Pickups and Knob Preparation

     To properly set up an electric guitar so its playable you need to do a set of activities with it to make sure everything works. I began by placing the gold translucent volume and tone knobs on their corresponding pots. I made sure that the numbers 1 through 10 are exactly on the same angle when I look at them while playing. I tightened them just snug enough so they can still slide to adjust the levels of sound or tone. Next are the pickups. For a standard Les Paul set up, the pickups must be on a certain angle and a specific distance away from the strings. The idea with this is you want it as close to the strings as possible without touching. That is why I positioned them 3mm away from the strings for the first pickup and 4mm away for the bottom pickup.

Assembling the Parts





     Now that the guitar is all wired and buffed, I can finally accessorize it with all its flashy parts. First the tuning machines will be screwed on to the head. These tuning machines are what the strings are wound tightly on. They have to be strong because if not the tension from the strings will pull them off. Then the bridge and tailpiece will be installed. The tailpiece is what holds the strings at the base of the guitar. It has to be exactly perpendicular to the neck for it to play well. The bridge is a different story. This part goes right in front of the bridge so the strings can rest on it. The bridge is a tiny chrome bar that must be placed on a 10 degree angle for the strings to properly stay in tune. These steps were very tedious because if one thing was off then the guitar would never truly be in tune.



The bridge and tailpiece are the bottom two bars