February 2019
This inexpensive Godin Archtop owned by a local musician is about to get a nice upgrade with a Kent Armstrong suspended humbucking pickup. The sound quality of the pickup and the nice controls & output jack will really allow this guitar to punch above it’s weight!
This setup includes the Schatten thumbwheel controls and a Fishman strap pin jack. Here they are already soldered together. This is a simple install but there were a couple custom-sized shims I had to make out of scrap celluloid to allow the pickup’s bracket to fit the fingerboard extender
Here the pickup is mounted and the output jack is being fished through the F-hole to it’s mounting hole in the tail of the guitar.
Using my “jack the gripper” tool, I tighten the nut. I usually like a little dab of thread locker as well. Jack nuts are notorious for slowly coming loose with the vibration of the instrument.
The thumbwheel controls are now mounted under the pickguard. You can see them just peeking out near the PG mounting bracket. The wire is routed invisibly through the F-hole . The pickguard did require some minor shaping around the pickup bezel. This install is complete!