Direct Mounting Pick Ups

[FrankenWashie]

Hi guys,

for a couple of different reasons on the FrankenWashie rebuild and another project I want to direct mount the pups.

How is this done, it is simply bung in a couple of appropriately sized wood screws? Is there any need for the actual springs or do you mount some sort of flexible pad behind the pups?

[dave.king1]

I think you will find the springs or foam rubber are there to allow easy height adjustment, pulling the pup out to shim it up or down when you change strings would be an absolute pain

[FrankenWashie]

Yeah, that is what I was thinking Dave. I'm tempted to see if i can work out something a bit more engineered that just a couple of woodscrews. Some FrankenLab experimentation is called for.

[dave.king1]

Yeah, that is what I was thinking Dave. I'm tempted to see if i can work out something a bit more engineered that just a couple of woodscrews. Some FrankenLab experimentation is called for.

You could get some tight fitting nylex tubing/washers and pull that up tight under the pups on the screws so the pups move as the screws move

[FrankenWashie]

Yeah along those lines, I was thinking about some machine screws and thru bushes under the "ear" of the Pup. A retainer nut on the back of of the screw to keep it in place and the spring between the ear and the bush. IT wouldn't need to be too deep, just deep enough to hold the pup steady. A thought in progress.

[Simon Barden]

You want to directly mount them to the wood. Once you start adding springs or foam,you don't benefit from the method and you might as well have them suspended from pickup rings.

You'll need to work out what height you want your pickups to be (refer to your other guitars as a guide), then glue in some wood blocks/veneer strips underneath the pickups to get them to the right height, then screw them down nice and solid. For stability you may benefit from drilling holes in the metal support legs either side of the normal pickup screw holes, and use four smaller screws rather than two larger central ones. This will also allow you to easily reuse the pickup using a standard ring at a later date, as the support leg hole threads won't have been damaged by using screws.

[wazkelly]

Hi Frankie, on my EX-1 I ended up 'top-mounting' and used 4 screws on each PUP to preserve the middle ones in case they were re-used on a traditional ring mounted setup. As the bridge PUP needs to sit quite high out of the body I had to use some high density foam as an alternative to springs and used a thinner bit under the neck PUP. Bit fiddly getting things set up just right but I personally prefer the look. I may have some commentary on this over on the build thread, if not, zoom in on the PUP's if you can to see how things were done.

Cheers, Waz

[Simon Barden]

If you want to do it for the looks rather than the sonic difference that true direct mounting is supposed to make, then I'd suggest high density foam under the central part of the pickup along with squashy silicone rubber tubing under the mounting legs which the screws pass through.

If you want to spend some money and get adjustable height as well as getting as close to direct mounting benefits as you can, then I'd check out the products from this US company: FU Tone.

Or you could borrow some of the FU ideas and have one or more flat topped screws (I'd suggest non-magnetic brass ones) sitting under the pickup that you pre-adjust for height (and pickup angle if you use 3 screws in a triangle pattern), then screw the pickup down with screws through the legs, so that the pickup is held securely against the body with no foam or springs, and this would be as close as mounting the pickup as directly to the body as you could get. With three (or more) screws you'd need to position them carefully so they didn't clash with the adjustable coil screws sticking out the bottom of the pickup.

[FrankenWashie]

Thanks for that Simon, definitely food for thought.

[wazkelly]

Hi Frankie, that link to FU Tone posted bu Simon shows what needs to be done when top mounting as you either need to fill the deep PUP mounting leg holes with something or use a bracket.

I shaped up some timber to the exact shape and depth on the EX-1 and wished I had seen these brackets or at least had the foresight to think it through a bit more as what I did was very fiddly and too many multiple attempts to get things close to where they needed to be. On the Toneriders they now have 3 screw holes on each leg, the original one in the centre and two more above and below so that I can adjust to the right height and angle. If they get swapped out at a later date no trouble reverting back to using PUP mounting rings as using normal wood screws strips the thread and no longer able to use the fine threaded PUP height adjustment screws.

Cheers, Waz

Edit:

Try zooming in on this shot as you may see the black screws used, just either side of the shiny metallic bit in the middle which is the empty original screw hole.


You will still need some high density foam underneath as they do end up sitting quite high out of the body and it just helps with the fine height & angle adjustments.

I can take some close ups if you want to get a better look? Just let me know.