How Hard Is It To Change Pickups On A Guitar
I just went through the whole process of changing my pickups and wanted to help share the knowledge if any of you are looking to do so. Before doing this, I had wondered how hard it was to change pickups on my guitar and wanted to break it all down for you here!
Here’s my 72' MIM Reissue telecaster post pickup change!
Hey guys! I wanted to write this post because I just went through the whole process of changing my pickups and wanted to help share the knowledge if any of you are looking to do so!
Use my code HALEYTONE for 10% off Lambertones pickups!
I have two sets of Lambertones pickups and absolutely love both of them! I truly feel like they have upgraded my guitars completely and have made a massive difference in my tone. I would highly recommend changing out your pickups if you have a guitar that plays well and you love the feel of, but it isn’t the most expensive guitar or one that would be gig or studio worthy (yet!).
Watch my YouTube video about the process of changing my stock pickups out for Lambertones Cremas here!
For my first pickup change, I got the Triple Shots which are Lambertones’s single coils. This was my first time doing anything pickup-related and I used an old Squier my husband had in high school because I didn’t want to use the Stratocaster I use most regularly (which is a bummer because now I want to put those pickups on my main strat!). I took it to Guitar Center and they were super nice there! They actually let me watch them put the pickups on and went through all the details of the process so I could do it myself next time.
The second pickup change I did was with the Lambertones Cremas (humbuckers) on my ‘72 reissue Fender Telecaster. This guitar plays so well and already sounded pretty good! I wanted to make it sound amazing though so for Christmas, my husband bought me this pickguard with the pickups already fit in it (I guess that for this Tele the normal pickguard wouldn’t fit around the pickups). He engraved this super sweet note in it too which just makes it all the more special. :)
Before I go into more, let me just say, both of these changes were absolutely worth it!
The reason I decided to change my pickups was that I wanted to give my guitars an upgrade that costs way less than a super expensive guitar.
More of an Acoustic Player?
Check out my beginner acoustic course, Acoustic Booster, for a fun way of getting to know your guitar better!
A bit about my guitar repair/tech skills
I had never done any soldering before this and knew very little about anything under the pickguard. Like I mentioned earlier, I did go to Guitar Center for the first pickup change and watched them go through everything (I’m a kinesthetic learner though, so I still didn’t feel confident after this). Going somewhere like this was nice because they have their repair desk out in the open, rather than taking it to a back room where you can’t see what’s going on. I didn’t have any background soldering and didn’t know how to use a solder (or even know the fact that solder is both a noun and a verb!). I had a basic idea about how things looked but didn’t know exactly how it was all connected. So, all in all, I would say I was a bit of a noob about all things guitar repair, but not totally clueless!
Been obsessed with this guitar since the change!
Benefits of changing your Pickups yourself or taking them into a guitar repair store
Benefits of having someone else change them:
Saves a good bit of time!
You don’t need to worry about messing anything up
Might be able to learn from someone so you can do it yourself the next time
You won’t need to buy any tools/ materials for the change
Benefits of changing them yourself:
Save money (it cost me about $70 at Guitar Center for them to change them)
Learn a lot about the inner workings of your guitar so if something ever goes wrong, you’ll know what’s going on
Interesting to learn how to change them and feel like a boss soldering
Build up your toolbox of guitar repair tools
Wanting to get into Electric Guitar?
Download my FREE electric guitar starter guide to get everthing you need to begin here!
If you have decided you want to change them yourself, read on!
Alright, you’ve decided to take a stab at changing out your pickups yourself! Woo! I’m going to share with you now the top things I wish I knew, had seen, and helped so you can get it all right the first time you change them!
Make sure you don’t miss out on a 10% Lambertones discount with my code HALEYTONE!
Tools you will need to change out pickups:
Soldering Iron
Solder (the actually metal you will melt!)
Screwdrivers (I just used this mini toolkit of screwdrivers)
Soft surface (aka blanket or towel!) preferably one that’s not a chunky knit or things could get caught in it
Sponge (to clean soldering iron)
Pliers/ hemostats
Loose jack tightener (Like this one for the input jack)
Strings/string winder
Digital multimeter (I didn’t use this but you could if you wanted to see the pickup voltage before and after to make sure it works before screwing things back in)
I liked this article here for step by step instructions on how to do this, and especially liked their tools list!
What are the deets on the soldering?
So will soldering, you basically melt the metal solder (it like a thick silver wire) and use it as glue for your wires! You DON’T want to solder directly on the pots (the underside of the tone and volume knobs) because you can ruin them.
Other tips include:
Keep your soldering iron clean by wiping it on a sponge
Don’t leave your solder on there too long and make sure you do some tests to make sure you feel good about the technique
Make sure your soldering iron actually works
Use those pliers and don’t get burnt!
Label your wire with a piece of tape (like neck/middle/bridge so you don’t accidentally solder them to the wrong spots!)
I liked this video for the best tips!
What I did wrong/ What happened:
I did a few things wrong when I was doing this!
1) First thing, I didn’t realize I needed to buy solder because I thought it was already going to be on the pickups and I could just melt it! Good thing I didn’t fry my pots!
2) My solder broke! I had a Weller flat tip solder (which I also later realized that a cone tip soldering iron would have been better) and it was only heating up on the side and not the tip. Since I hadn’t used one before, I wasn’t sure if it was broken or if I was forgetting to set something up or doing something wrong.
3) The wiring wasn’t fit for my guitar body type. Since my Tele was a vintage reissue, the particular pickguard wiring was too tight to fit around a groove in my guitar!
The wires on my pickguard would not stretch around this little groove!
What happened:
Because of these above issues, I decided after getting 3/4 of the way through that I would take it into a guitar store to have them finish it up for me because I didn’t want to buy a new soldering iron, and because the wiring issue felt more complex than what I felt comfortable doing myself (Also quick rant — when I went to a certain vintage guitar store in Nashville to get help with my pickups, the guy at the front desk saw me and my guitar and immediately assumed I was there for a string change (which was one of the earliest things I learned to do as a guitarist), instead of thinking I was a normal guitarist with an actual issue. Rude!! Even if I had needed help with my strings it was pretty obvious he wouldn't have asked a dude that… Anyway…)
I got my guitar back and screwed on the pickguard and it was perfect! I had to adjust my pedals to make the new brighter pickups not sound TOO bright, and overall the sound of my guitar just is a lot cleaner, louder, and cuts through more which I LOVE! I’m really happy about the change!
Me and my child :)
Do I think you could do this if you are not a super tech-y person?
After learning a lot and going through the above issues and watching the full pickup change the first time, and then doing the pickguard/more simple pickup switch the next time, I actually don’t think changing pickups is that difficult! If I had I had normal equipment that didn’t break and everything else had been normal, really it’s just about following directions. I think technical guitar things like this can seem a lot more daunting and like they require a lot more skill knowledge than they actually do once you get going!
Love the control knobs on the new pickguard!
My biggest tips if you want to try changing the pickups yourself:
1) Read ALL the directions before you start
2) Check your equipment works before you start
3) Plan more time than you think
4) Watch a few different videos and tutorials before you dive in
Here are a few resources on changing pickups I found helpful:
3) Fender’s tutorial on changing out single coils for humbuckers
Overall, I hope this was helpful if you are trying to decide if you want to change out your pickups yourself! Comment below if you have any tips, advice, stories etc on pickup changing. Thank you tons for reading! :)
