It's great that you found a type of connector that you've been able to get for 10 years. I have a guitar that uses something conceptually similar that's gone out of fashion and is no longer available, so all my quick-change fantasies are kaput. I'd need to replace them all to swap anything.
Are your connectors mounted to anything, or just hanging loose?
Do you have pics of the inside of a guitar where you used these? I'd love to see.
Hey there!
In my first attempts these connectors just hang loose. I use single core wire, so in a way they stay put. In my later circuits, after much learning, I'm starting to solder these directly to some components when possible. I don't use PCBs, if that's a "side" question, as I'm not a tech nor know how to do them properly.
I do have some pics of my guitars' insides... some are way chaotic and some I don't even dare to open... warning, I'm not the greatest solderer, but things work well and to me that's enough.
This is one of my first attempts, the connectors strip is "secured" to the cavity wall with double sided foam tape. This solution only covered the pickup swapping.
I later evolved to something like this, the big strip is for the pickup swapping and the lonely connector is to connect the switch to the rest of the circuit. This solution not only allows me to swap pickups but the switch as well. I used this in many 5 way super switches in order to test different options within the same setup. In this particular photo I'm using the Freeway 5B5-01 switch (2 rows/banks of 5 positions)
In this photo you can see several Ibanez VLX91 super switches, used and reused with different switching combos. It's a great way to learn how things sound and to experiment under-the-radar tones...
This is one of my most simple circuits, the black strip is for the pickups, the green connector is to swap out the switch... it features the "E" combo on a 5 way super switch. I name the switch's combos by letter in order to know and reference what they do on my guitar log.
This is a circuit I try my best not to mess with as it's tighter than an egg in there. Works fine and there's no noise. The guitar features 145 different switching options between 2 humbucker and Graphtech piezos. It also features a pickup kill switch, but it doesn't work and I don't use it... as so it will stay until I find courage to replace it.
This is one of my scariest circuits as it features Graphtech piezos and a Sustainiac... lots of things happening there. The black connector strip is for the pickup and Sustainiac driver...
Here is a size reference for the connectors I use. The ruler is in milimetres and there's also a Philips bit to scale sizes. This is a 10 slots strip for a 2 humbucker guitar with 4 leads each
This is a hollow body guitar circuit I did for a friend. It features some of these connectors.
Here's an incomplete job for my UV777. The foreground connectors are for the 2 humbucker pickups, there's also a connector for the single coil (in the background) and some more for other components... it's tight in this cavity.
Last but not least, most of my connectors are 2 or 3 slots that can be puzzled together for longer strips. I could eventually get some longer ones, but those become more expensive than the same number of slots with smaller connectors, hence the seen glue to make the longer strips tight...
Hope it helps to give an idea of how I make things work for me. If I knew how to do PCBs, I'd certainly go that way.
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Late night edit, I just remembered that I missed this one pic that kind of explains how to keep track of what goes where. This is the kind of scheme that allows me to swap things in and out without having to rethink pickup leads color codes when changing brands. Like this I'll go from DiMarzio to Seymour to Lundgren or Bare Knuckle or whatever (passive) pickup in no time and without needing a color code conversion sheet or table. Works great! Feel free to copy if it makes sense. Again, it's not the greatest soldering job, but it's the concept I'm showcasing...
