fastening ES type harness...

[Robert Smallwood]

Hi.

I'm playing with a 'dry run' of an ES type semi hollow body guitar. (in pine)

I've watched videos done a harness and am going to glue on a pine back to practise  mounting the pots jack and switch.

While playing with them with no back on it's become clear to me that I'm not getting the nuts snugged anywhere near enough just using star washers. (Jack no problem - I have a 'Jack the gripper') . I f I go ahead and glue on the back & fish the harness into position  I'm going to end up with sloppy nuts and/or broken solder joints.

  So - how are the nuts for the switch and pots effectively tightened in a semi hollowbody build  ie with no rear access cavity?

Thanks,

Rob

[Joshua Levin-Epstein]

When working on a Gibson, I've been able to sneak a finger through the F hole to keep things from spinning while tightening. You can also pull the part up by its shaft or handle and tighten with a open end wrench.

As an aside, I like to use a length of shrink tubing placed over the pot shaft for getting the harness into place. But mostly it is willing the parts into submission.

[David King]

Robert I've never had this problem, perhaps on a new instrument it would make sense to pretighten the nuts before the top is on just the embed the lock washers into the pots and top so that they have a ready grasp later on.

[Barry Daniels]

Lock washers work pretty well. However, if the pot starts to turn while tightening the nut, turn the pot shaft all the way to the left and hold it there while tightening the nut. That combined with the star washer is enough to hold it in place.