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I'm hoping to simply use a surround rather than a pickguard.
I don't have a Dremel, and don't have plans to get one. The challenge for me is that I'm a guitarist, not a woodworker, so I can't justify the expense of a Dremel or a router. Also, I'm a terrible woodworker, so I'm afraid that a Dremel would simply be wasted on me anyway.
Electronics are another story - I used to make all my own MIDI cables and patch cables to custom lengths, mainly so I could have a tidy patch bay. So I'm looking forward to the design and soldering of the electronics.
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Well, the best of luck with it!
You've got an almost solid-coloured body, so if it does go a bit wrong, you should be able to patch it up.
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I am a Toolmaker not a guitarist. Been a tradesman for 40+, have played the guitar for 26ish and modified guitars for 30+ years. I have the opposite reason and ideals about guitars than most other people on this site. Neither of us is more right than the other, just depends on your own views.
While I do good work on guitar building my philosophy is they are made to play, not display. Setup and ease of play is more important than putting 40+ coats of finish. I do a job once and I get it right first time, hopefully fingers crossed. When I saw just 2 guitars by 2 people who only had 3 initials in their names, EVH and SRV, I knew looks don't make a guitar sound better. Most of us are doing the best we can with what we have but sometimes some of the information that is given is, shall we say, misleading and in some instances dangerous.
People here like to justify why they need a new piece of machinery to perform tasks that can be done by a hand tool. I get it, I love using million dollar machines to make stuff but while guitar building gives most people here and excuse to purchase a new toy, for me its the opposite, it gives a reason to use my hands and brains to overcome easy tasks. Don't get me wrong, I still have a pedestal drills, scroll saw, bandsaw, angle grinders, welders, routers, lathes and other devices of death but seeing as am not getting paid to do my building then if it takes a week rather than a day, who cares. But I still like to finish my builds yesterday and play the guitar the day before I started the build but now finances are the thing holding me back now that I retired back in 2016. Doesn't stop me from buying, just finishing as per the 8 I have in waiting.
Being a tradesman I have the safety of the people I train as the most important part of my job, as well as my own. Giving advice to someone I cannot directly advise in person about how to perform a task is irresponsible and puts that person in danger, something I cannot do. Reason why I would never tell anyone to use a power tool when the same can be done by hand as I am not there to direct you or turn off the device once you have been thrown around the workshop a few times. I modified a mates tele one time by installing a set of P90 pickups all by hand and it didn't have a surround to cover up any, shall we say, design features. I shall now tell you how to perform the same all with hand tools and it is easy, just take your time.
To make a cut-out for a pickup is easy with hand tools, just time consuming. First off get a sharp chisel. The only difference in quality is how many times you have to sharpen the chisel so get one that is priced right for you. I got a set of Irwin chisels, comes with 3 different widths for around the $40 mark and comes in a handy canvas holder so as you don't cut yourself or damage the cutting ends. Look on Youtube on how to sharpen them, Crimson guitars does a good tutorial but it is quite expensive with the tools he uses. All of it can be done on a oil stone and use a leather strop. Or just glue down some wet and dry onto a flat surface, I have used the marble bench top in our kitchen, should be back on solid food in about 6 months. The strop can be substituted with an old thin rubber mouse pad and use some Brasso to give a final shine to the cutting face. All my chisels and knives can shave a fleas rear end at 3 feet. That is the easy part, now comes the fun.
The most important part is being able to mark out where you want it and the correct size. Try on a piece of spare wood first is the best advice. Seeing as you already have a colour on the guitar, I always use green painters tape as a backing on all my guitars even before I sand the body. Seeing people mark directly on a guitar makes the job harder, in my opinion. The green tape makes the marks stand out and I don't have to sand a pencil line that was applied with too much enthusiasm. I normally use Sharpie ink pens so marking on the tape just makes sense and the tape is easy to remove even when left on too long.
When I did the P90 I needed a 6mm radius in the corners, so I used a 12mm brad point drill. I marked directly on the drill my depth I wanted as masking tape can ride up as the drill warms up. The next bit is the secret ingredient that makes making cut-outs easy, dressed pine. I used a piece of 70 x 30mm dressed pine as the sides are square. I had already marked out the size I wanted on the tape I then clamped 2 pieces of pine at right angles on the lines I had marked out, clamped on the 30mm face to the guitar face. This gave me the corner where I wanted to drill the corner radius and it also gave me a reference to drill the corner at right angle to the face. It takes some practice but it gives you a visual to drill the holes square to the guitar face. Once you drill the corners then you use the Forstner drill bits to remove to major waste. With these bits I use masking tape for depth as the head is much bigger than the shaft so the heat isn't a problem. I use a piece of tape that is 50 to 70mm long so it is much wider than the head on the drill bit and I double it around the shaft so it sticks out on both sides of the drill. Reason being is as the drill removes the wood the chips are on the surface, when you get to the right depth the tape will remove the chips telling you to stop. Much easier and safer than trying to see a mark on a drill bit. Some times smaller bits are better than large bits as you can remove more with smaller ones than the larger ones and the centre has a point that allows to to overlap and drill half holes.
This is where the sharp chisels and dressed wood comes into play. The guitar I did was bass wood so was easy to work with, the guitar body your working with is slightly harder so expect to sharpen the chisels more often I also got by without having to use a hammer but when I do I use a dead blow plastic faced hammer. Now to accurately shave the sides square to the guitar face this is where you clamp the dressed pine along the lines you have marked out and by holding the rear face of the chisel against the dressed pine it gives you a square cut and also stops you from going oversize with your hole. Start with the chisel against the face but just about the guitar body so as you don't start removing wood from the dressed pine. Just do one side at a time and you can start with the wood inside the outside line and work your way back out to the finished size. Always have the guitar supported on a flat surface so if you get excited and start smacking away with a 40 pound sledge hammer you don't have 2 guitars where you should have 1.
This is the technique I have used in various situations, not just on guitars. Do with the information what you want, modify it to suit your situation and tools. Use items to help elevate your skill set and reduce mistakes. Rather than using dressed pine you could use Aluminium angle iron but seeing as the price of wood is cheaper I go for wood.
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I didn’t end up using Forstner bits. I just used a wood bit to take out a good amount of the wood and and then used chisels.
It’s not the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen, but thankfully, the pickup mounting ring will cover the glitches.
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If it works, it works! Well done.
Is it deep enough at the ends to accommodate the pickup mounting screws and legs? If not, you should be able to deepen the ends with just a drill.
I normally wait until I’ve fitted the strings before finalising the pickup/pickup ring position so the pole pieces line up as best they can with the strings. Just tape the pickup in place until it’s strung up.
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The humbucker just arrived and the fit is good - so I’m pleased with that.
I’m not so pleased that I cut the ears a couple of mm’s too wide.
I guess that’s why they make plastic wood. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...cf41cd8898.jpg
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The excitement of watching paint dry.
Tomorrow will be a week of curing and I can put it all together.
I can’t wait!
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Getting ready to assemble
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