Andronico Posted May 9, 2007 Report Share Posted May 9, 2007 Hi, all ! I´ll begin with my first diy guitar and want to use humbuckers mounted without the plastic rings, directly to the body. Is there any tutotial about this ? I need a diagram of the holes to route for the pickups and the way to mount the screws in order to adjust the level of the PUs. Any suggestion is welcome ! Julian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted May 9, 2007 Report Share Posted May 9, 2007 Stewmac sells humbucker routing templates, Melvyn Hiscock's book has a template to copy too. It is basically the same route as you'd use with the mounting ring. You'd screw the pickups into the body with springs (or I prefer the rubber tubing that Fender uses) under the pickup so that you can adjust the height. If you're planning to mount the pickups from the back of the guitar, you'd simply route the the standard humbucker shape from the back leaving 1/8" or so then a rectangle big enough for the pickup through to the top. The pickup would be fitted exactly like it would with a mounting ring. It is preferrable to make the template from the actual pickup as humbuckers vary slightly in size depending on make & model, open coils or covers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andronico Posted May 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2007 Thank you Biliousfrog for your fast reply ! I know that Stewmac sells templates but living in South America I´m not sure about our post office... May be I can obtain a good one in the internet to print it and check with my pickups. About the Fender rubber tubing, I don´t know what it is, have you a picture or link to give me an idea ? I´m planning to mount the pickups from the front of my guitar but the screws that gave me with the PUs are for metal not wood and if I change them to screws for wood I will damage the hole in the pickup used to insert the metal screw. Am I right ? What I have to do ? Use screws for wood or not ? Excuse me if my questions are obvious but this will be my first diy guitar Thank you again. Julián Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted May 9, 2007 Report Share Posted May 9, 2007 Use smaller screws,made for wood,but small enough in diameter to pass through the holes of the pickups without damaging the threads. And instead of mounting the pickup ears directly to the wood,I suggest you use springs for adjustment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hector Posted May 9, 2007 Report Share Posted May 9, 2007 make your own templates! it's easy and fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 this is the tubing: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_p...ing_Tubing.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andronico Posted May 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Thanks you for your help ! Westhemann : I´ll try to find thin screws but the originals only have 2.5 mm diameter, I think that would be difficult. What do you think if I use the original screws for metal and put a small piece of metal with thread in the guitar body ? Could work fine ? Hector : I´ve made my first draw of the pickup template, this weekend I´ll make it with MDF. You´re right it´s fun Biliousfrog : thank you for the link about the spring tubing, the material is PVC or rubber ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 They do make a threaded bushing that seats into wood with the inside threaded for metal scews. The only thing is I don't know if they make them that small. If you can find them that small, great. I would absolutely try them. But the problem you'll probably run into is that the screw will try to thread into the pickup and the insert at the same time and will bottom out on one of them before the other and you'll only get limited adjustment. So you are probably better trying to find the smaller wood screws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Westhemann : I´ll try to find thin screws but the originals only have 2.5 mm diameter, I think that would be difficult. I suggested it because I have done it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andronico Posted May 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 I suggested it because I have done it You are right ! I´ve obtained the right screws. Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metalwarrior Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 Could someone please let me know where to find these small screws? I am trying to direct mount EMGs at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optmstkilr Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 I had this problem direct- mounting emgs to the body. I took the pickups to the drill press and opened the holes very slightly so that the wood screws I had would slide in tightly and mount to body. Needless to say, the pups will not be able to go back into rings, but you only live once! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 would the threaded inserts push out of the pickup if heated & cooled? I haven't used EMG's but they look like they might be press fitted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmrentis Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 One place that I found helpful with strange screws, nuts, and bolts was a hobby shop. I believe someone mentioned the idea to me on this site a year ago or so and I was able to find a number of screw sizes and thread sizes that I could not find at any hardware stores. Trust me I walked up and down so many isles, for hours at all the local hardware shops, even had the employees reading through their inventory for thread counts and such and could not find what I needed. For the application I needed, the thickness of the screw I could find, but the thread count was nowhere to be found. The threading was extremely tight and uncommon(at least uncommon in that size screw). I found a hobby store, brought the pickup and found exactly what I needed fairly quickly. It is the type of stores that have RC cars and RC planes and that stuff. If you have any further hardware that you cannot find, check out the local hobby shop. Good luck. I'm glad I read this post, even though I am making my own mounting rings for my current build(curly maple/jatoba/curly maple), I will likely build a guitar without them in the future and that is one less problem that I need to research now, so thanks for your problems and everyones help, lol. J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batfink Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 I surface mount quite often and use these E-Z LoK in their #4-40 thread. I slightly enlarge the pickups mounting holes and use Strat intonation screws which are the same thread. This way of mounting was quite common over the 80's with people like Hamer and Charvel. Jem Oh, and if someone's got some of these lying around i've only got 4pcs left and i can't find them in the UK and no US company is willing to sell and ship me just 20-30pcs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docbass Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 I surface mount quite often and use these E-Z LoK in their #4-40 thread. I slightly enlarge the pickups mounting holes and use Strat intonation screws which are the same thread. This way of mounting was quite common over the 80's with people like Hamer and Charvel. Jem Oh, and if someone's got some of these lying around i've only got 4pcs left and i can't find them in the UK and no US company is willing to sell and ship me just 20-30pcs. Have you checked with www.rockler.com or www.woodworkersupply.com ? I'm sure one of them has these and will ship to you. I'd be surprised if they didn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batfink Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 Hmmm.....Rockler, i've got something from them in the past - i'll take a look, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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