Routing The Pickup Pockets

[khaag]

Alright, I'm building a Les Paul style guitar, with my own custom flare, and am at a road block. I'm going to be using either two EMG-81's or one EMG-81 and one EMG-85. I need to find a template to rout the pockets for the pickups because I don't have them yet. I also need to know how deep I need to rout the pockets at.

Thanks in advance

[GregP]

Alternatively, you could wait until the pickups arrive. ;-)

[Xanthus]

1) Purchase pickups, whatever you do. You're going to need them :-P I'd personally go with 2 81's. It's a classic combination. The 85 is too bassy for me. Go to Guitar Center or wherever and pick up a guitar with your specified pickups in them. But don't trust the guys who work there. I played a trick on the GC guys one day, picking up a guitar and fully knowing the model of the pickups. I shopped it around to a couple guys, and I got a TON of different answers :-P It was hilarious.

2) http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Routing_..._Templates.html StewMac solves everything. In fact, the meaning of life is StewMac, not 42.

3) I routed mine at 1", but your measurements might be different, depending on string height, carved top, whatev. For best results, follow steps 1 and 2 first. Once you have your pickups, you can measure their depth and figure out how deep you want to route. Keep in mind, a little wiggle room never hurts. I had to hack my cavities with a chisel when fitting my pickups because I didn't have enough wiggle room. Oh yeah, and I also didn't use a template

::EDIT::

Dammit, Greg, my long-winded answer was FAR more humorous than yours