Jump to content

Can I Use Pickups Without Mounting Rings?


Recommended Posts

Hi all, I got a warmoth body from ther showcase bin a while ago and one thing I didn't notice when I bought it is that the pickup routes (HH) are routed deeper where the adjustment screws would hang - this guitar needs mounting rings...

So, for aesthetics, say I don't want to use mounting rings - is there a way I can mount the pickups to the body directly? I would assume I need some sort of a shim in there, but is that practical?

Thanks, Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't see any reason you couldn't put some wood down in there to build it up a bit. If you do an excellent and tight job (no small task)it'll couple pretty much the same as to the original body. If the job is slightly less than tight, you'll at least get as much coupling as with mounting rings. And honestly, I don't buy the "direct coupling" tone voodoo anyhow, so in my opinion adding wood in there is still a good solution to produce the aesthetic effect (the "look") that you're going for.

Greg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of pickups have "tabs" on the baseplate that go down into those lower routed areas. I've done direct mounts with those kind, just by using really small wood screws (I was even able to leave the machine screw threads in the holes). I suppose I could have done it the same way with other base-plates just by using a longer screw (but if too long, it will go out the back of the guitar). I was also crazy enough that I screwed down the pickup flat to the bottom of the cavity, then measured how much higher the pickup needed to be on the bass and treble sides, then I milled wood shims to go under the pickups to give the right height. Did that make it sound better than if I had been using mounting rings ? I don't know. I mainly liked the look of no rings. I have a Kramer sustainer guitar that never had pickups rings on it. Might be the only one around like that (Kramer shut their factory down before the guitar was fully assembled)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...