Members Jazzer2020 Posted March 4, 2022 Members Share Posted March 4, 2022 Hi Folks I could use a few tips here. I am removing one pickup (bridge) from a double pickup archtop. I've done this before, and it's worked, but the cuts were crude. I'd like to know the best way to do it. The two pickups are connected by grounding wire soldered to the pots. Where should I make the cuts? Any desoldering needed? I've removed the neck pickup on several guitars with no regrets. So little chance of ever putting it back in. Not selling this baby! I have the pickup loose now, and the pots/jack are out dangling. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jtr654 Posted March 5, 2022 Members Share Posted March 5, 2022 Pics would help. Why remove it just plaY THROUGH THE NECK PICKUP. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badpenguin Posted March 5, 2022 Members Share Posted March 5, 2022 17 hours ago, Jazzer2020 said: Hi Folks I could use a few tips here. I am removing one pickup (bridge) from a double pickup archtop. I've done this before, and it's worked, but the cuts were crude. I'd like to know the best way to do it. The two pickups are connected by grounding wire soldered to the pots. Where should I make the cuts? Any desoldering needed? I've removed the neck pickup on several guitars with no regrets. So little chance of ever putting it back in. Not selling this baby! I have the pickup loose now, and the pots/jack are out dangling. Thanks! yes, it's best to pull ALL the pots and the output jack, and de-solder everything. But like the above said, why not leave it alone, and not use the bridge pickup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jazzer2020 Posted March 5, 2022 Author Members Share Posted March 5, 2022 Thanks for helping out guys. I'll answer your questions and explain what I did. The two main reasons I opt to remove the unused pickup and its pots are: 1. Decrease the weight of the guitar 2. Improve the sound of the guitar I often stand when I play my guitars and even reducing the weight by a few ounces can make a noticeable difference to playing comfort. By removing the pickup and its pots I decreased the weight of my guitar by 239 gm (.52 lbs). That is substantial! And I'm not finished yet. For now I am, but I will eventually replace the tailpiece which is unnecessarily heavy. Heck, I've replaced the machine heads and even buttons on them on my acoustic guitars to lighten the guitars. I strung up the guitar last night after cutting out the pickup and pots and immediately noticed an improvement in sound. The sound was more "acoustic" and had that nice Gibson acoustic pop sound which I love (as opposed to solid body sound). I ended up cutting out the parts. One reason was because this guitar was made, strangely, with encapsulated pots! I had never seen that before in all my life. After cutting the parts out I noticed I could have unsoldered the caps, but it was easier just to cut the wires. So that's it in nutshell. Now my next move will be to cut some wood to fill the pickup hole and paint it to match the guitar top. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badpenguin Posted March 5, 2022 Members Share Posted March 5, 2022 Ok, the "encapsulated pots" tells me it was an Aria made in the late 70's. I get why and what you are doing, but it's so much easier to just BUY what you need. And you aren't defacing a guitar I would probably love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jazzer2020 Posted March 5, 2022 Author Members Share Posted March 5, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, badpenguin said: Ok, the "encapsulated pots" tells me it was an Aria made in the late 70's. I get why and what you are doing, but it's so much easier to just BUY what you need. And you aren't defacing a guitar I would probably love. Actually it's a Gibson ES-175 1968. Of course it would be much easier to buy what I need. But I make many impulse buys when I'm at a specialty guitar store. I have rarely if ever regretted those buys. Sometimes months, sometimes years after I make these buys I get around to customizing the guitar to the way I would like it to be. In this case I bought the guitar at least 3-4 years ago (still the original flat-wound strings) and I had the urge to lighten it up after thinking how many times I've used the neck pickup (0 times). The removal of the neck pickup has proven awesome once again. I forgot to mention I also removed the pick guard. When I replace the tailpiece I will have shaved off closeto a pound in total! Yeah I admit I'm a bit weird and unconventional. Edited March 5, 2022 by Jazzer2020 More details Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted March 6, 2022 Moderators Share Posted March 6, 2022 17 hours ago, Jazzer2020 said: Actually it's a Gibson ES-175 1968. Of course it would be much easier to buy what I need. But I make many impulse buys when I'm at a specialty guitar store. I have rarely if ever regretted those buys. Sometimes months, sometimes years after I make these buys I get around to customizing the guitar to the way I would like it to be. In this case I bought the guitar at least 3-4 years ago (still the original flat-wound strings) and I had the urge to lighten it up after thinking how many times I've used the neck pickup (0 times). The removal of the neck pickup has proven awesome once again. I forgot to mention I also removed the pick guard. When I replace the tailpiece I will have shaved off closeto a pound in total! Yeah I admit I'm a bit weird and unconventional. sacrilege! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jazzer2020 Posted March 6, 2022 Author Members Share Posted March 6, 2022 13 minutes ago, daddymack said: sacrilege! Yeah I felt the same way when I first saw Metheny's hack job on his Gibson pickup. But eventually I got over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted March 7, 2022 Moderators Share Posted March 7, 2022 Back to the original question: I would un-solder all the leads from the pick-up at the pots. Don't cut anything. If you are removing the switch to save weight, you have some rewire work to do...otherwise you have a 'kill-switch'.... Then please pack that pickup in a nice cardboard box, and ship it to me. PM me when it is ready. I will find it a good home. I won't ask it where the 'bad man touched it'.😉 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jazzer2020 Posted March 7, 2022 Author Members Share Posted March 7, 2022 11 hours ago, daddymack said: Back to the original question: I would un-solder all the leads from the pick-up at the pots. Don't cut anything. If you are removing the switch to save weight, you have some rewire work to do...otherwise you have a 'kill-switch'.... Then please pack that pickup in a nice cardboard box, and ship it to me. PM me when it is ready. I will find it a good home. I won't ask it where the 'bad man touched it'.😉 Thanks daddym. If you read the post carefully you will see I fixed the problem already.I'll be keeping the switch as a kill-switch (same as I did on several other guitars). I'll be keeping the pickup for future generations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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