SG Kit - First Build Diary

[Simon Barden]

Yes, those Gibson 57 Classics do sound pretty nice.

[Freakystyley]

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[JimC]

If that's abrasive polish then for that genuine factory style you need to leave some of it in odd corners of the body routs...

[Freakystyley]

Quick test


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[Freakystyley]

Anybody know what kind of pickups go into those cavities? Double humbuckers are too small. Don’t want to use a scratch plate for this makeover


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[Simon Barden]

Can't think of any standard humbucking pickups that will fit the larger than normal routs. I think that was a factory stuff-up.

Can you sit a humbucker in the rout and take a pic so we can see just how oversized it is?

My only thoughts are that a Fender Wide Range humbucker is a lot wider than a normal humbucker (1.75" vs 1.4"). But you don't get them without covers (unless you go for a custom set) and they aren't that powerful and are pretty clean sounding.

Unless you want to fill in the routs to make them smaller (as you seem to be going for a solid colour finish so you can cover up the fill), then a full-sized SG 'batwing' scratchplate would be my choice.

[McCreed]

I would suggest making 2 custom pickup rings out of pickguard material. I think 3-ply would look really sharp with that aesthetic you're going for. By making them yourself, you're not restricted by convention but can still use standard humbuckers in there.

Yes, making the custom rings can be a lot of work, but most anything "custom" is.

Below is an example of custom rings I made to fit a single coil into a humbucker route. Yes, you can buy conversion rings, but I've not seen 3-ply like mine for sale anywhere. They're generally one colour/one ply.

With your build, you might also need to find a way to mount the custom rings up off of the body to get the pups close enough to the strings, but that's not hard. I can think of several unique ways to achieve that, right of the top of my head.

[Freakystyley]

Yeah, maybe need to mount humbuckers to a custom scratch plate


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[Simon Barden]

A standard scratch plate will do. It doesn't need to be custom just because the routs are over-sized as it will cover them up.

[McCreed]

I suggested two individual rings, because you said you didn't want a scratchplate.
I figured two custom-made rings would at least allow some of the are between the pickups to be exposed.

Alternatively you could buy a standard SG "Full Face" scratchplate and re-cut/shape it to minimise the coverage, or turn it into the two pickup rings I suggested in my first reply. At least you wouldn't need to worry about cutting out the pickup holes.