DIY pickup routing

[Sp4zRX]

So I took my pickguard off my HW1 body that I am planning on rebuilding with new parts. The plan was to put two pearly gates humbuckers in the neck and bridge. After I took the pickguard off, I was gutted when I saw it was only routed for HSS. I have taken the guard off before and coulda sworn it was HHS but I guess I was wrong.  :sad1:



The pearly gates are already here, so my options are to either buy a couple of noiseless singles and settle with an HSS or, the cheaper option, buy a router and route the body for HSH. The tinkerer in me decided to go the rerouting route.  :headbang:

I have never done anything like this before. Is there anything I should know in advance or any tips for me for routing the pickup route before I ruin a perfectly good body? I am thinking there isn't much to it but to just route away.

 

[bagman67]

It sure wouldn't kill you to pick up some scrap lumber to practice your technique on.  Just sayin'.  If you want to save money, you won't save it by destroying your part - perhaps this is part of a plot to get your hands on a brand new Warmoth body to replace that sketchy Fender doodad.

 

[Sp4zRX]

perhaps this is part of a plot to get your hands on a brand new Warmoth body to replace that sketchy Fender doodad.

Well, if thats the worst case scenario, then sounds like its a win/win. :laughing7:

And good call on the scrap wood. I will definitely practice first. Thanks!

 

[Cagey]

Unless you plan to do a reasonable amount of routing in the future, that's not really a "cheap" option. A decent router that won't piss you off is going to run you a couple hundred bucks, plus you'll need a pattern-following bit and a template, which will probably add another $50 or so to the cost. Then, you have to get good with the thing, which is no small task. Routers are mean tools. They get away from you easily and you can screw something up so fast you won't even know enough to start crying for several minutes.

All that said, it's not an insurmountable task. A good tool is a wonderful thing, and a reasonable amount of practice and care will get you there. But, if you don't own a router now, chances are you don't need one, so you might be better off to job it out. I doubt anybody would charge you more than $25 to open up a hole to the proper configuration.

 

[Sp4zRX]

I had already picked up a router when I made that post. I spent $70 on a Skill router. I just measured the cavity of the bridge and outlined the neck for the same dimensions with a razor blade. The route will be under a pickguard so I wasn't too worried about having a go at it myself.



I think it came out pretty good. I don't have the HH pickguard yet and the pickguard loaded with the humbuckers will be the true test but I don't foresee any issues.

 

[Cagey]

He's got big balls! Everybody says you've got great balls of fire! And you have the biggest balls of them all!  :icon_biggrin:

Congrats on your success! I would not have expected that to work. I'm happy to be proven wrong.

 

[Sp4zRX]

He's got big balls! Everybody says you've got great balls of fire! And you have the biggest balls of them all!  :icon_biggrin:

Congrats on your success! I would not have expected that to work. I'm happy to be proven wrong.

And their such big balls, dirty big balls!

I was pretty much right on with Bagman's philosophy, that if it fails, then oh well, might just have to spring for a new warmoth body.

 

[DarkPenguin]

I'd have gone with a 1/2 " drill bit and a chisel.

 

[Cagey]

I'd have gone with a 1/2 " drill bit and a chisel.

Or, super-intelligent trained hamsters on a strict hardwood diet. Nail 'em with a taser every once in a while to keep 'em in line. That'll learn 'em.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I've done two pickup routings before.  One, I put a guitar sized humbucker in an acoustic bass and used a pickup ring to mount it.  The other was a Musicman bass pickup into a P-Bass.  In both cases, the routing tolerances had to be on a gnat's ass.  The humbucker ring leaves little room to cover mistakes and the bass pickup was direct mount the same size as the pickup.

With the humbucker with ring, I used an acrylic template to make a template in particle board.  The reasoning being it allows a bigger surface for the router face to slide on.  The particle board being thicker than the template also allows for changing depth for multiple passes.

With the Musicman pickup route, I used a trim bit on a body that already had that route to make a particle board template.

In every case, I recommend a thick template because you can put it on anything and you can visualize  better.