Adding neck pup rout to Junior-style guitar, how to bore tunnel for pup wire?

[reluctant-builder]

Hi, there. I've got a mind to pick up an SG Junior I saw for next to nothing and rout it for a neck pickup. Routing for the neck pup isn't issue. The issue is boring that channel between the pup routes so I can thread the pup wire to the control cavity. What's the best way to do that? Especially on such a thin guitar?

Thanks for any input!

 

[bagman67]

Aviation bit for the drill:


http://www.harborfreight.com/3-piece-25-long-wood-bit-set-516-38-716-68823.html


THat way you can get a shallow angle with the drill between the pickup routs without the drill motor getting in the way.

 

[reluctant-builder]

Thanks, Bagman. Now I just have to wonder if I can get an angle shallow enough not to drill through the 1 1/2" body.

 

[Pelagaard]

This will help, although if this is a one-off situation, it might not be worth the cost.

 

[bagman67]

Thanks, Bagman. Now I just have to wonder if I can get an angle shallow enough not to drill through the 1 1/2" body.

You could also drill from the pickup cavity into the control cavity, rather than between the pickup cavities.  That option is probably preferable, in fact.

 

[leo12.]

Is the Junior an original Gibson? might be worth more unmodded. What pickup is at the
bridge? What pickup is going in the neck spot? If your keeping the pickguard (or a modded part of it) you could rout a channel vintage tele style under the pickguard. The glued neck
takes up alot of that area. Good luck.

 

[Cagey]

Thanks, Bagman. Now I just have to wonder if I can get an angle shallow enough not to drill through the 1 1/2" body.

That's one of the nice things about using an aircraft bit. It's long enough that you can keep the drill motor away from the guitar's body, which allows you to lay it down more without worrying about the chuck or drill motor body running into the surface of the guitar's body. I've never measured it, but you're probably able to get down to within about 15° - 20° of parallel. Start a little high on the entry side, and you'll probably be fine. It's gotta be the way they do it, since magic isn't a reliable method.

 

[swarfrat]

trained termites

 

[line6man]

You can do it Tele style and just drill down the neck pocket, parallel to the strings.

 

[Cagey]

You can do it Tele style and just drill down the neck pocket, parallel to the strings.

I noticed they did it that way on an L5S body I recently acquired. Went from the neck pocket, through the pickup cavity, all the way into the control cavity in one swell foop. Still had to have had an aircraft bit to pull that trick off.

 

[reluctant-builder]

Is the Junior an original Gibson? might be worth more unmodded.

Believe me; it's not worth a damned thing. :icon_biggrin: It's an Epi toy, basically. I bought one for my niece as a cheap axe on which to learn, and just decided to get one for myself.

I've always wanted an SG, don't want to spend the money on another premium guitar, can easily play it righty upside down thanks to the double-cutaway ... and I've wanted to have a righty in the house for friends to play, and for myself to use to play Bobby Womack- / Doyle Bramhall II- / Albert King- / Otis Rush-style.

I'm always going to play my main guitars in a "normal" left-handed fashion (mirror of righty), but it'd be nice to practice the upside down style so I can pick up anyone's guitar and still be able to play proficiently.

You can do it Tele style and just drill down the neck pocket, parallel to the strings.

There's an idea. Thanks for the suggestion.

I noticed they did it that way on an L5S body I recently acquired. Went from the neck pocket, through the pickup cavity, all the way into the control cavity in one swell foop. Still had to have had an aircraft bit to pull that trick off.

Yeah, aircraft bit it is. Thanks, guys.

 

[stubhead]

and I've wanted to have a righty in the house for friends to play, and for myself to use to play Bobby Womack- / Doyle Bramhall II- / Albert King- / Otis Rush-style.

I'm in the process of hooking up a righty for me with the strings upside down - it seems pretty obvious that pulling strings to bend them is a lot easier, and there are enough people playing proficiently in that reversed way it's just plain lazy to say it "can't" be used to play well. I suspect things like that are good for your brain, too, at least until they drive you nuts.

 

[reluctant-builder]

I'm in the process of hooking up a righty for me with the strings upside down - it seems pretty obvious that pulling strings to bend them is a lot easier, and there are enough people playing proficiently in that reversed way it's just plain lazy to say it "can't" be used to play well. I suspect things like that are good for your brain, too, at least until they drive you nuts.

Exactly. I agree.

I know someone could take this topic and run in the direction of "Well, why don't you just learn how to play righty (or, in your case, lefty)" ... and while it's not an invalid question, I think it's pretty well established that some people are just more comfortable with the guitar oriented in one or the other direction. In my case, it's strumming / picking left hand and fretting right hand.

That said, I'm right there with you about the learning how to play with the strings in reverse order. Considering how many cats have learned to do it, and have risen to prominence as innovators (sure, there's something intrinsic about them, but it's interesting to consider how all the guys I mentioned play in the same manner, and they're all mainly funk or blues guys of great repute), it seems worth emulating. Lots of inverted chords and triads, surely. Fingerings to learn that may not strike a guitarist playing in a more ordinary orientation.

I think it'll be fun ... at least until it drives me crazy, like you said. :icon_biggrin:

 

[stubhead]

Well, I can play righty, after 40 years I hope so - but that's not the point. The point is to see what else is in there, and to have a wall full of guitars with all of them tuned exactly the same, and even of the same type, blah. Part of it's from watching the Albert Kink/SRV show several times - Stevie Ray could play all the same squeaky microtonal blues bends right-side-up that Albert King did playing backward, but SRV had to make all those hideous faces and Albert did 'em smiling and clowning around... but more, I am acutely aware of the need to shake things up, haul off and learn something different, keep unearthing new branches of music to listen to and play. I used to play every weekend with one of the best guitarists around here, and he's still gigging every weekend during the summer doing the Ocean City drunken tourist bar-band repertoire. He gets home at 3am Sunday morning, puts his guitar in the closet and doesn't take it out again until Thursday to put strings on for the next two nights. He'd rather sit in front of the TV watching people eat bugs and talking about how stupid all the shows are than play music... eek. I hope I die before I get old. Oh... Wait.... shhhh....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZB57b3lPQE

(for the record, it doesn't seem that anybody's even sure what Albert King tuned to - there are at least three different "explanations", which probably amused him to no end.)

 

[ocguy106]

might be hard but you could use that long bit and drill from the but of the guitar like where the strap lock would go. Go right through the bridge cavity and continue to the neck cavity. Then dowel the hole and put the strap lock back in place.
seems doable.