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I’ve been working on guitars for a long time and to this day I still make a schematic drawing of where all the wires go and how the switches and potentiometers are hooked up. I even make a tracing of a pickguard and as I remove the screws and hardware I push the screw in…

The easiest way I’ve found to lift a potentiometer back through the hole is to remove an eraser from a wooden pencil and insert the pencil through the hole where the pot is to be replaced. Carefully push the end of the pencil with eraser removed over the knurled pot shaft and carefully lift it…

You can get more treble of your existing pickup by increasing the magnetic field by using a stronger magnet or re-magnetizing the existing magnet or moving the pickup closer to the bridge to change the harmonic string vibration. If you decide to alter the pickup, you can use less turns per coil or use a…

First I would turn the treble control counter clock-wise to knock off the high end of a pickup. You can also solder one side of a capacitor to the hot terminal of a pickup and solder the other side to ground. I would start with low values until you find the desire roll-off. A typical…

I would use a soldering iron that contains no coil to heat the tip or soldering element. The coil type soldering guns can demagnetize the magnet within the pickup. I like using a Weller Controlled Output Station with three temperatures from 600? F, 700? F and 800? F. I use 600? F the most for…

Solder is a combination of tin and lead and has the capability of melting at relatively low temperatures. I’ve always used a 60/40 solder that is 60 percent tin and 40 percent lead and becomes liquid at about 370° F. A 50/50 solder requires about 420°F. All solders when going from solid to liquid change…

Adding a dummy coil to another pickup is usually done to make the working single coil pickup humbucking or quieter in the instrument. Some companies use the pickup directly under the strings without using pole pieces and others rout a cavity away from the proximity of the strings. Using a dummy coil the DC resistance…

By connecting desired value capacitor in parallel or from hot connection to ground will reduce the amount of treble in a pickup. By connecting a desired value capacitor in series with the hot connection can reduce the bottom end in a pickup and make a pickup sound thinner.

I believe leaning your guitar next to large speakers with strong magnets can affect the magnetic field in your pickups. I also believe amplifiers with large transformers can radiate large magnetic fields which is often heard as “hum” in your instrument can effect the magnetic field in your pickups. Prolonged exposure to stronger magnetic fields…

The large coils used in several model soldering guns can demagnetize and change the polarity of the pickup. I always recommend using a soldering iron because they don’t have a large coil that can effect the pickup. When using a soldering gun, you can actually feel the pickup vibrate which can change the magnetic field.