Well, I ran into some unexpected issues. After fitting the pickguard to the body, I put the electronics onto it and tried to fit it. Wasn’t going to happen! This pickguard sits just a little bit differently than the other one, and so everything was off by just a little bit. This means the new electronics would not fit in the cavity space. There were 2 options here. Adjust the pickguard some more and risk messing it up, or to route out the body cavity to the correct size.
I went with option #2, since this will make sure that no matter what pickguard is used later on, that the large size electronics will fit, and will have sufficient room to not short out by touching the cavity shielding foil as is often an issue in tight quarters. So I ripped out the shielding foil on the affected section and got out the air grinder and got a nice route so it all fits inside easily. This is much nicer now. I also had the issue of now that I had to burn through the cavity wall, the layers of paint and primer which kept it sealed were no longer there and it’s just bare wood. To remedy this I got out the brush on polyurethane wood sealer and gave it a decent coat. This should keep it sealed and will give the foil something nice to stick to. Now the electronics fit, the cavities are re-shielded, and the pickguard fits nicely on the body! It looks great. I will drill the mounting holes for the pickguard when everything is complete. Little adjustments like this can drive you nuts, but getting it right is definitely worth the effort!
I also got a good coat of sand and sealer on the neck. I will let that set up for a day or so and then sand it smooth. Then it will be ready for primer and eventual finish. I have to be careful to not sand through it when I level it out, since I don’t have anymore!
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