Mounting Pickups On Rear Routed Strat

[KnotheadII]

I am totally jazzed -- just got my curly maple stray body from Warmoth and doing all the drlling tonight before starting my finishing (Cabernet Curl, as I'll call it).

As long as i am doing all my drlling, what is the best way to mount the pickups in the routs? Since they are mounting right into the wood, instead of being on the back of a pickguard, I am considering two options:

1. Drill and install T-nuts or grommets and then use machine screws to mount the pickups into the grommets.

2. Use wood screws directly throught the pickup holes and into the wood.

The former seems cleaner, more stable and more professional to me, but perhaps harder to do since the fit is tight. The second seems sloppy to me (as a woodworker, the idea of having a wood screws in only halfway is repulsive and potentially unstable since wood screws are tapered).

Any ideas of there?

thanks for any help.

[KnotheadII]

Well, I am replying to my own post. I found that the term everyone hereuses is "direct mounting" so I found plenty of posts on the raging debate between "floating"and solid-mount approaches. I did not see much agreement or consensus on it.

I will probably use custom-thicknessed wood shims to do a firm mount and see how it works. Also intrigued by the idea of fabricating a grommet by expoxying a nut onto a copper tube sleeve.

I still welcome any thoughts, but it looks like a well-worn topic.

[guitar_ed]

Hi KnotHead,

If you don't want to body mount your PUPs, StewMac and AllParts sell metal pickup mounts that you can use, that won't mar the visuals on your body.

Guitar Ed

[KnotheadII]

Thanks for the first reply on this.

I decided to go with the fabricated "grommets" where you epoxy and nut into a short piece of piping and set that into a drilled hole in the rout, then mount the p/u wi/ machine screws.

There seems to be plenty of debate about whether to seat the p/u against wood or let them "float." Might try both approaches.

thanks.

[Hotrock]

Personally (and I'm certainly not experienced in this - infact I'm a bit of an idiot, but here goes anyway)

If you are using that method, I would let them float until you've found the correct distance between the strings and the pup (or atleast the one you are happy with). Then with a bit of simple maths, I would make some spacers that go under the pups and link them to the body for better vibration transferance to the pups.

Well like I said, that's just how I'd do it.

[jer7440]

Don"t pups work by sensing the movement of the steel string through the pups magnetic field? The pup doesnt actually "feel" vibration..right? This being the case does it really matter if the pup is floating or solid?

I am not trying to be a smarta$$, I just want to make sure I understand this correctly

[Hotrock]

Yeah but the body vibrates too and this "colours" the sound. Obviously the movement of the strings through the magnetic field is the primary factor.

There have been a few discussions on this but you'll have to look yourdelf as I'm at work and haven't got time to look them up