- 1). Decide where to install your new pickup. Remove the guitar strings and unscrew the pick guard. Lay the pick guard flat and draw round it onto paper to measure your proposed pickup design against the pick guard.
- 2). Draw the top side of your pickup onto paper. Your pickup will include identical top and bottom sides, with the copper wire held between them. Cut out and glue your design onto a thin sheet of plastic and cut round it to create the top sides. Do this step twice to create the identical bottom side too.
- 3). Drill six holes into each piece of plastic to create spaces for pole pieces. Pole pieces are the round metal dots which pick up each string's vibration magnetically. Drill these holes evenly along both pieces of plastic to form a straight line of holes big enough to fit the screws. On the bottom side piece of plastic, drill one slightly smaller hole at each end, to wrap the beginning and end of the copper wire through.
- 4). Screw each screw through the top of the top side piece of plastic and into the bottom side piece. Leave between a ¼ and ½ inch gap between both pieces of plastic. These screws will act as the pickup's magnetic pole pieces
- 5). Wrap the wire around the entire shell of the pickup. Start at one side by feeding the end of the copper wire through one of the end holes in the bottom side piece of plastic. Tightly and evenly wrap the wire around the whole shell until there is an unbroken sheet of wire between the top side and bottom side. Once full, thread the end of the wire through the other small hole at the end of the bottom piece.
- 6). Connect the pickup to lead wires. Take the piece of black wire and solder it to the hole where you started threading the copper wire through. Solder the white piece of wire to the hole where you stopped threading the copper wire through.
- 7). Super glue the magnet onto the underside of the pickup and solder the black and white wires onto the guitar's internal jack plug.
- 8). Place your new pickup onto the pick guard where you want it to go and draw round it. Drill a hole at one end and then use the jigsaw to cut enough space out to install the pickup. Secure it in your guitar using either glue or screws internally.
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