Install help

[Chef]

OK, so I bought a set of used bart j pups from a fellow lister here (thanks corwin) to put in my bryce douglas fretless. Do I just melt the solder off the pots for the old ones, and solder these on? Does it matter which of the two wires off each pup go where as long as I do both the same? Ignorant newbie stuff I know, but they came without destructions (instructions), and I've never done this. I did serch, and look in the newbie links, but that seemd to be all shootout stuff...Thanks, Alan

[David Wilson]

Originally Posted by Chef

Do I just melt the solder off the pots for the old ones, and solder these on?

assuming the previous pickups are passive, i.e. they have no connection to battery, then yes.

Does it matter which of the two wires off each pup go where as long as I do both the same?

It matters very much. One of the wires will be soldered to a lug on the volume pot, that's the 'hot' signal. The other will be soldered to the back of the volume pot, that's the ground. It's important not to get them mixed up. With the barts, every set I've seen have the ground braid on the outside and the hot wire in the middle. Ground the braid to the back of the volume pot and the hot wire to the lug on the volume pot where the previous pickup hot wire was soldered.

hope that helps

[Chef]

Thanks for the reply!
Yep, that's what they look like, ground braid on the outside. I bought these used, and the p/o cut the wires pretty short. While I haven't opend up my bass to see if the bart's wires will reach, can I add length to the wires/and how?

[David Wilson]

Originally Posted by Chef

While I haven't opend up my bass to see if the bart's wires will reach, can I add length to the wires/and how?

Bart wires are pretty long by default, if they were cut short to fit a J cavity they'll probably fit yours. But if not, you can just solder wire to the existing wire to extend them. With the inner wire, put head shrink tubing over the joint where there's exposed wire when you make the join.