new gibson ccontrol cavity circuit board CRAP

[jason lollar]

Anyone personally taken a look at this? Is the green wire from the pickup lead attached to the braided shield and black is just the center conductor? Is the quick connector something a customer with little soldering experience could reconnect to without burning it up or would it be better to splice into upstream an inch or two?

[Jim Shine]

Wow! I haven't seen one of those yet! Do the leads on the pickups just push into the connectors? Or are the connectors soldered or crimped on?

[David Schwab]

The green is soloed to the shield. The black is the center conductor.

There were some mentions of the connector types used on those on the forum.

If you want to switch pickups, and can't get connectors, cut the wire an inch or two from the connector and slice the new pickup on there.

From a manufacturing point of view, the use of a circuit board is a great idea. You have all your wiring right there.

The new Taylor electrics also use a circuit board.

[David King]

Jason it sure looks that way. Can you find out that the connector part # is and just sell pickups with the connector already installed with the proper lead length? Seems like the smartest way to go but you'll want to up-charge for your trouble. You're saving the customer a professional installation or a bit of soldering.
If they want to save the $$ and do it themselves, just send them a length of heat-shrink tubing to replace the piece they're going to cut off.
I'm, betting those connectors are crimped-on, not solderable.

[David Schwab]

I'm, betting those connectors are crimped-on, not solderable.

I agree. That's usually the case.

[Jim Shine]

Okay, so, other than topped Les Pauls with the large channel routed through the body, how are they getting these things down into the cavity? Or is it installed after the pickups are in?

[David Schwab]

Okay, so, other than topped Les Pauls with the large channel routed through the body, how are they getting these things down into the cavity? Or is it installed after the pickups are in?

I don't know if they are using them on other guitars, but that's a good question.

[big_teee]

Looks Like More stuff to go wrong.
What does the Tech do if a Pot goes bad or you want to try a different Cap?
Maybe that's the Time to Rip it all out and Put in Real Hardware! WTF?
B_T

[Jim Shine]

It looks like standard components. The pots appear to be simply soldered to the board. The caps look to be connected to the connectors, so changing would not be hard. It obviously is a way to reduce wiring issues (probably cold solder joints and incomplete grounds).

I just question the honking connectors that would not fit through most wire holes. Is Gibson attempting to sway people away from changing the pickups in their guitars? If they make it difficult, some people just wont bother.

[big_teee]

Is Gibson attempting to sway people away from changing the pickups in their guitars? If they make it difficult, some people just wont bother.

Maybe, or Provide Reasons to buy something else!
T

[David Schwab]

Is Gibson attempting to sway people away from changing the pickups in their guitars? If they make it difficult, some people just wont bother.

Why would Gibson bother to make a guitar easy to change parts on? That's not part of their plan on building guitars. They expect you to use what came in the guitar.

I sure don't build instruments assuming that someone is going to change the pickups I put in it. If I had my way I'd use totally unique parts that don't have direct replacements. This is not to dissuade people from changing parts, but because it would be truer to the design of the instrument. I really hate having to use parts some other company designed.

I think people got used to their being a lot of after market pickups in common shapes, but no manufacturer makes their products with the intent that someone is going to change the pickups or whatever. These were proprietary parts when Gibson first made them, and there were no direct replacements. Same was true of Fender. Now these are "standard" size parts, but that wasn't the plan.

[big_teee]

Why would Gibson bother to make a guitar easy to change parts on? That's not part of their plan on building guitars. They expect you to use what came in the guitar.

I sure don't build instruments assuming that someone is going to change the pickups I put in it. If I had my way I'd use totally unique parts that don't have direct replacements. This is not to dissuade people from changing parts, but because it would be truer to the design of the instrument. I really hate having to use parts some other company designed.

I think people got used to their being a lot of after market pickups in common shapes, but no manufacturer makes their products with the intent that someone is going to change the pickups or whatever. These were proprietary parts when Gibson first made them, and there were no direct replacements. Same was true of Fender. Now these are "standard" size parts, but that wasn't the plan.

Same with Detroit.
Instead of standardizing Parts, They were Literally, Constantly Reinventing the Wheel!
T

[Jim Shine]

These were proprietary parts when Gibson first made them, and there were no direct replacements. Same was true of Fender. Now these are "standard" size parts, but that wasn't the plan.

You must mean "No aftermarket direct replacements".

[JGundry]

Why would Gibson bother to make a guitar easy to change parts on? That's not part of their plan on building guitars. They expect you to use what came in the guitar.

Gibson makes after market pickups. When you consider the sales of Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio the after market pickup business is huge. Making it harder to swap pickups is not a good idea for anyone. A Gibson guitar is an advertisement for them even when the guitar is sold used. Having and arrangement that makes switching pickups difficult will just turn Gibson owners off. This is not a good long term marketing strategy. Maybe there intent is to make pickup replacement easier for the guitar owner? But I kind of doubt that is how people will see it in reality.

[jason lollar]

Dave I understand when you build an instrument you dont care if its made so you can replace the pickups but when you build a gazillion instruments per year like gibson does the small percentage of people that want to tweek thier guitars is many more in number than the maybe one guy in ten years you experience
I build enough stuff I think about that but I didnt use to.
Obviously the circuit boards are cheaper to assemble they probably have them made in a country where ten people share an apartment and instead of a vacuum cleaner they use a comb and thier fingers to pick dirt out of the carpet in their spare time after a dinner of boiled grain. Serious I spent many hours hanging and working with Regan era refugees- a very crappy story where families from south east asia were broken up into different countries all over the world after spending a few years in what amounted to being close to prison camp Actually I dont know if these curcuit boards are made over seas- I hope not. We all need to figure out ways to compete on the world market but it doesnt have to be the cost of labour- there are other ways to compete we are all aware of. If gibson is using circuit boards and assembling them in the US to cut costs so they can compete yippeee- gives us all an opprotunity to sell pre made vintage style wiring harnesses.
I was just pointing out for everyone- this is something we will all have to deal with eventually for our customers , if you havent heard of it yet- give it time and you will, its one of those time consuming things we have to deal with thanks for the input. Its all good. I was afraid the contacts were press fit- a shitty way to do it if you want decades of performance. Looks like best to splice it in so far unless someone knows better. Apparantly Giby has been doing this for a couple years now on certain models