Hollowbody wiring harness :: Chubbuck Mousa 003

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Here I'm prewiring the electrical harness for Mousa 003.  Being a hollowbody without an access panel, the controls all go in through the treble side f hole.  To keep everything tidy, I prewire the harness as much as possible on a template.  This keeps the leads cleanly routed.  I don't want to look in through the f-hole and see a rat's nest (I see shoddy hollowbody wiring all the time - it looks like shit).  Now that the harness is ready, I can connect the pickup leads to the mini toggle switches, zip tie the wires and install it into the guitar.

The controls are master volume, master tone (both Bourns sealed 500k pots), Switchcraft 3 way toggle, mini toggle for neck series / split / parallel and another mini toggle for phase selection when both Lollar Imperial humbuckers pickups are on.  The tone cap is an Emerson Custom 0.022µf paper in oil.  Vintage style cloth wiring ties everything together.

Check out the video below from the daily vlog for the assembly of this harness.

Mastery Vibrato :: 1997 Fender Jaguar [9.2 lbs]

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This killer Japanese Jag has been in the shop a few times before.  One time for a Mastery Bridge install, Lollar pickups installed and again for a Curtis Novak middle pickup install (here and here).  Now it's back in for some finishing touches including new tuners, a Mastery string tree and a Mastery Vibrato (with UFO tip).  All I can say is that this is one of the best, most versatile guitars I've worked on.  The player that owns this guitar is a monster and I love hearing him play it when he brings it by.  Dammit, now I need a 3 pickup (Lollar / Novak) Mastery Jag!

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Loose Studs :: Asher Electro Hawaiian Jr Lap Steel [7.3 lbs]

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Loose Studs :: Asher Electro Hawaiian Jr Lap Steel [7.3 lbs]

The wraparound bridge was pulling up the studs in the body due to a poor fit.  The solution was to plug the bridge stud holes and re-drill them for a nice tight fit.  The player also brought in a set of Lollar Imperial high winds to have installed.

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Installing a middle pickup :: 1997 Fender Jaguar [8.9 lbs]

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Installing a middle pickup :: 1997 Fender Jaguar [8.9 lbs]

A made in Japan Jag in for a middle pickup installation.  This guitar has been in the shop a few times before to remove a Buzz Stop, replace a Tuneomatic with a Mastery bridge and swapping out the pickups for Lollars.

Adding a middle pickup involved routing the pickguard, copper top shield and the body (prep photo here).  The low-cut / strangle switch was moved to a Bourns 1 meg push-pull pot that replaced the stock tone pot.  The original Lollar neck pickup was moved to the middle position and a new Curtis Novak went up front.  All pickups are selected via the three-switch plate.

This setup sounds incredible.  Wow.

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Epiphone Sheraton II [8.1 lbs] :: Lollar, Emerson, Bourns complete upgrade

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This circa 1990's Epiphone Sheraton II was stripped down and built back up with premium components.  The original lifeless dark-toned pickups were swapped for Lollar Imperial low-wind humbuckers.  The new wiring harness consists of Bourns 500K Premium Series sealed pots, Emerson Custom 0.022 µf paper-in-oil caps and a Switchcraft 3-way switch and output jack.  Even the tuners were replaced with 18:1 Grover Rotomatics which installed without modification.  A new unbleached bone nut and setup for DR Pure Blues 11-50 strings round out the upgrades.