My Godin pickups have two screws on top and one on the bottom. If yours are like that, too, then some mods are going to be necessary.

A Foreigner classic: a quick look at the essentials of this great tune.......thanks for watching!

guitar - Collings 360

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo9oIkbuUeM

Slash. Others I can't remember because they're from the '80s.









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The Marshall Tucker Band's acoustic classic: a quick look at the essentials of this great tune.......thanks for watching!

guitar - Collings 01ASB


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EVQ9HHcByA

Cheers Mike!

Couple of thoughts and a correction to #6.

If you have friends who work in electronics they will probably not need my instructions above. This is pretty basic stuff.

The quote I like on practicing is: "Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect." The idea being that you can practice something for 8 hours a day/7 days a week and not get anywhere if you don't practice it correctly. Practice something as slow as necessary and in small enough chunks because you're building muscle memory.

The guitar is an amazingly simple instrument yet it's amazingly complex to master. I bet if you ask any of the influence cited above they would say they "haven't stopped learning yet" either.

Oh, as for #6, since the pickup is mounted beneath the pickguard you don't need to feed the wires through the hole. That was a bit of a "duh" on my part.

Thanks for that Mike, I think I'll read it over a few times just to get my head round it I've never soldered in my life but a couple of my friends work in electronics so I may ask them to have a go. (working from your instructions)

I'm still planning on getting my G&L tribute at the end of the summer and I think that might be a good time to do it (not long now)

My music style is called "Indie beginner" but if you know bands like The Shins, Band of Horses and The Wrens you'll know where I'm heading. The style of guitar playing I like but at my age of starting will probably never get anywhere near is David Gilmour, The Edge and John Squire.

Practice is the key........as one of my guitar playing friends keeps saying.

Thanks again for your help.

Bodee

Bodee,

I'm not intimately familiar with Godin guitars but from the looks of the pictures in the link you provided, it appears that Godin mounts their pickups to the pickguard in the same fashion as Fender does on the Strat.

Swapping out pickups is fairly easy if you're comfortable with a soldering iron. The basic steps are:

1. Loosen the strings so you have access to remove the pickguard. If they're in sad shape, it may even be better to just remove them.

2. Remove the screws from the perimiter of the guard and it should lift out of place. Note that all the knobs, pickups, etc. are mounted to the pickguard so they'll be coming along for the ride.

3. Some manufacturers use quick connect plugs. If this is the case just disconnect the input jack otherwise if the input jack is soldered in you should be able to flip the guard over without breaking the solder.

4. Before removing the existing pickups take a picture of the wiring layout and make sure you can clearly see all connections in it. You can also draw a schematic on paper. You'd be surprised how easy it is to forget where things were connected after you take them out.

5. One pickup at a time, follow the leads from each pickup to where they are soldered (also note their color). Desolder the connections and remove the pickup from the pick guard. There should be a screw on each side of the pickup coming from the top.

6. Thread the new pickup wires through the hole and mount the new pickup in the guard. Solder the new leads into place where the old one was connected.

7. Repeat steps 5 & 6 for the remaining two pickups.

8. Reconnect the input jack (if disconnected) and put the pickguard back in place. If you only loosened the strings, tighten them up (doesn't need to be in tune). Connect a guitar cable and test it out.

9. If you hear an crackling, one or more of the newly soldered connections may be bad. Check each one and resolder any that aren't making good contact.

10. Once you have everything set, screw the pickguard back in place, tune up, and enjoy your new tone.

Looking at the picture in the link again, it appears that there are two screws on either side of the bridge humbucker. This may be a "Godin thing". All the ones I've worked with had one on each side. If this is the case you may not be able to swap out the humbucker without doing some form of mod (or replacement)on the pickguard.

Also before buying anything, measure the dimensions of the current pickups to be sure the replacements will fit. Some manufacturers, Carvin in particular, make their own pickups that are non-standard sized.

As for pickup recommendations, what type of music do you typically play?

Mike

Hi All,

I've had my Godin SD 22 for about a year now and while I am more than satisfied with it I feel the Godin pickups could be altered to enhance the sound I am looking for.

This guitar is a "Strat type" but with a bridge humbucker and two single coils. I don't want to change the config. but I would like to swap them out for something more lively/chimey and dynamic.

http://www.godinguitars.com/godinsdp.htm

How easy is it to swap them for something else, could I do it myself ;-0 and what do the experts out there suggest.

The Allman Brothers classic: a breakdown of both acoustic & electric guitar parts.......thanks for watching!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R36r-Qy_rIA