Best Way / Tools to Route for Pickup

[JaySwear]

so as the title says... i've got this nice mean green machine strat body sitting around. as i collect up money i'm thinking more and more about how i want this thing to come together. i had an old idea for a p-90 middle pickup. my only problem is that my strat is an HSS setup. i got on stewmac and looked around for a while, but they seem to have so much stuff for various routing things and i honestly had no idea what i was looking at :icon_biggrin:

SO. i have a tiny dremel tool (i mean tiny) and a power drill. if an attachment for either of those can do the job i would be extremely excited. if i need something else it will probably just set my project back even further. i don't need it to be extremely pretty (it'll all be under the pickguard, after all) and i'll be exercising extreme caution.

any help is seriously appreciated!

here's the body in question

 

[drewfx]

Dremel makes routing bits that should work fine. Or find someone with a proper router and let them do it.

 

[JaySwear]

looking closely at the body i realized i'd have a serious problem... my plan was to hide the pickup underneath the pickguard, but there's absolutely no room between the bottom of the pickup route and the bottom of the trem route. there must be no more than a quarter of an inch of wood between them, so my idea is out! i'm not decided on whether i should go HSS or just HxS yet, but it looks like H-P90-S isn't happening :icon_biggrin:

 

[pabloman]

Put a humbucker in the bridge throught he pickguard and the P90 in the neck under the guard. I'm not sure what humbucker you are using but if its tappable you can do a phase switch and you would have an extremely versatile guitar.

 

[pabloman]

Black and Decker makes a set of forstener style bits that cut sideways too. It comes with three different sizes for like $10 at Walmart. These things work great, especially when pretty isn't a requirement.

 

[erogenousjones17]

How about a nice, sharp chisel, a hammer and some patience?

 

[Cagey]

How about a nice, sharp chisel, a hammer and some patience?

I was going to suggest that, too. As long as there's a pickguard, who's to know? All you really need is clearance. It's not like making a neck pocket or something that needs dimensional accuracy.

 

[erogenousjones17]

How about a nice, sharp chisel, a hammer and some patience?

I was going to suggest that, too. As long as there's a pickguard, who's to know? All you really need is clearance. It's not like making a neck pocket or something that needs dimensional accuracy.

Exactly. When you get right down to it, a guitar body is just a piece of wood, and there's a lot you can do with simple hand tools. 

 

[Mor Paul]

...and there's a lot you can do with simple hand tools. 

 

[erogenousjones17]

...and there's a lot you can do with simple hand tools. 

Ok, bad example.  :laughing7:

 

[rapfohl09]

...and there's a lot you can do with simple hand tools. 

Ok, bad example.  :laughing7:

Bahahahahaha :laughing7:

 

[JaySwear]

haha well, my problem is that i wanted it to look like a plain old HS superstrat, but have a powerful p90 hidden under the pickguard. p-90s are kind of tall so i think i'd need to deepen the pickup routes (i can't fit a singlecoil underneath the pickguard as is, and i definitely think a p90 will be taller). so i'd have to route down, as well as out, to fit it. and i think i'd definitely be routing straight into the tremolo cavity.

i would go ahead and get a pickguard with a p90 middle, but i think a H-p90-S strat would be one of the ugliest things to walk the planet :icon_biggrin: maybe a really bad reason to sacrifice some versatility, but it's true.

VS

 

[Mor Paul]

Who cares about ugly? You're looking at a green guitar.

 

[erogenousjones17]

Who cares about ugly? You're looking at a green guitar.

Touché.  :laughing7: But seriously, that S-P90-H Strat is pug-fugly.

 

[CrackedPepper]

looking closely at the body i realized i'd have a serious problem... my plan was to hide the pickup underneath the pickguard, but there's absolutely no room between the bottom of the pickup route and the bottom of the trem route. there must be no more than a quarter of an inch of wood between them, so my idea is out! i'm not decided on whether i should go HSS or just HxS yet, but it looks like H-P90-S isn't happening :icon_biggrin:

What about a swimming pool route?  Since you'll have a pickguard you could have the ultimate in flexibility plus it would be easy to route with a dremel, router or chisel.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Have you considered putting in a P-rail in the middle position?

 

[JaySwear]

Have you considered putting in a P-rail in the middle position?

hm. that would be REALLY interesting. think a p-rail hot would be powerful enough to be useable under the pickguard? i can't compare output easily against dimarzio since they use different ways of measuring output AND the p-rail hot isn't even on SD's tone chart (that i can tell).

 

[SustainerPlayer]

I don't really know.

But I do know that it has a fantastic sounding P-90-sound - especially in the neck position. And by using that you have no depth-problem. And you'll get the humbucker and blade-coil for free ... well sort of anyway.

But couldn't you mount it flush with the pickguard? A couple of mm's closer will get you a lot more soundwise.

 

[JaySwear]

thats true. although the p-rails is actually a very tall pickup. surprisingly tall (must be the p-90 part of it that makes it so tall?).

here's an old picture i took of a dimarzio air norton and a p-rail i used to have (since sold)

after a bit more research i'm thinking maybe i'll go with a dimarzio SDS-1. it's supposedly a singlecoil that'll get close to a p90-ish sound. my idea for switching (since i NEVER use a tone knob. literally, never) is a 3 way switch for either the two singlecoils or the humbucker and one of the singlecoils. then i'll wire that up to one of the volume knobs and then wire the last pickup to a separate volume. that way i can get

bridge humbucker
bridge + neck
bridge + middle
middle
middle + neck
neck

would be a little weird to have an independent volume like that, but they do that with normal strats for tone controls, so why not volume, right? anyway i feel like i change my mind on these sorts of things every day, so i'll try to lay off the new ideas for a few days and then come back and see what still looks interesting to me.

 

[bob7point7]

The Seymour Duncan forum had Seymour design a P90 voiced pickup that fit in a strat single coil route a while back. I'm sure if you called SD they could make one for you. I think if it were me, I would go with this route or use the Dimarzio pickup that was mentioned.

Love the green, by the way! Do you have a Mopar that matches it?

Good luck,
-Bobbie