Pickup with short lead

[spauldingrules]

Question - I recently obtained a Dimarzio Breed 4 conductor pickup.  The leads are too short - should I just solder "extension" wires to the ends of each lead?  Or do I need to do surgery and reconnect leads to the coils?

 

[willyk]

Soldering extensions will work. Use heat shrink tape to insulate and support the joins.

 

[DiMitriR33]

make sure your guitar is well sheilded were the extentions are or wrap them in metal foil making sure th metal foil is grounded.

 

[Alfang]

make sure your guitar is well sheilded were the extentions are or wrap them in metal foil making sure th metal foil is grounded.

LOL, why?

 

[dbw]

make sure your guitar is well sheilded were the extentions are or wrap them in metal foil making sure th metal foil is grounded.

LOL, why?

Is that a real question?  Because if the wire isn't shielded along its whole length it'll hum. 

 

[ildar]

Ir's debatable whether the foil needs to be grounded. The pickup the op has is 4-conductor, with a built-in ground wire. If the cavity is shielded, that should be sufficient. Shielded wire is usually only necessary for long wire runs, for example from a toggle switch to the pots in an LP.

 

[Alfang]

I've built many guitars and have never used shielded wire, my guitas don't hum. in fact a lot of pickups on the market don't use shielded wire, they use the cloth covered "Push Back" wire. but if he want to wrap foil arround it, that's up to him.

 

[confederatewk]

solder he connection

then use 3 wraps fully over the soldered joint going beyond the soldered joint in both areas, do not use lead solder
and then heatshrink it, it doesnt really need to be grounding, but the aluminum foil wrapped at the soldered joint makes a difference, and u have to do it with each conductorh