Warmoth pickguard - which humbucker size?

heydenkm

Junior Member
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I need to get a pickguard for an HSH pickup layout on a Strat-style guitar.  I think that I will be using DiMarzio pickups, and I am told that both will need to be F-spaced because of the 1 11/16 neck and Floyd.  I am not sure which humbucker route is the right one for these pickups and I am hoping that someone here has experience with this.  I have only found one dimensioned drawing of an F-spaced DiMarzio humbucker and it appears that is is 2.635" long and something less than 1.500" wide.  The mounting holes in this drawing were 3.100" on center.  Given that this was not an official drawing from their webpage and the dimension for the width really wasn't given--the 1.500" is for the width of the metal base and the bobbins are less wide--I am unclear as to which of Warmoth's four sizes would best fit these pickups.  I like the "fat" sizes with the larger corner radii, as it would seem that they would provide a tighter fit.  However, they are narrower and I am not sure that they would fit.  If anyone out there has put together a similar pickguard, please let me know which you chose and how they fit.

Very much appreciated.  My apologies if this topic has been covered to death.  I did several searches and could not find anything that seemed to apply.  If there are previous threads, feel free to slap me in the back of the head and point toward the old threads.  Thanks again.
 
I think the bobbins are the same size, only the pole piece spacing is different.
 
By my calculations, the difference in width is less than one millimeter, and give the way that humbuckers mount to a pickguard (ie just floating on springs), I can't believe it would make any difference that matters. I had a trembucker pup in a normal route and never noticed any fit issues whatsoever. F-spacing is maybe a litlte bit useful if you're going with the traditional wide string spacing at the bridge, but with a modern strat bridge I doubt it makes a bit of audible difference. I would just get the trembucker size routing and be done with it, return it if it doesn't fit but i'm sure it will.
 
you'll want to use the regular "humbucker" route in the pickguard. the only difference between a regular spaced humbucker and a f-spaced humbucker is the pole piece spacing. the routing for the 2 pickups is exactly the same.
 
Thanks for the responses.  To DBW and Jay, good to hear that the bobbins are the same size, but I am not sure if either one fits in Warmoth's "fat" routes.  Do you know?  To Tim, I didn't think that a custom pickguard would be returnable.  Are they?  Even if it is because I picked the wrong size?  I guess that would make it easier and I would only be out shipping.

I guess my biggest question mark is that the drawing that I found doesn't really show a dimension for the width--only that it is less than the width of the metal base at 1.500".  The pickguard width for the "fat" humbucker or trembucker is 1.480".  Will the pickup fit in that route?  I was thinking that I would go with the "fat humbucker" route at 2.750" x 1.480".  That would provide a tight fit for the pickup length of 2.635", but I don't want to spend $25 only find that the pickup itself won't fit through the hole.  I could go with the "humbucker" size that is 2.775" x 1.500" that would be more than large enough, but I would prefer the fat routes with the larger-rounded corners to minimize the gaps.

It's certainly not a big deal, just an aesthetic thing.  I'd love to hear from anyone out there that has put a DiMazio into a Warmoth "fat humbucker" route and how it fit.  I know that is probably a small group of people, but I have my fingers crossed.

Thanks again to those that have already responded.
 
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