Installing P-rails pickups experience

Continuing on the post of from my Youtube Video on installing the pickup, I'm going to share the experience of installing these pickups. Before anything, you will need to look at the wiring diagram of the type of connection you want to do. Plenty of options can be done from here.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/

I'm using

http://www.seymourduncan.com/images/support/schematics/2_prails_2v_2t_tspp.jpg

From the diagram in the above link you will need 2x 500k push/pull pots, connector cables and some solder wire. Also you will need to have a soldering iron and basic tools (screwdrivers, pliers, wrenches....) and some experience in soldering. If you haven't done much soldering, don't worry because it is as easy as using a glue gun, only you're sticking metal with metal and its hotter.

You should check the pickups if there are any defects or loose cables. Once you are satisfied,you will need to first remove the strings, then open the pickup and control cavity covers. Next comes the part where you will need to dismantle the connector cables of the pots. Heat up your solder iron and once it is hot enough, touch the tip of the solder to the cable and the pin until the solder becomes loose and you will just need to pull the cable free. When all the connectors are free, you can pull the pickup out from there respective cavities. Repeat for the second pickup. Replace the volume (or tone) knobs with the push/pull knobs.

The next step is to install the P-rails pickups. This is the most difficult part in the process as you will need to thread the cables through a hole the width of a pen and the length is the same as a pen (very long relatively). The default pickups comes with only two conductor cables whereas most new pickups comes with four. I still haven't found the best way of doing this except pushing the cables with your pliers very, very slowly. This took me a couple of hours.

Once you get those cables through, just solder them as illustrated in the wiring diagram. It is recommended to have a multimeter to check for conductivity but if you don't, you can install one string, pick it and hope that it sounds on all the coils and humbucker configurations. This may take some time but once it is completed, string up your guitar, pat yourself on the back and jam. This is the most flexible pickup there is and you will only need this guitar for any style of music. Cheers.

For people who would like to have a ready made P-rails guitar, check out the LTD PB-500. Be sure it's the one with the P-rails as they have others without.




PS, if you have a P-rails installed, post them here :)