Support / Gibson Flying V Wiring Diagram & fitting Instructions

Fitting Instructions

The good news is the Flying V is one of the more simple guitars to replace the wiring harness, because the harness is attached to the large pickguard, which can be removed and worked on with ease.

Removal

1. Find somewhere safe, dry and secure to place your Flying V guitar while you work on it.
2. Remove Strings.
3. Undo the screws that hold the pickguard to the body. 
4. Carefully lift the pickguard up and cut all wires from the body to the pickguard closest to the pots. These are a few ground wires and the pickup wires.
5. Put the guitar safely out the way for the time being.

Replacement

1. Working on the pickguard, remove the 3 x control knobs and the switch cap
2. Remove the pot nuts and the switch nut and jack nut
3. You should now be able to remove the wiring harness from the pickguard.
4. At this point you may want to clean the front of pickguard where the old pots have been.
5. You will need to check the size of the holes for the pots as on some pickguards they are drilled small for cheap electrical components. If they are small, the best way to enlarge them to 10mm to fit CTS pots, is to use a round file.
6. The pickguard is now ready to fit the new harness.
7. From here everything is in reverse using the wiring diagram below.
8. Fit the new wiring harness into the pickguard.
9. Solder the pickup wires to the new volume pots (refer to wiring diagram).
10. Solder the ground wires to the back of the pot (refer to wiring diagram).
11. The pickguard is now ready to go back into the guitar.
12. Fit the pickguard back into place, but don’t screw it down yet.

Testing

1. Plug the guitar into an amp and with something small and metal you should get a response from the pickups by gently tapping the pickup poles/posts. – Or you may have a Multimeter!
2. If Everything is working, then re-string.

Tools & Equipment

• Philips (Cross head) Screwdriver.
• Flat headed screwdriver on some models
• Small adjustable spanner/wrench.
• Good quality soldering iron.
• Wire Cutters.
• Masking tape for keeping things in place or out the way while working.

Tips

• When soldering the wires to the back of a pot, do not overheat / cook the pot.
• Keep wires tidy and neat and make sure all components are grounded.

Wiring Diagram

Download the printable PDF >

Gibson Flying V Wiring Diagram & fitting Instructions

Gibson & Epiphone Flying V Wiring Diagram & fitting Instructions