Swapping knobs and pre...seemingly simple?

[togglehead]

...but oh MAN im lost. Haha. Ok, first some background on me. Im VERY handy with a soldering iron and multimeter, and im not afraid of digging into electronics to sort things out...but, flying blind scares me.

So here's my goal:

I have a Lakland 55-01 with stock pups and pre. 5 knobs. Volume and balance with 3 band pre.

I have an MTD Kingston Heir with stock pups and a Bart pre.
Same knob config....shy the Mid knob being push/pull for scoop.

I want the pre from the MTD put in the lakland, and vice versa. Issue is...although i can find a primitive wiring diagram for the Bart pre...i find NOTHING for the Lakland stock pre or the basses themselves! Can anyone help? ANy tips on order of operations? I plan to label wires as they come off...but i dont know what to call them!

My thoughts (based on limited experience) are:

Two wires for each pick up
One wire for bridge ground
Two wires for the battery

And thats it. No?

[mmbongo]

I just replaced the stock pre in my 55-01. Just trace the wires, it's simple. Purple is the bridge pickup, green is the neck pickup if I remember right. You have battery wires, and the bridge ground, plus Lakland for some reason has about 52 ground wires coming from various points on the bass back to one single point. Once you get the pre out, you'll have a TON of wires sticking out of the Lakland because of all those grounds.

But if you don't unwire the jack, that's about it. Very simple.

[togglehead]

Are all grounds black?

I plan on bringing the knobs with their respective pres....that what you did too, i assume? Your new pre came with knobs (pots) right?

[mmbongo]

Yeah grounds are black and I already had knobs for the pre.

[BarkerBass]

i've swapped pres in basses recently, different pres and basses but I found it helped to work slowly and label everything! i use pieces of masking tape to form labels which I can write on and draw diagrams/illustrations of the parts of the pre where wired have been disconnected etc... If it's done slowly and carfully everything is reversable, stay safe and enjoy the transplants

[togglehead]

My biggest concern i think is wiring the pups wrong. I cant figure out which wire is which in the MTC, as it looks like both pups are fed from the same hole in the body.

Knowing now my suspicions are correct...ill look again and retackle this tonight after rehearsal.

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by togglehead

My biggest concern i think is wiring the pups wrong. I cant figure out which wire is which in the MTC, as it looks like both pups are fed from the same hole in the body.

Loosen a pickup and then pull on the wire and see which one moves.

For everything else, make a drawing, and if you have a digital camera, take some pictures.

You should be able to remove the preamp and tall the controls wired together.