Here...Put This Together

  Sometimes I get to reassemble a pile of parts back into a guitar. Usually,these guitars started out as a project that for some reason or other didn't get finished. Inevitably,they've been stuffed into a closet or tucked under a bed for a year or two. How did the guitar play before disassembly? Don't know. Did all the parts work? Don't know. Are all the correct parts present and accounted for? Don't know. Wonderful.
  In today's example,we have a B.C. Rich that was taken apart to apply some...Uh..."folk art". We get a bit of a break,because we're putting in EMG pickups. They come with their own potentiometers and stereo 1/4" jack so we'll only have to use the three way switch from our bag of Chinese mystery parts. Normally,I would have to reinstall the ground wire from the bridge to the volume pot. Because EMG pickups are grounded internally,they don't need this wire. Although I knew it would make things harder if the guitar owner ever decided to go back to passive pickups,I reinstalled the bridge post without a ground wire. I made myself a little cardboard jig so I could do most of the electronic work out side of the guitar,then just drop it into the exceptionally tight control cavity. Because my bag of parts didn't include the backplate,he got a temporary "backplate" of tape, so the battery wouldn't fall out. After a setup,this one of a kind B.C. Rich was ready to rock!