The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

[AniML]

Today I swapped out the pickups on my new Schecter Corsair.

It was actually pretty easy to pull the pots out through the F holes. I desoldered the pickups and hooked up and mounted the Tonerider Alnico Classic IVs I had on the shelf.

Up to this pont, I was about 90 minutes in - not too bad I thought. This is where my semi hollow virginity came to haunt me. I realized the strings I tied onto the shafts to pull the pots back through were all tangled into the pots and it looked like a noob's backlashed fishing reel on a bluefishing party boat (you get the imagery or you don't, sorry)

It took me another frustrating 90 minutes to detangle the pots, resolder a couple of connections that broke in the process and restring the pots and pull them through.

In the end, the AC4's sound great. A middle-class man's Seth Lovers. Very sparkly and bright and they sing when dirtied up.

And as a free "upgrade" I left the pickguard off. It looks much better without it

 

[J E C]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

Nothing like a bad backlash to muck up a fishin trip! You polled it off and that's what counts. The next time it'll be a breeze.

 

[tonello]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

Post some pics when you get the chance. I've heard good things about the Schecter Corsairs, and if they are anywhere near the quality of the Blackjack ATX line, then it's a damn fine guitar.

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

Wiring semi-hollows is BULLSH*T lol! If someone ever wants me to wire their semi-hollow, they have to have no push-pulls, standard wiring, and the cost of the job is going to be a crap load more expensive.

The hardest guitar surgery I've ever had to do is fix a guitar that had a Floyd Rose, but with HUGE intonation problems because the scale was wrong. I had to add on to the neck pocket with a bunch of reinforcement, match the finish, a metric ton of measuring, re-drill all the holes and fill the old holes, and make them invisible through a transparent finish (it worked).

 

[blueman335]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

Wiring semi-hollows is BULLSH*T lol! If someone ever wants me to wire their semi-hollow, they have to have no push-pulls, standard wiring, and the cost of the job is going to be a crap load more expensive.

Excellent work. You guys are like the Three Stooges. I knew a guy that spent an hour getting the pots back in a 335, handyman too. He used string, probably the worst thing you could choose. Me, not very handy, immediately figured out that you need something stiffer, that you can control the movement of, or it was going to take all night. I use plastic-coated wire that comes wrapped on lawn hoses, other guys here use aquarium tubing. I've rewired several dozen F hole guitars with the stiff, plastic-coated wire method (guys here say using aquarium tubing is even easier). It's only needed for the neck tone pot (push the wire in thru the pot hole, and then up thru the F hole, attach the pot at the stem, and pull it thru the guitar body into place). For the other three pots I use a 6" forcept with a curved end to position and lift the pots in place since they're right next to the F hole. When the stems are up and in place, I hold them with the forcept and screw the nut on, then tighten with a T-nut driver so I don't scratch the finish. I test the rig thru an amp before I put anything back inside, and again once it's all in place, but before I put the knobs back on the pots. You want to have a couple of inches more wire between the pots and toggle than normal, so you have some slack to work with. The last thing you want to do is pull tight on things as they go back in, as you're bound to loosen or break a connection.

I get all four pots on a 335 back inside in around 5 minutes. Not much longer than it takes on a solid body. I put the 4 push-pull Jimmy Page system in several of my 335's. Not a big deal. I dont understand how grown men can be overwhelmed by such a simple project. Next time ask around here for ideas.

 

[AniML]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

Excellent work. You guys are like the Three Stooges. I dont understand how grown men can be overwhelmed by such a simple project. Next time ask around here for ideas.

Kinda harsh, man. Glad you can immediately figure out what others cannot, then trivialize it to the level of changing a lightbulb. you are gifted. actually,I do some things that I think are trivial that others might find difficult. But I don't elevate myself or rip on them for it.

That said, i thought to do something stiffer but did not come up with a way to attach it so i got the job done with string. I used various clamps to finish up as well, but as you pointed out, not useful for all of the pots. Aquarium tubing, Great idea but I didn't think of it and i didnt have any plastic coated solid core wire . :scratchch

 

[Zerberus]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

^^ Alternatively you can cut the control area out with a razor saw and glue it back in when you´re done :laugh2:

 

[blueman335]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

Kinda harsh, man. Glad you can trivialize it to the level of changing a lightbulb.i do some things that I think are trivial that others might find difficult. I don't rip on them for it. That said, i thought to do something stiff but did not come up with a way to attach it. Aquarium tubing, Great idea.

Yeah I know, I'm trying to be funny, which you have to admit, there's a comic element to it. These guys didn't ask (others have) and I just put detailed instructions on what to do (I've posted instructions several times on this forum). I'm being helpful. But really, like 10 minutes into it, you'd think they'd say "There's got to be something better than string" and look around the house or ask here. And that goes for my friend that did it too. I don't see struggling with something like that for an hour or more, knowing that thousands of F hole guitars across the country have been rewired and had PU's changed. You just know some guys have figured easy ways to do it. I have no handyman skills what-so-ever and saw the futility of string right off the bat. Wasn't going to get my blood pressure up trying to deal with that. A lot of luthiery takes skill and special tools; putting pots back in a F hole guitar requires neither of those, obviously, or I couldn't do it. After wrestling with string all night, and then finding out there's a much faster way to do it, I'd like to think that they can get a laugh out of it, now that it's behind them. Now they know what to do on the next guitar.

 

[AniML]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

To tell you the truth, the string and a couple reaching / holding tools worked just fine once I got everything detangled and then hooked them back up and pulled in the pots one at a time.

I realized the key is (to avoid tangles) to not tie it on until reassembling. I could have easily used a clamp and other tools to coax out the pots.

Once all is said and done I embrace learning curves. I've learned a hell of a lot more figuring things out with some initial research and left to my own devices than mindlessly following paint by numbers instructions

 

[CTN]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

yup working on semi hollows has got to be some of the most painstaking guitar work i've ever done as well. And for what? to fix a cold solder joint on the jack.

Still, it's good having that sort of experience under your belt. At the very least, it teaches you to just relax and have a beer while doing it, otherwise the frustration will just overcome you and something could get damaged.

 

[Grenade]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

Good job, glad you got it done. Now we need pics and clips. I've often wondered why there isn't a control panel on the back of thes guitars.

 

[AniML]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

Good job, glad you got it done. Now we need pics and clips. I've often wondered why there isn't a control panel on the back of thes guitars.

Pics coming. Clips, I don't have the playing skills to make anything listenable.

As for the control panel, I'd have to guess it is not done because of the curvature and thickness (thinness) of the back

 

[CTN]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

also, it'd make as much sense as putting a strat style pickguard on the soundboard of an acoustic....you just don't cut up a critical sound-reflecting piece of wood just to mount electronics to a piece of plastic, or in the case of a control plate, to put a random piece of plastic there for sheer access.

Either that, or whoever created the idea of the semi hollow electric thought it might be a great idea to give luthiers and repair dudes extra business!

 

[blueman335]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

yup working on semi hollows has got to be some of the most painstaking guitar work i've ever done as well. And for what? to fix a cold solder joint on the jack.

I love 335's and wanted to change PU's and put in push-pulls right off the bat, so I knew I had to come up with a way to do it (this was a few years before I joined this forum, so I was on my own). If you follow my tips (above) it only takes slightly longer to rewire than a solid body. No reason for it to be an ordeal to dread. As far as backpanels, they're not on 335's because they're not needed. Everything goes in and out of the F hole nicely. Get some aquarium tubing and a forcept next time and you'll see. You can do it just as quickly as any of us.

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

Kinda harsh, man. Glad you can immediately figure out what others cannot, then trivialize it to the level of changing a lightbulb. you are gifted. actually,I do some things that I think are trivial that others might find difficult. But I don't elevate myself or rip on them for it.

That said, i thought to do something stiffer but did not come up with a way to attach it so i got the job done with string. I used various clamps to finish up as well, but as you pointed out, not useful for all of the pots. Aquarium tubing, Great idea but I didn't think of it and i didnt have any plastic coated solid core wire . :scratchch

I didn't think he was being mean. I knew it was going to be funny as soon as he mentioned the Three Stooges. But I really like Zerberus's suggestion.

 

[AniML]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

^^ Yeah I guess I was just reeling a bit from the frustration. I can laugh now too

Here's the Corsair without the pickguard. Not the greatest photo...

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

I'm doing an SD blog post on this very subject. I think I have a pretty good method that doesn't involve string or special tools.

 

[tonello]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

^^ Yeah I guess I was just reeling a bit from the frustration. I can laugh now too

Here's the Corsair without the pickguard. Not the greatest photo...

From what I can see, it's a good looking guitar. The Bigsby looks really classic on there. I remember when I was replacing the pickups in my Gibson Midtown Custom, that I was really glad they put a control cover on the back for quick removal.

 

[blueman335]

Re: The hardest guitar surgery I've ever done, but worth it

^^ Yeah I guess I was just reeling a bit from the frustration. I can laugh now too

Here's the Corsair without the pickguard. Not the greatest photo...

Nice!