Goofing off with my first guitar, which Dad bought for me in 1979. He paid $15 for the guitar and an amplifier. The pickguard is broken, and has been repaired here with sheet metal. It was replaced entirely a few years later.
Better picture of a similar model: Late 60's/early 70's Norma guitar, made in Japan. This isn't my guitar -- I got this photo from a vintage guitar website.
This is what it looked like before I started fixing it. MIke and Dad sanded and refinished it in the 80's. I threw out the oddly shaped pickguard (you can still see the outline). I kept the volume control pot and the input jack.
I removed all of the hardware.
I put the hardware back on, with the bridge bolted on top of a copper wire, which will be used later to ground the bridge and everything connected to it.
I bought a cookie sheet at Salvation Army for $1.29, cut it with tin snips into a primitive but functional pickguard. With the tools I have, it was easier to cut metal than plastic, and it will might help reduce electrical interference.
I bought a pickup on ebay for $13, but it was too widely spaced, so I had to angle it to get the magnets to line up with the strings.
I wanted the pickup closer to the neck to give the guitar a better single coil sound, so I had to rout out part of the guitar (outlined with marker).
Here is the guitar, freshly routed to fit the pickup.
I cut out the hole for the pickup, filed it, and put the pickup in.
I drilled two holes for the volume pot and the input jack . . .
. . . then placed the volume pot and input jack in the pickguard.
I lined the cavity with aluminum foil, which, along with the cookie sheet pickguard, should help reduce electrical interference/humming in the pickup.
I soldered all of the components together (grounding the metal pickguard cover in the process), and restrung the guitar. It's homely, but it sounded pretty good when I tried it. Over the years, I've spent a total of several thousand dollars on music equipment, and I had as much fun playing this $20 guitar today as I've ever had with any other guitar.
