Aligning pickup rings

[CrackedPepper]

Does any one have any surefire tricks for getting the alignment right when installing humbucker pickup rings on a new installation (ie. no existing screw holes)?

 

[bbl4ck]

The only trick I have used is to string up your high and low e strings.  Then use them for alignment...
Good luck and I can't wait to see pics of that wenge babe  :glasses9:

 

[fourdogslong]

Good tip, I didn't think about it at first.
When you drill the holes for the screws, do you have a trick to make sure the finish won't crack?

Thanks

 

[AutoBat]

i've always heard to put tape over your drill points, and brad point bits help keep it centered as well so you don't get drift

 

[fourdogslong]

I did use tape before I drilled the hole for my strap button but still, it sort of made a thin layer of wood, including the finish over it, "pop up" like a little mountain and when I put the screw in it got worst.
The strap button covered it and it doesn't show at all but I don't want that to happen with the pickup ring's screw hole. For the second strap button I installed I started my drill faster and it made a clean hole, then I drilled the surface a little bit more with a larger bit and when I put the screw in everything stayed clean.
So I was wondering if I should use that technique to install the pickup ring too or if it's overkill for those small screw...

thanks

 

[Steve_Karl]

Hi speed is the ticket for clean holes in raw wood. Dremel type tools are awesome.
I don't know about with finishes.

 

[Cagey]

I did use tape before I drilled the hole for my strap button but still, it sort of made a thin layer of wood, including the finish over it, "pop up" like a little mountain and when I put the screw in it got worst.
The strap button covered it and it doesn't show at all but I don't want that to happen with the pickup ring's screw hole. For the second strap button I installed I started my drill faster and it made a clean hole, then I drilled the surface a little bit more with a larger bit and when I put the screw in everything stayed clean.
So I was wondering if I should use that technique to install the pickup ring too or if it's overkill for those small screw...

That's a usable technique, although you generally don't have to drill incrementally. Just use the right size/type bit for the hole in the first place. Wood usually doesn't benefit from the use of pilot holes like metal does. Good holes depend more on proper tooling and technique. Don't be afraid of the tool; let it do its thing.

Tape is a safety measure more than anything else, in case you're using such a dull bit that even wood is willing to stand up to it and fight back. Keeps a wandering bit from scoring the surface too badly - you hope. But, if your bits are that bad off, it didn't happen overnight and it means you're too careless to be trying to do fine woodworking. For small holes, you might want to use an awl (or something similar) to mark the hold location, but that's as far as you need to go and most folks don't even do that.

Finishes are brittle; there's not much you can do about that unless you want to start using latex paints. But, good sharp tools will generally cut fast and clean enough that it isn't a huge issue. In most cases, the screwhead itself will cover most or all of a any drill-induced blemishing, and in the case of guitars, you're almost always attaching something that will more than cover up even the most egregious chips.

 

[Watchie]

I hope I am not too late to this soirée, but today I did indeed drill the necessary holes for humbucker trim rings on my Jazzmaster build.  The simple trick I used to line everything up was the following:

1.  Place a small piece of blue masking tape on all four side of the ring, in what you estimate to be the center.  Then measure and mark on each piece of tape the actual center (i.e., midpoint from top to bottom, and side to side).

2.  Place a piece of blue tape along the routing for the PUP.  Again, measure and mark the center point, top to bottom, side to side.

3.  Repeat step 2, above, for the other routing.

4.  Put a ruler along our horizontal marks to ensure they line up.  You may even have a drilled hole indicating the center of your bridge, and can use this as to assist in ensuring everything is as it should be.

5.  Place the pickup ring with it's marks over the routing, and line everything up (the marks on the tape on the ring lined up with the marks on the tape placed nest to the routing).

6.  Mark with a sharp pencil through the mounting screw holes where you need to drill.

7.  Remove the mounting ring and "punch" with a nail, or leather punch, where you have marked the holes to be drilled.

8.  Drill, baby, drill.

Came out perfectly.

 

[Orpheo]

for 2 pickups its so easy to do it. with 3 humbuckers, its a bitch. really, it is. you want equal amounts of clearance between the middle and neck and bridge pickups, and you want it centered too. its not fun to do it.

 

[fourdogslong]

Yeah I thought two pickups were already pretty hard to align, I wouldn't want to have 3 to align!

 

[stubhead]

Drill bits are like the bitty screwdrivers, and metal files - if they get some use, you have to either learn to sharpen them, or simply replace them. I seem to remember a jig for sharpening drill bits in the old, US-made, relatively-expensive days, but they're so cheap nowadays you can just pick up a new one once in a while. And yes, speed helps. After my last battery-powered drill died, I decided not to replace it - they always piss me off petering out two holes from the end of a job, and I have plenty of extension cords... I put down white masking tape on top of blue, and use an awl or centerpunch to set the start.

 

[Orpheo]

i forgot to complete my post.

I take some tape, and tape off the left and right side of the pickup cavity (perpendicular to the strings). and I align the middle of the ring with the middle of the cavity. then I know where the outer edge of the ring has to be, and I draw a line on the tape where the edge of the rings have to be (2, or 3, doesnt matter). same with the width of the pickup (90 degrees angle on the first line) and then I measure how far off the middle the holes are on the ring.  then its just a matter of drilling. I really measure it out, relative to the middle of the ring and the middle of the cavity.