Changing pickups

[Eric Howard]

Sorry if this is already posted. I really did try a search first.

I've got a Fender acoustic-electric and would like to change out the pickup. Are there any tutorials out there that would show how? My main concern is how in the world to get everything threaded back through the body. I know my hands won't fit through the hole for the pickup. Is there some special tool (e.g., forceps) required?

[Tom Wright]

If it is the single-pickup FM-52E, you don't need to do anything to the wiring except splice into the existing output lead. When you lift the pickguard, you can cut the lead to give you enough to patch into.

But I think the stock pickup is pretty good, with the exception that it needs to be tinkered with to compensate for the weak E. I took mine out, removed the back plate for access, and pushed the E pole up through the coil, making it about 3/16" higher. Not pretty, as I simply taped the pickup back together, but effective. A ground wire from output jack to tailpiece helps reduce hum. I wrapped an E string under the jack washer and tightened the tailpiece bracket over it.

Steve Ryder makes a ready-to-go pickup assembly, and his stacked-single-coil humbucker is a fine item that has excellent hum cancellation. SoundfarmerPete at Almuse is developing a replacement, also.

[jschall84]

I was going to post on your other thread, but ill post here. I think your buzzing issue is not the pickup, but an internal ground issue. Any local guitar luthier would be able to figure out the ground issue. Every part of the electronic need to have its ground connected. I'm guessing by you notes that you are lacking a ground to your tailpiece. If you take the tailpiece and the endpin off, im sure you will see a bare wire that should be attached. It simply needs to be touching the metal on your tailpiece to ground your strings. If no wire is there, you need to run one from the tailpiece to the the ground on either one of the pots or on the jack. If that is all in place, check that the ground on the pickup is attached to a pot. Then the pot needs to be grounded to any other pots, and then to the jack. Your pickup may still be bad, but I have worked on lots of instruments with ground humming and I think this will solve your problem. Good luck and post updates.

[PT66]

Do the strings need to be grounded? They really aren't part of the electronics. I have never grounded the strings on my electric mandolins. (14 in all)

[mandroid]

Do the strings need to be grounded?

Yes.. the tailpiece is typically what the ground wire is attached
a screw that holds the TP down..
With solid body type bridge , that is where the ground wire goes.

[PT66]

Why do the strings need to be grounded? What part of the ciruit do the function as? My emandos have all had wooden bridges and most have wooden stop bar tailpieces. Nothing to hook a ground wire to.

[Ed Goist]

Why do the strings need to be grounded? What part of the ciruit do the function as? My emandos have all had wooden bridges and most have wooden stop bar tailpieces. Nothing to hook a ground wire to.

Thorough discussion of this on another forum. Interesting stuff, I did not know that string grounding was recommended either.

[rico mando]

[Soundfarmer Pete]

Why do the strings need to be grounded? What part of the ciruit do the function as? My emandos have all had wooden bridges and most have wooden stop bar tailpieces. Nothing to hook a ground wire to.

Piezos seem to function quite happily without a ground wire........magnetics on the other hand behave a bit like an aerial!

[PT66]

I am using EMG select humbukers wooden bridge and wooden tailblock. No ground to the strings and no hum.

[jschall84]

I am using EMG select humbukers wooden bridge and wooden tailblock. No ground to the strings and no hum.

EMG pickups tend to be much much quieter than other pickups, especially single coils.

[mandroid]

ground and circuit return contact are combined on TR cables , so maybe the pickup is OK with that.

[Eric Howard]

Thanks for all the replies, everybody. I am embarrassed to bring this up, but so far no one has answered my original question, which was, "how do I fish all the electronics back through the body?" In retrospect, I should have described the problem more fully. The wires from the pot to the output jack got twisted and broken, so they have to be replaced. I figured that, as long as I've got the thing completely pulled apart, that it would be nice to replace the single coil with a stacked humbucker.

So again, what's the best way to get the electronics back in there? Forceps? Elastic man fingers would be really cool, but I don't know anyone with those kind of super powers.

[jschall84]

All you need are needle nose pliers and a lot of patience. Getting stuff out is easy, getting it back in is a pain. Good luck!

[Soundfarmer Pete]

With one of those f hole mandos, as with guitars, the best way is to pre-wire your circuit then get a few peces of strong thread.
Tie a large nut (bigger than the hole for the socket or pot) to one end and a small nut to the other.
Put the small nut through the socket hole, hold the mando vertically neck down then feed the thread through the hole. When it`s visible through the pickup hole, pull it out and remove the nut. Put the thread through the socket and tie on a larger nut.
Repeat with the pots but this time, tie the thread tight to the narrow part of the shaft below the spline.
If you`ve manage to do this without too many tangles, gently pull on the thread to pull the electronics roughly into position.
One at a time, pull the parts through the holes, cut the thread allowing plenty to hold onto, put the thread through the nuts, slide the nuts over the pots and socket and tighten first with fingers then box spanner. Finally, install pickup......shouldn`t take too long and it`s less than half the work of an ES335.......hope this helps.
CheeryBye

[Eric Howard]

That was a very practical answer. Thanks, "Soundfarmer Pete!" I appreciate it very much.

[Eric Howard]

I just checked out Pete's website, almuse.co.uk. Very cool.

[mandroid]

what's the best way to get the electronics back in there?

yea like Pete's thing .. (but shorter)
think 'ship in a bottle' .. use string/fishing line, etc,

running from/thru, the hole you want the thing to go to,

passed thru the path it needs to go, inside,

tied to the piece you want to go there , and pull it into place.