safe guide? I have the tools and I want to do this, but I want as little room for ****ing up as possible.

Honestly, it was something I figured out from reading these forums.
I was getting a lot of noise from the initial job I'd done and someone mentioned ground loops.
I'd also built an amp in the meantime and there's a lot of strong opinions about proper grounding.
The only thing you need to worry about, really, when doing this DIY soldering/wiring thing is to not use so much heat that you kill a pot or a capacitor.
And try not to burn yourself too much.

If you don't know how to solder well, find a good tutorial on YouTube and practice.
My dad worked for the local electric company so I pretty much knew how to solder from early on.

Don't be shy about asking questions and post pics if you can.

[MojoMonster]

I got myself a Liberator as I only need the one pot (500k) and the other two will sit there disconnected to just look nice. Where specifically was the ground wire? I've looked in the control cavity but I can't see any wire going unused.

If there is one, it will be coming out of a hole in the side of the control cavity pretty much inline with the nearest bridge post.

[Nameless164]

Here's a set of pics of the innards of my guitar excluding the pickup selector which doesn't have anything interesting side apart from the switch and 3 wires leading down to the main cavity. The interesting wire is in the last pic which is fairly mystery to me.

[Bfeeney]

The red wires? That is the power wires. 2 wires coming out of the hole the pickup wires are and 1 wire coming from the battery cavity? Power wires.

[Snoogles]

I got myself a Liberator as I only need the one pot (500k) and the other two will sit there disconnected to just look nice. Where specifically was the ground wire? I've looked in the control cavity but I can't see any wire going unused.

i would say pull out the bushing for the stop bar and see if there's a hole that leads to the electronics cavity. or check the electronics cavity for a hole that doesn't have a wire going through it

[Nameless164]

The red wires? That is the power wires. 2 wires coming out of the hole the pickup wires are and 1 wire coming from the battery cavity? Power wires.

That's what I figured.. I guess mine didn't come pre-wired

[Nameless164]

Right. I grounded my guitar fine, no problems drilling placing the wire BUT...

I ****ed the guitar up wiring it in.

No sound. Nothing.

Seymour Duncan Hotrodded set.
Seymour Duncan Liberator pot (which by the way I had to actually drill the volume hole to fit it).
1 volume knob.
Toggle selector.

Basically it's an LTD EC1000 changed to fit passive pickups with a single volume knob.

Could one of you draw me some instructions. PRECISE. INSTRUCTIONS.

The Seymour Duncan instructions (even the specific ones) are not good enough. I am a ****ing retard. Explain this to me so I can play my god damn guitar. Please. I've just spent £900 which I could only get through selling all of my old gear. I have NO money. I cannot afford and do not even have the necessary means to send this to a professional.