My 5th Avenue Is NOT Loud Enough!

[Elias Graves]

So I'm gonna make it that way!

Ordered a Kent Armstrong floating mini for this bad boy.
The victim, er subject....

The pup, from the backside. Epoxy potted.

Had to make a little room on the pickguard.

The pickup, attached...

EG

 

[Elias Graves]

The endpin jack, wired up...

And a big honkin hole to put it in. You can also see a small hole I drilled through to run a ground from the tailpiece.

Pickup and guard in place...

EG

 

[Elias Graves]

Tailpiece reinstalled...

Tailpiece and jack...

Complete wiring harness...

Pots and knobs, with everything back together...

And finished. Not too bad of a project. All together, maybe $100 in parts plus my labor.
The sound is great. Can get anything from a nice acoustic sound, super sweet cleans and, of course, the dreaded "wall of sound" with the gain cranked up. I'm lovin it.

EG

 

[Mark Wein]

Sweet! I like floating pickups a lot.

Was it was running the wires?

 

[Elias Graves]

Do you mean HOW was it running the wires?
Not too bad. The tailpiece ground wire and jack wires, I just fed through from the end, turned the guitar upside down and shook it around til I could reach them through the f hole. Everything else happened from outside.

I haven't cranked it yet to test for feedback, but I'm hoping that epoxy potting on the KA pup does its job.

EG

 

[Mark Wein]

Yeah. I can';t type

Thats cool....I always thought it would be a nightmare installing something like that but it doesn't seem to be that bad...

 

[Elias Graves]

The scariest part was drilling a 1/2" hole in the tail.

I left the wires from the tailpiece and jack way long, then tied them off together, so a little shaking around and they fell right through the f hole. Not bad at all.
Getting all the wiring to lay down under the pickguard was a bigger challenge.

EG

 

[Mark Wein]

drilling any hole in a guitar still scares me...

 

[Elias Graves]

I did more of that work with a file than a drill. Much less likely to rip a giant chunk out that way.

EG

 

[Mark Wein]

I'd still be terrified

 

[Kerouac]

Yeah, that whole picture set had me a bit freaked out.

How about some clips of both it by itself, with the pickup, and with the two blended?

 

[Elias Graves]

The only clip I have right now is acoustic.
http://www.soundclick.com/util/getpl...d=9445159&q=hi

I'm kinda busy right now moving, so it'll be a few weeks before I get to do any more.

EG

 

[Denverdave]

Nice job! It looks quite good!

I had to put an end pin hole in my Lowden when I had it. It was actually much easier than I thought. I made a small pilot hole very slowly with a drill, then used a hand tool (I cannot remember the name of the tool) to widen the hole to the proper size.

 

[Elias Graves]

That's the way. I started with a drill and finished it up with a rasp. (Reamers are also used)
Thanks.

EG

 

[Prages]

I've used a bunch of power tools on my Uglycaster.

 

[Kerouac]

I've used a bunch of power tools on my Uglycaster.

That thing is too cool for school..

I really need to get mine cleaned up and restrung.

 

[Elias Graves]

Sweet!

EG