Revitalising a 1979 Gibson "The SG"

[TZK321]

They look OK, and I think I've heard good things about those companies wiring harnesses before (athough I have no direct experience).

BUT, you have a "The SG", not an SG Standard (or an SG based on that). The "The SG" has a barrel jack, not a standard chassis jack socket, and the selector switch in a different place compared to an SG Standard, so neither of those two pre-built harnesses will fit. It is a DIY job, I'm afraid. Or find someone better at electronics and soldering than you are to do it.

Because the barrel jack needs to be fitted from outside the body, you won't ever get a complete pre-built wiring harness for your guitar, as the jack will always have to be wired up after it's installed in the body. Switchcraft still make the same barrel jack.

Good news. I contacted 920D and they'll build a custom wiring harness for me. They're running a holiday sale now so the price is very reasonable: parts, labor and shipping is a bit over 100 USD. It'll be a couple of months before I see it. I'll post photos once I do.

[TZK321]

Received the 'The SG' wiring harness from 920D. I won't have a chance to inspect and install for another month as I'm currently in China and my guitar is in the USA. First impressions are good. They did a much better job soldering than I ever could. Looking forward to trying it. I'll be sure to post my impressions afterwards.

[Simon Barden]

If the harness is all soldered, then you do realise that you'll have to unsolder the barrel jack to fit it? It can only be fitted from outside the guitar.

[TZK321]

yeah. I know, Simon. That's ok. It's nice that everything else is done. Hopefully it fits and works as promised.

[Simon Barden]

Looks like you've chosen a non-standard wiring configuration. The pot output is normally the centre wiper contact and the pot input/pickup output gets connected to the outer tab (the other side to the one soldered to the back of the pot). It still works, and allows you to have one volume pot turned down in the 'both pups on' position without the other cutting out, but you will get a different volume level characteristic when you turn the pots down.

So just make sure you solder the pickup signals to the centre tabs.

[TZK321]

Looks like you've chosen a non-standard wiring configuration....... .

It 'should' be wired the same as their model SG50-PIO wire harness. Here's a link to it:
https://920dcustom.com/collections/p...t-pio-caps-new
Edit: You can see an enlarged version of the photo by scrolling over it.
May I ask that you take a look and tell me if you see any differences?

[Simon Barden]

No, it's not wired like that one in the link. It would be if the wires to the switch were moved over to the central lug, where the wire off to the tone pot is connected.

[TZK321]

If the harness is all soldered, then you do realise that you'll have to unsolder the barrel jack to fit it? .....

I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. I've used this product numerous times for my other hobby - motorcycling. They are extremely easy to use and work like a charm. I think they'd be perfect for this situation.

https://www.posi-products.com/posilock.html
I'm guessing that the harness wires are in the 18-24 gauge, correct?

[Simon Barden]

Standard vintage pushback wire seems to be 22AWG. If you use those connectors, you'll want to fix then somehow so they can't flop around inside the cavity.

And someone will still have to solder the pickups to the harness.

It really is a good idea to learn how to solder.

[TZK321]

Thanks, Simon. You are a wealth of information. I think everyone on this message board has learned something from you - not least of whom is me.

Just to clarify, I can solder (see attachment) but I don't trust my skills, find it intimidating and would have a very difficult or impossible time trouble shooting if something wasn't right. I have a mental block when it comes to electrical things.

I'm much better with mechanical AAMOF I do ~90% of the maintenance on my motorcycle. This includes a very small bit of electrical work: installing a fuse box and wiring my accessories (GPS, phone charger, volt meter) to switch on/off with the ignition.