Gretsch G5120 Upgrades: TV Jones Pickups, New Wiring Harness and Compton Bridge (Pt. 3)

With the old wiring harness out of the guitar, we can move forward with the new one.

Above is the complete TV Jones harness and pickups ready to to.  You can get the pickups alone, but I wanted to do a small mod on the wiring, and I figured the new pots and switch would be better quality than the factory ones.  They are - the switch is a classic Switchcraft and the pots are CTS.  And the wiring itself is better quality.

I connected the pickups to the harness and did the 'Fezz Parka' tone control mod.  The mod rewires the tone cap so the tone remains the same when you lower the guitar's volume.  With a lot of guitar wiring, you lose treble as you turn the volume down.  By reversing two wires on the tone control, this problem goes away.  I do it on all my guitars.

If you do this work on your guitar, I encourage you to
use the TV Jones method of installing the pots and output jack.  It's just (vinyl?) tubing and a dowel.  They sell this as a package - I splurged and spent the $6 rather than try and piece it together myself.

If you look closely at the dowel, you see a clever bit of marketing.

You thread the tubing through the appropriate hole in the top of the guitar, and then up through the bridge pickup hole.

Then put the end of the tubing over the pot shaft.

You need to remove the pot's nut first, but leave a lock washer on.  I found I only had space for a couple tubes at once inside the guitar.

The four tubes for the pots are the same diameter, and the switch tube is smaller.

Pull the tube from the hole end until the pot comes up through the hole.  Simple and ingenious!

Here's my neck and bridge pickup volume controls in place.  The master tone hasn't been installed yet.

After you pull the pot up through the hole, you can slide a washer and nut down over the tube and fit them on the pots.

If I did this a lot, I'd get really fast at it.

Solder the new ground lead to the old one.  I used some shrink tubing to insulate it.

For the output jack, run the dowel into the guitar via the jack hole on the side of the body.  Then stick the tapered end into the jack and pull it through like you did with the tubes.

I had a heck of a time with my jack at first.  It kept falling off the dowel.  Then I realized I hadn't reamed out the jack hole - it was too small and the jack wouldn't pass through!

Here we have the pots and switch all in place, ready to put the pickups in.  I may not have mentioned this, but be sure to use a towel or clean rag on the top of the guitar to avoid scratching it.

The pickups come with mounting screws and springs.  Run them through the pickup ring surround and into the bracket on the pickup.

TV Jones sells the rings and also spacers to raise the height of the pickups.  You'll need one spacer for the neck pickup and one for the bridge.  The just sit below the mounting ring.

There are four holes in the corners of the rings that screws go into to hold the whole enchilada to the geetar.  On my 5120, two of them didn't line up exactly and I had to drill new holes.  No big thing.  The old holes are invisible under the pickup rings.

The rings are available in silver, gold and clear.  I opted for clear.  I figured I can paint them to match the guitar if I decide to later.

With the pickups in the guitar, I plug it in and see if it works.  (Actually I tested the harness on the workbench earlier).  Lightly tap each pickup with a screwdriver and test the pots and switch.  I managed to get it right the first time.  Whoo hoo!

And now for the piece of resistance.

I'm replacing the old tune-o-matic style bridge with a new Compton titanium bridge from Wayne Compton in Minnesota.  Wayne's bridges are all the rage for Gretsch players.  He sells them in brass, steel, stainless, and titanium.  There's usually a waiting list for the latter, but I emailed him to get on the list and he happened to have one in stock.  What timing.

I know, titanium!  Crazy, huh?  I would have gone with brass or stainless, but I had to try it.

It's a piece of art.  Really beautifully made.

All posts related to this project:

Part One - Removing original pickups
Part Two - Fitting bridge base and start of wiring
Part Three (this one) - Installing TV Jones pickups
Part Four - Finished!