For many of us once we have understood the basics of playing the guitar and started listening to well known guitarists our attention turns to tone and how to achieve the finest sounding guitar tone we can.

Tone comes down to a large amount of factors e.g. Build of the guitar, selection of amplification, playing capability and choice of pickups. The 1st two we can't do much about short of purchasing a new guitar and amp and the third option is a long term investment (you never stop working on improving your playing ability) but we will be able to upgrade our current pickups, and it’s far simpler than many understand. One of the best ways to do so is to install a pre-wired pickup assembly.

Installing a pre-wired pickup assembly only requires one or two common tools and some solder. These tools will allow you to take out the existing pickup assembly as well as installing the new one into your guitar. Prewired pickups are readily available, although in general you will find a superior deal if shopping online.

First, you’ll need to remove the existing pickup assembly which is reasonably straightforward. First take away the strings from the guitar and then remove items like the pick guard and output jack plate.
Next remove the actual pickups. Typically there are three wires that'll be holding the pick-up to the guitar body. One is the ground wire, the second two wires are under the output jack plate. You will want to clip these as near as feasible to the pickups.

Next attach the new pre-wired pickup on the body of the guitar. You may want to lay down a chunk of fabric to protect the body of your guitar from scratches before doing so however. There are three wires to attach, the same three that you clipped earlier. The wires to the output jack and the ground wire. Solder the ground wire and join the wires to the output jack. Now all you have to do is replace all of the screws and hardware and restring the guitar and you are finished. As previously discussed this is a relatively easy job but depending on your choice of pickup you will truly alter and enhance the sound of your guitar. Enjoy!

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