Building a SAGA TC-10 Part 6 – Fitting the Pickups

Neck pickup

The first job is to find the right postion for the neck pickup. Place the pickup in the cavity and thread the wires through to the control cavity. Place the pickguard on the guitar and position the neck pickup central in the hole. Being careful not to move the pickup, remove the pickguard and drill two pilot holes, one for each mounting screw.

Fit the screws and springs to the pickup and screw into the pickup cavity using the pilot holes that you drilled. Don’t worry about the height too much at this stage, you will be adjusting it later.

Pickguard

Now is a good time to fit the pickguard.

Bridge pickup

Attach the bridge pickup to the bridge plate using 3 screws and springs.

Thread the bridge ground wire from the control cavity to under the bridge and leave plenty of bare wire under the bridge plate to ensure an adequate earthing of the bridge. Attach the bridge to the guitar using three screws.

Wiring the pickups

Solder the black wires from the pickups, together with the bridge earth wire to the back of the volume pot. Solder the white wires from the pickups to the appropriate poiints on the 3-way switch.

Attach the control plate using 2 screws. Attach the jack socket to its plate tightening firmly. Attach the jack plate to the guitar body using 2 screws.