Need some help....because I am a spazz!

[rauchman]

Greetings,

I'm pretty much done with the finish process of my Warmoth Tele build and started laying out the parts for assembly last night.

I had ordered a set of wildepickups.com Bill Lawrence Mircocoils and, after listening to "guitarslinger21"'s demo of them, also ordered a set of Twin Blades (L48TL bridge and L45S neck).  Some of the fine folks here recommended these pups as well.

Here comes the "spazz" part.  I didn't realize the L45S is the size of a Strat route, not a Tele route and won't fit in the Tele route.  Ughhhhhhhhh!!!!  I have it in my head that I will like the sound of the Twin Blades more than the Microcoils, even though I have zero first hand experience with either.  If I go all Twin Blades, this means routing.  I don't have a router, nor experience with routing.  I do have a Dremel with some routing bits though.  Is the routing necessary to make this work doable with a Dremel?  Rephrased a different way....is it more than doable with the Dremel and can a spazz like me make this work?

So, the way I see it, I have choices.....

1 - Don't use the Twin Blades, but instead use the Microcoils (not opposed to this since I have no first hand experience with either.....but, while yes, this is very superficial to say, I love the look of the Twin Blade, but it is a convenient solution to the problem)
2 - Use the bridge Twin Blade L48TL and the Micocoil neck (any idea how these would mix?....right now, this seems like the best compromise option)
3 - Route the neck hole to take the L45S pup (I typed that with trembling fingers....I have worries that I will somehow screw this process up and have visions of destroying the finish around the route area....the finish I've spend the last month working on.....everyday, and also could see my lack of routing experience possibly leading to having big gauging holes in the body)
4 - Go for different pups altogether (I still have the hots for the SD Hot Stack and Dimarzio Area T)

Well, there it is in a somewhat long winded nutshell.  It really comes down to "to route or not to route"...that is the question!

 

[Cagey]

The Tele Microcoils sound great (I have a set myself), and it sounds like installing them in your situation is relatively painless, so I guess if it was me I'd do that first and see how things work. If it's love, go ahead and live with it. If not, then you start on the more radical solution requiring routing & whatnot. Be forewarned - routing with a Dremel isn't ideal, and has been known to burn up Dremel motors. They're not really designed for that kind of duty. If working with a real router is a problem for whatever reason, what you're looking to do isn't brain surgery - you can probably get someone else to do that work pretty reasonably. That said, if you do have or can get a router, just get a Strat pickup cavity template and a pattern-follower mortising bit. Routing pickup cavities isn't very demanding.

 

[Rick]

I've done routing with a dremel.  It doesn't look great, but if it's being covered by a pickguard or something ... whose going to notice?  That said, the microcoils will sound great by themselves, and I don't see a problem mixing the microcoil with the twin blade.  I've had success using 500K pots with the Bill Lawrence single coils, they sound really authentic.  But I'd go with Cagey, on this one, start with the microcoils, besides, that'll get you playing sooner!

Don't bother with new pups, do that for your next project.

 

[T89Rex]

I also have the Micro Coils in my Tele. They're fantastic.

 

[MikeW]

I've done some pickup cavity routing with a Dremel before as well. It's not the ideal solution, but for cleanup work and/or small routs, it's just fine. Do remember to go slowly since the Dremel isn't a heavy-duty tool, and make sure to work a little at a time.

 

[BigSteve22]

I've also done some minor routing jobs with a Dremel. It's OK for removing small amounts of material. Doing it freehand, you won't be holding any tight tolerances, but if it's going to be under a pickguard, it really won't matter. In any event, I would suggest using a router base attachment with the Dremel. Keeps the bit perpendicular to the surface, and gives you something to hold on to, giving you more control.

 

[BroccoliRob]

Go for it, my man! Take the plunge and whip out that spicy Dremel. We're all gonna die someday and not using the pickups you have you're heart set on seems silly, especially since any potential minor mistake will be under a picking guard. You don't want to end up like me that one time when I went to see Limitless at a second run movie theater and the film burnt up before the ending, so I'll never know what happens to Bradley Cooper. It haunts me.

 

[stratamania]

Do you perhaps have a chisel?

You know this could be done with hand tools if you have them.

You could drill out some of the excess wood and then do the final clean up work with a chisel.

 

[rgand]

Stratamania is right. The first time I ever modified a pickup rout I used a forstner bit then cleaned it up up with a chisel. It worked fine.

 

[rauchman]

Thanks all.

I have a Strat routing template coming from Stew Mac, as well as a Strat pickup body mount (hopefully today).  I don't think it's a lot of material to remove, so I'm going to break out the Dremel and see how it goes.