Fitting Carl’s Pick-Up

I’m fitting a Headway transducer into Carl’s mandola and much of the process is pretty much the same as I did on Brendan’s mandolin a few months ago. However, as this transducer is active, it requires a battery. I normally discourage having a battery (using, if possible, phantom power or a passive pick-up) inside a mandolin as the space is too tight; however on the mandola the soundhole is a tad larger and the body deeper. The battery with a Headway transducer is normally held inside a bag which, in turn, is attached to the instrument with a sticky Velcro pad. However, after a trial it became very clear that only a person with the manual dexterity of Houdini would ever be able to change the battery!

Therefore I reverted to my preferred method of using one of these clips…………..

 

And ditched the bag.

 

-Normally I make the tailpiece towards the end of the build but as I need it sooner rather than later, I’ve made–up the base plate. 

Having this component ready, allows the jack-socket hole to be drilled and the back of that hole (where the drill breaks through) can be supported.

 Satisfied that the transducer fits etc. the box is closed-up!