romanianreaper
Well-known member
So I picked up a Seymour Duncan Liberator Classic pickguard a few days ago. I was pretty excited about the idea of getting a pickguard, fully loaded, and basically turning a few screws and having a great, noiseless setup. I just dropped off my guitar at a local guitar store for assistance.....
The idea seems easy enough. Take out old pickguard, put in new one and then put wires into slots, tighten and you are done. Unfortunately it is not that easy, or has the potential to not be that easy I should say.
The first thing is the directions. They look like they would be easy with simple diagrams, etc. but right out of the box, the input jack has two wires and the directions show just one. So immediately I was confused. The one mistake I did make, and no fault of Seymour Duncan, is that I pulled the ground wire out of my guitar and that actually needs to stay in. I should have read that part more carefully.
The other thing is that this is a Stratocaster replacement and they don't even mention what to do with the ground wire going from the screw under the pickguard. Does that have to be hooked up as well? Then, in the picture they show four places to plug in wires to "ground" but two say "ground", one says "input", and one says "output". I don't even know what to do with those.
Obviously I've never installed pickups before but these pickguards are touted as almost being idiot proof. They would be if more direction and detail was included in the instructions.
Anyway, I'm a huge Seymour Duncan fan and will continue to be and am getting my issue fixed at the local guitar store. I'm hoping it sounds phenomenal and that I was just missing something minor (ground, etc.). Just wanted to give people a heads up what to expect.
The idea seems easy enough. Take out old pickguard, put in new one and then put wires into slots, tighten and you are done. Unfortunately it is not that easy, or has the potential to not be that easy I should say.
The first thing is the directions. They look like they would be easy with simple diagrams, etc. but right out of the box, the input jack has two wires and the directions show just one. So immediately I was confused. The one mistake I did make, and no fault of Seymour Duncan, is that I pulled the ground wire out of my guitar and that actually needs to stay in. I should have read that part more carefully.
The other thing is that this is a Stratocaster replacement and they don't even mention what to do with the ground wire going from the screw under the pickguard. Does that have to be hooked up as well? Then, in the picture they show four places to plug in wires to "ground" but two say "ground", one says "input", and one says "output". I don't even know what to do with those.
Obviously I've never installed pickups before but these pickguards are touted as almost being idiot proof. They would be if more direction and detail was included in the instructions.
Anyway, I'm a huge Seymour Duncan fan and will continue to be and am getting my issue fixed at the local guitar store. I'm hoping it sounds phenomenal and that I was just missing something minor (ground, etc.). Just wanted to give people a heads up what to expect.
