Antonfage

You're correct! But the thing I'm most worried about is the laquer finish, so I'd prefer to have something with a similar finish to practice on. I'm probably going to buy some plastic routing templates to get the shape right.

Thank you everyone for the great replies! I'm trying to get ahold of a broken guitar or bass body to do a bit of practicing on, cause I don't really feel like it's worth the risk to try it on my real bass yet. Don't really know where to find that though. Maybe here on the forums?

Hello! I have an Ibanez Soundgear Gio p-bass and I'm considering replacing the pickups and adding an extra j-bass bridge pickup. The problem is that it has a black high gloss laquer finish (I don't know exactly which type of laquer). Is it possible to route a pickup cavity without lifting the laquer and damaging the finish? And do I need to add some kind of laquer to the inside of the cavity to protect the edges? I've heard that when you're drilling a hole through a laquer finish you should start by going backwards to prevent the drill bit from lifting the laquer. Does this somehow apply when routing too? Thank you!