Archtop Acoustic-Electric Conversion

makepeace

Hi guys.

I recently bought a late 60s Harmony H1215 Acoustic Archtop guitar for a steal off ebay. Its pretty beaten up. It needs refretting, new tuners, new nut + bridge etc. Also the previous owner painted the neck and sides black, which seems to be decomposing (its sort of waxy and comes off if you scrape it with your fingernail). I stripped a bit of the paint off the neck and sides and it seems that the original faux flamed maple is still in tact underneath which is lucky.

Otherwise its in pretty good condition. The neck is straight and set correctly, the top and back finish is still perfect and the wood isn't warped as is the case with a lot of old catalogue archtops. Planning to strip the neck and sides soon and if all of the original finish is in tact I'll do a few gloss coats, if not I'll finish the neck and sides in a dark stain.

Here's a pic of a similar guitar (not my one).

Now comes the part where I'm sorta stuck :-\.

I've bought a hand wound dog-ear P-90 (alnico II, 7,8k) from Jess Loureiro, a spanish pickup craftsman, which is arriving soon. I'm planning to put in a few centimeters off from the fretboard, with a vol and tone control between the bottom f-hole and the tailpiece.

To put it in and do the hole boring and wiring for the controls etc I'll need to take off the top or the back of the guitar. I'm just wondering about the best way to go about it. I think that taking the back off would be easiest (for obvious reasons). I've taken a peep through the f-holes to the inside of the guitar and there seems to be a sort of ribbed kerfing bonding the top and sides together. The wood seems to be about 2.5mm to 3mm thick.

If anybody has ever taken apart an archtop or even an acoustic for that matter, I would be very grateful to hear your thoughts, methods, tips and tricks. I want to try get this done with the least risk of doing irrecoverable damage to the guitar.

Thanks in advance for your replies! ?

AlanRatcliffe

No need to get any more invasive than the pickup hole and the jack hole. In fact, you don't want controls on the top of a flattop, as any slight mishap and they will punch through the top (I've seen it a few times). Doubly so with the jack socket on the side.

Look at the pickguard mounting pots for volume and tone:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Potentiometers/Schatten_Thumbwheel_Controls.html

And get a Switchcraft endpin jack so you can mount the jack on the endblock, where it'll be stable.

Even if you want to mount the controls on the top, no need to remove the back. Treat it as you would an archtop, working through the pickup hole and F-holes. I'd still recommend the endpin jack, because a jack socket on the side is asking for trouble.

makepeace

Thanks for the reply!

I never actually thought about working through the f-holes, sounds like I'll go that route, thanks ?. Are there any tricks to it? Or is it as straight forward as wiggling everything around so that it gets into the right holes?

I definitely want to put the controls on the top. Aesthetically I'm going for something like this:

Thanks again!

AlanRatcliffe

A few "tricks" that make a big difference:

Wire everything up on the outside. Then drop fishing line through the holes to the pickup hole (a small weight helps and gravity does the rest). Tie the line on to pots and jack and then pull back through to the holes.

Make sure to use lock washers on the inside and normal washers under the nut on the outside. It isn't the nicest job in the world to wire a hollow and you don't want to have to go in there more often than you absolutely have to. The line will also keep the lock washer (and spacer nut if you have) in place while it feeds through the body.

A screwdriver in the slot of the shaft holds it in place while you tighten the nut. The Switchcraft endpin jacks have holes through the threaded part for a rod to hold them from the outside while you tighten.