Chapter 5 - Planning For The New Controls Position

The existing setup on these guitars is all controls and wiring installed from the back and popped up through the body.  That was going to be a challenge moving the controls, since I had very little depth to work with on the other side, due to the body contour for left-handed players.  Also, the kidney-shaped wiring cover is shielded on one side, and needed to be reversed to fit the other side.




I opted for a 'Fender-style' control install, i.e.: dig a hole on the front, and pop the controls up through the wiring cover.  I put the wiring cover on top of the body and eyeballed it.  I saw there was just enough room on the surface.  I made a rough template by shining some light on some paper to copy the size of the inner factory wiring hole.

Then it it was just a matter of sizing up the cover......

....and using a tire pencil to make the outline on the body.

Then I figured out where I wanted the jack.

Ready to start cutting.