Archtop Pickup Installation

This was a cool project.  A vintage Gibson L5 in for the installation of a vintage De Armond pickup with Vol/Tone and Bass switch. Any time I work on vintage guitars, I feel a special duty to do the job with a quality that will last as long as the work that has already been done in the original construction.

The first thing to do was remove the pickguard and determine the correct location for the pickup.  The customer specified that he wanted it located where the 24th fret would be.  I mounted the bar on the side of the neck - it came with nice old screws - and set the pickup in the proper location.  I then marked the pickguard for clearance and removed material to allow the pickup to center under the strings.  The next step was to mount the controls. 

I drilled the hole for the switch and mounted the controls on the pickguard. I added a brace underneath so the switch could be pushed without straining the pickguard. An endpin jack was added in place of the original strap button on the tailpiece, and it was ready to go.