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Installing a new wiring harness in a semi

Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 12:43 pm
by timhulio
Found this awesome pic on the harmony cental forums whilst brainstorming a semi idea. I seriously hope I never have to do something like this!

Image

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/for ... ?t=1943605

Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 7:43 pm
by Mo Law-ka
if i had to do that, i would pay somebody else!!! no guitar is worth that much headache.

Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:02 pm
by brandon.
I had to install some pickups on a dot studio and had to do that...
it wasnt THAT terrible, and there were less pots and switches, but i think as long as you plan it out it wouldnt be terrible.

Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:10 pm
by tribi9
Damn, that looks tough!

Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:30 pm
by filtercap
I get it... dental floss to pull the pots up into the holes. I thought those were wires at first. Actually that doesn't seem too bad as long as the floss doesn't come untied mid-installation. It looks like getting the controls =out= of the guitar would be hardest.

Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 9:32 pm
by Mike
Yeah, that guy looks like he's actually got a good plan going on there.

Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 10:45 pm
by Justin J
it doesn't really look that bad. in fact, this photo makes it look way easier than i used to think it would be.

Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 11:56 pm
by robroe
i would think getting the jack up in there way in the back would be the hardest part.

one of the reasons why i never got into semi hollow guitars is because i like to mod shit so much and cant be assed with it.

Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 4:51 am
by Mages
brandon. wrote:I had to install some pickups on a dot studio and had to do that...
it wasnt THAT terrible, and there were less pots and switches, but i think as long as you plan it out it wouldnt be terrible.
the f-hole on the dot studio is bigger and positioned farther down on the body and the controls are all really close to the f-hole so it's a lot easier to work on then a real dot or 335.

Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 4:58 am
by robert(original)
i did that on the green archtop that i made, its a pain in the arse.
i had to do it from the bridge pup route.

Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 6:01 am
by brandon.
mage wrote:
brandon. wrote:I had to install some pickups on a dot studio and had to do that...
it wasnt THAT terrible, and there were less pots and switches, but i think as long as you plan it out it wouldnt be terrible.
the f-hole on the dot studio is bigger and positioned farther down on the body and the controls are all really close to the f-hole so it's a lot easier to work on then a real dot or 335.
fair enough.
my point is just that if you really want to put together a semi hollow, i dont think some tricky wiring should stop you.

Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 4:32 pm
by DGNR8
It's not as hard as it looks. Fishing line is another option--it's stronger, and not made to CUT plaque. You just pull it in a piece at a time, sort of. Best to be avoided, but if you have to do it, there's some fulfillment to learning it.

Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 7:07 pm
by robert(original)
i actually used guitar string on a few of them, i think it worked a bit easier cuz i just looped it around the pot/jack.
and it worked well becuz with tension it held it in place, but then when it was in place it slipped right off and i could take it out.

Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 1:44 am
by evol04gt
i have had to do this with two of my 335 styles when i lefty swapped them.... i didnt even use the dental floss idea... it wasnt all that bad... just took a little shaking and a few OOOOOOOOOPS's when i didnt put them in the right arrangement.

Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 1:52 am
by tribi9
Mmmm.....

Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 4:36 pm
by Will
I've had to do it several times - the string ALWAYS breaks at some point. Plus, mine had undersized f-holes so I could only use mini-pots, which had crappy tapers and broke.

Eventually I just used my dremel to cut a big hole in the back and put in some CTS pots - totally worth it.