Pulling Pots Through A Hollowbody

[otgordin]

Hi All,

I have had a beat up 1960s Harmony Rocket III for a while that I finally decided to fix up. Two pots were dead, and the rest were scratchy even after tuner cleaner, so I replaced the entire wiring harness with new pots and caps (along with locking tuners, a compensated ebony bridge, graphite nut, strap locks, and a new output jack).

The guitar now sounds and feels great. However, I'm having trouble getting the wiring harness back into place.

When I took everything apart, I tied fishing line to the old pots thinking that I would just pull them back out through their holes. Now, however, when I try to pull everything back into place the 6 pots keep catching and tangling on the strands of line making it impossible to get them to the holes in the top.

I don't have a picture of it, but I re-used the coiled shield / wire guide from the old harness in order to make sure things lined up right.

Any advice you guys could give on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. I tried searching the archives and didn't find any help.

Here she is before I got started.

Here's a shot of the pot holes.

-Vadim

[John Abbett]

Yup, it's a jigsaw puzzle.

Think of it this way, the sting has to have a clear path to the hole, so what you do it put all the strings on with the harness outside the body, and make sure that each string will have a clear path to it's destination. Imagine you have a huge opening, and you are pulling the whole thing at once and they all have to land in their hole.

Once you have that outdie the body, put the whole harness inside the body in the exact same orinatation. It should lay in the body the same way it was outside, with all the strings having a clear path to their destination. Once you have that, pull each string 1/2 inch or so, so they all move forward together. You are keeping the strings from getting tangled. You should have all the pots poke through at the same time.

Some use plastic tubing instead of string. It fits tight over the knob shaft, but will still go through the hole.

Oh, put some masking tape over your f-hole edges, you will chip the paint with the pots. Ask me how I know....

Looks like you have quite a distance there.. Have fun!

-John

[otgordin]

thanks for the feedback. jigsaw puzzle indeed.

tubing seems like it would be less prone to catching than fishing line. I'll have to drop by the aquarium store over the next few days.

realistically, I won't have a chance to play with this again 'til the weekend.... so still plenty of time for head-scratching and strategizing.

-V

Yup, it's a jigsaw puzzle.

Think of it this way, the sting has to have a clear path to the hole, so what you do it put all the strings on with the harness outside the body, and make sure that each string will have a clear path to it's destination. Imagine you have a huge opening, and you are pulling the whole thing at once and they all have to land in their hole.

Once you have that outdie the body, put the whole harness inside the body in the exact same orinatation. It should lay in the body the same way it was outside, with all the strings having a clear path to their destination. Once you have that, pull each string 1/2 inch or so, so they all move forward together. You are keeping the strings from getting tangled. You should have all the pots poke through at the same time.

Some use plastic tubing instead of string. It fits tight over the knob shaft, but will still go through the hole.

Oh, put some masking tape over your f-hole edges, you will chip the paint with the pots. Ask me how I know....

Looks like you have quite a distance there.. Have fun!

-John

[Samba Pa Ti]

i use waxed string, its fiddly but works ok for me

[Woodenspoke]

Some use rubber surgical tubing (sliped over the pot shaft) rather than string. Its a bitch, been their done that, not fun..

[FireFly]

Some use rubber surgical tubing (sliped over the pot shaft) rather than string. Its a bitch, been their done that, not fun..

+1

[otgordin]

SUCCESS!!!! The tubing worked like a charm.

All put back together

Compensated ebony bridge

Chrome top-hats

Wilkinson locking tuners and graphite nut.

Added a jackplate b/c the original directly mounted jack was causing cracking.

I wish I still had recording gear... the guitar now sounds fantastic.

Thanks for the help guys.

-V

Edited September 13, 2010 by otgordin