Disassembling an electric guitar is often much simpler than putting it back together, which is why you shouldn’t go about dismantling yours if you’re not confident you can return it to a working state. However, even if you’re confident in your skills, you still might need some practical advice that can help ensure that you’ll pull the process off without any issues.
Before you put an electric guitar back together, you should clean and rebuff it first. If you have problems with feedback, you can construct a Faraday cage. After that, you should re-install the bridge, tremolo spring plate, and the springs. Then, you should re-install the pickups and the neck.
This article will take you through a detailed guide on reassembling your electric guitar after pulling it apart. Hopefully, you’ll read it before you start playing around with disassembling and reassembling it yourself.
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1. Make Sure You Have All the Parts
This one might go without saying, but it is still worth mentioning because it’s easy to get overconfident and lose a screw or two. Most of us have been in a situation in which we were almost done assembling something only to realize that there was a screw missing and it was nowhere to be found.
As you disassemble your guitar, pack each screw into a labeled zip lock bag, so you know where everything is at all times. You might not have to be that rigorous, but ensuring that everything is in a sealed container from which it can’t disappear is the best way to prevent a headache when reassembling your guitar.
You should also pay close attention to where all the accessories and components are. While losing a pickup, pot, or tuning peg is much harder, it’s still possible, especially if you tend to misplace things. For that reason, proceed with caution when you disassemble your guitar.
2. Clean and Rebuff
You should take the opportunity to clean your guitar thoroughly while it is in pieces. This will allow you to remove any dust or other debris from parts that are not easily accessible. A simple piece of cotton cloth will do just fine, and if some places are still hard to reach, you can use a cotton swab.
You can also use the opportunity to bring a new shine to your guitar, particularly if it’s an older model or if you’ve reliced it but don’t want it to look too ancient and battered. To buff it up, you can use any rubbing compound you can get in your local store. Pretty much anything will work fine.
You can do this by hand, but it will be very time-consuming and labor-intensive; plus, you’ll probably get swirl marks and make your guitar look worse. The easiest way to go about it is using a polishing bonnet you can attach to a drill.
Once you’ve got your tools set up, start polishing. The most important thing is to keep on moving the polishing bonnet. Otherwise, you might get swirl marks if you stay on one spot for too long. You should get both the front and the back of your guitar. This should be easy enough to do with the polishing bonnet and drill, but you might have to do the sides by hand if it’s hard to hold the guitar with one hand while polishing it.
Here’s a useful instructional video on how to make your guitar shine again.
Once your guitar is clean and shiny, you can proceed to the next steps. Overall, reassembling your guitar is not difficult as long as you stay focused and don’t try to rush the process.
3. Re-Install the Bridge
Before reinstalling your bridge, you should inspect it to see if it has been damaged or worn out. If it has, you should probably look for a new one. Finding a bridge should not be difficult. Mark down the model and look for the exact same one if you want to play it safe. If you want to modify your guitar, you can try installing a different bridge that fits; however, that might be difficult.
It’s important that the width of every slot fits the gauge of your guitar strings. If a slot is too narrow, it may bend the string and cause tuning problems. If it’s too wide, it may cause the strings to rattle and buzz.
To save time on measuring everything to see if a potential new bridge can be installed properly on your guitar and do it all again if you’re unsuccessful, you should opt for the same bridge model.
Anyway, whether you’re buying a new bridge or reusing the one you already have, you can install it at this point. You should screw it in, of course, but it’s not necessary to tighten the screws completely at this time. You can do it later.
Once the bridge is in place, you can re-install the tremolo spring plate and the springs. Positioning them in a triangular shape will make the bridge sit tighter in its place.
4. Make a Faraday Cage
While this step is not essential to reassembling your guitar, you might want to use this opportunity to create a Faraday cage if you have problems with feedback and noise on your guitar.
This process is often referred to as “shielding,” and its goal is to eliminate electromagnetic interference. The electrical components in the guitar can act as antennas for radio and electric signals around you, which produces buzzing, noise, and thus, annoyance.