Pickup Installation

[radrobgray]

ok i have a neckthru guitar and i cant figure out how to drill the holes going from pup cavity to pup cavity how would i do this? is there a drill bit thats at a 90deg. angle or am i just over thinking this.

[scott from _actual time_]

ok i have a neckthru guitar and i cant figure out how to drill the holes going from pup cavity to pup cavity...

the trick is to rout a small channel ~4" long in the side of the neck black before you glue the body wings on. then when you rout into the top of the body for the pickups, that hidden channel is exposed. on my maple maple 7-string V, i used a 1/4" bit, i put the channel about 1/2" blow the top surface of the neck blank, and i sketched in where the pickup routs would later go so i could make sure the channel was long enough.

if you've already glued the wings, it's much harder. you can rout a channel in the top of the guitar body, but you'll have to cover that with a new piece of wood. you could drill through the 'crotch' of the V past the bridge, but that'll leave a big hole you'll have to fill with a dowel. no really good options there.

[GregP]

You can use a super-long drill bit and tread carefully. That's how one-piece Les Paul-style guitars are done, and even maple-capped ones (though if I were making my OWN, I would just rout a channel).

Greg

[scott from _actual time_]

You can use a super-long drill bit and tread carefully. That's how one-piece Les Paul-style guitars are done...

yes, but you still need a hidden place to start drilling. on LPs, they stick the bit in through the jack hole. the problem with a neck-through V is that, after the wings are glued on, there's no hidden place to start drilling the hole.