What The Bench Job Actually Involves
Fitting an acoustic guitar pickup, LR Baggs installation included, is bench work: a jack hole reamed through the endblock, an element seated under the saddle or a unit mounted to the bridge plate or soundhole, wiring secured inside the body so nothing rattles, then a restring and a setup check before the guitar goes back in its case.
It is not a fix for a guitar that already plays badly. A pickup amplifies whatever the instrument is doing, so a high action, a buzzing saddle or a lifting bridge needs attention first.
Mounting Type Decides How Invasive The Work Is
The LR Baggs range divides by where the sensor sits, and that choice decides how much of the guitar gets cut. Undersaddle systems need a hole drilled through the floor of the saddle slot, angled at the bass end so the lead exits inside the body without breaking through the bridge plate, plus an endpin jack hole.
Bridge plate systems adhere inside the body under the bridge and leave the saddle untouched, though they still need a jack. Magnetic soundhole units clamp into the soundhole and can run a lead dressed over the edge, so nothing is drilled at all. Microphone blend systems add an internal mic and a soundhole control module, and are the most involved fit.
Choosing A System For How The Guitar Is Played
Playing context matters more than the spec sheet. Solo fingerstyle players and anyone recording tend to prefer a blend system, because the internal microphone carries the body of the instrument that a saddle sensor alone flattens out. On a loud stage with drums, that same microphone becomes the thing fighting feedback, and an undersaddle or magnetic system is the more forgiving choice.
Church and school PA work, where volume is moderate and the mix is controlled, suits a blend system. Buskers and players who move between venues do better with a magnetic unit that lifts out and moves to another guitar. Where feedback is the known problem, the phase and notch controls on the fuller systems do real work.
The Install Step By Step At Our Bench
The order of work when fitting an acoustic guitar pickup, LR Baggs installation or any comparable system, stays the same, and the tools are set out before a single hole is cut: a tapered reamer for the jack, fine files, masking tape to protect the finish, a cradle to hold the body, and a flat sanding block for the saddle.
- Assessment and quote: the guitar is checked for cracks, a lifting bridge, top thickness and endblock clearance, and the system is matched to the instrument before anything is ordered or cut.
- Endpin jack: the hole is reamed rather than drilled to size, working up gradually so the end grain does not splinter. An oversized or out-of-round hole is the hardest fault to undo.
- Sensor fitting: for an undersaddle element the slot floor is drilled at an angle at the bass end and the exit is controlled so the bridge plate stays intact. Peel-and-stick bridge plate units are positioned dry first, because there is one chance to place them.
- Wiring and mounting: the lead is routed and secured from bridge to endblock, and the battery bag and preamp are mounted clear of the top and braces so nothing taps the soundboard.
- Saddle, setup and test: the saddle bottom is checked flat and in full contact along the element, shimmed or re-cut for the action and intonation shift, then a fresh set of strings goes on and the system is tested plugged in.
That last step is the one hobby tutorials skip. A fresh set changes how an undersaddle system reads the top, which is why our guide to how often to change guitar strings matters more once a pickup is in.
Fume Control And The Low Voltage Question
A pickup fit involves soldering, and solder fume is the most specific hazard in the whole job. WorkSafe WA's guidance note on soldering with rosin fluxes records nose, sinus, eye and throat irritation, dermatitis and occupational asthma as effects of rosin flux fume, and sets out controls including local exhaust ventilation at the iron, skin protection and hygiene. Safe Work Australia's Workplace Exposure Standards for Airborne Contaminants (2025) then set concentrations no worker may be exposed above, covering solder fume alongside timber dust and lacquer vapour from routing a preamp cavity. Those values are ceilings rather than targets, so extraction belongs at the iron and the cutter, not at the window.
The electrical side is simpler than most people expect. Under the Electrical Equipment Safety System, equipment operating exclusively at extra-low voltage, below 50 V AC RMS or 120 V ripple-free DC, is not in-scope electrical equipment, and a nine volt preamp sits well under that line. The same threshold is the boundary AS/NZS 3000:2018, the Wiring Rules, draws around installations, so the mains side of a rig, an amplifier or a PA, is licensed electrical work and no part of ours. Being out of scope removes no duty: a supplier of extra-low voltage equipment must still ensure it is electrically safe against the essential safety criteria of AS/NZS 3820.
Symptoms Of An Install That Went Wrong
A correct fit sounds like the guitar, with even string-to-string volume and no noise when the lead is moved. Most install problems come down to one of three faults.
Thin, quacky tone with a weak low E is almost always saddle contact. An undersaddle element needs even pressure along its length, so a saddle bottom that is not dead flat, or one that rocks on a burr left in the slot, starves whichever strings sit over the gap. Crackle or cut-out when the cable is wiggled is the jack, usually a hole that ended up oversized so the barrel cannot clamp. Intermittent dropouts with no mechanical cause point to the battery connection or a cold solder joint. The first is a saddle job, the second often a bushing or a plug repair, and the third a rework of the wiring, so we diagnose which of the three it is in store, free, before any work is quoted. Our instrument repairs and maintenance guide covers how we work through that assessment.
Guitars Worth Retrofitting And Ones To Leave Alone
A solid-top acoustic that a player intends to keep is the clear case for a retrofit. Brands we stock include Maton acoustics and Cole Clark. Where a guitar already has a factory system fitted, the question is replacement rather than a first fit, and the existing jack hole and saddle decide how straightforward that is.
At the other end, an inexpensive laminate beginner instrument is rarely the right candidate, because the system plus labour can approach or exceed what the guitar is worth. For a player at that stage, one of our acoustic guitar packages for beginners is the better spend. Classical and nylon-string guitars, thin or older tops, guitars with an existing crack and bodies with no clearance at the endblock all get assessed free in store before we commit to cutting, and on some we recommend a magnetic soundhole unit instead, which needs no modification at all.
Quotes, Inclusions And Customer Rights
Every fit begins with a free quote in store, so nothing appears at collection that was not agreed at drop-off. Where we issue a written warranty against defects on the work, the ACCC requires that document to carry the prescribed wording, and it sits on top of the consumer guarantees rather than in place of them.
Those rights cannot be signed away. The ACCC sets out that services must be supplied with due care and skill, be fit for the purpose the customer made known, and be delivered taking reasonable steps to avoid loss or damage to the goods, which is exactly why a blown-out jack hole or a cracked top is not a risk a workshop can disclaim. A minor problem must at least be put right by free repair. That is the standard we work to, and it is why the bench, not the counter, does this job.
Joondalup Music Centre has served the Perth music community for 20 years. Guitars come to us from across Perth and Joondalup for pickup fits, re-strings, servicing and repairs, and we ship Australia-wide. Contact information: Unit 4/101 Winton Rd, Joondalup, open 7 days, ph 08 9300 0033.
Frequently Asked Questions
Turnaround: the wait on fitting an acoustic guitar pickup, an LR Baggs installation among them, depends on the bench queue and on whether the guitar needs saddle or repair work as well. Ringing 08 9300 0033 gives the current wait.
Battery life: active systems draw power whenever a lead is plugged into the jack, which is how most batteries die, left connected between sets rather than during playing. Unplugging at the break and carrying a spare nine volt in the case removes the problem, and the battery bag is reachable through the soundhole.
Replacing a factory system: common, and usually straightforward, with two variables. The existing jack hole may be undersized, which reams out easily, or already oversized, which needs a bushing or a plug and redrill before a new jack will hold. The old saddle can often be reused, though one cut for a different element thickness may need replacing.
Classical, nylon-string and vintage guitars: magnetic units rely on steel strings, so they are out on nylon, and the lighter bracing and saddle geometry of a classical narrow the undersaddle choices to systems designed for it. Where an instrument should not be cut at all, a magnetic soundhole pickup lifts out in seconds leaving nothing behind, in exchange for a more electric character and no onboard controls.