Hollow Body Jag: A Few Questions

[WiFiGuy]

Been making some progress of late on my Semi Hollow Jag project, here are pics:

http://www.geocities.com/savespark/Glued-up-front.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/savespark/Glued-up-back.jpg

Top and bottom are glued, neck pocket's routed, crontrol cavity is routed, jack mounting area has been routed, and recesses for control knobs have been made for pots and switches.

Any helpful hints on any of the following would be greatly appreciated:

Pick Up Placement

I'll be going with a S-S-H (Seymor Duncans) assortment and would like to know about placement, i.e. neck, middle and bridge. Been reading a bit but thought I'd check with some of you before taking the router to the wood. My neck is Warmoth Std. Strat style with 25 1/2 inch scale. It does overlap the bottom of the pocket so I know I can't be there with my neck PU. I'd be interested to know about how far I should be from the last fret and how far away from the bridge I should be.

Trem Mounting Screws

I'm going with an LR Baggs Std. X-Bridge Strat replacement tremolo with piezo pickups under the saddles. Since the X-Bridge is sold as a replacement, I didn't get any mounting screws--or at least don't think I did. Any ideas on what I should use?

Neck Installation

Any ideas on how to get the neck holes marked on the neck pocket once the neck is lined up with the center line? Am I correct to think that THIS is one area that I should try to be as precise as possible? Making a template is not out of the question but will take some time.

Claw installation in rear

StewMac's instructions say to use a special "aircraft bit" to drill the mount holes for the claw. Is this really necessary? and how far in do you go with the screws. Saw a picture someone posted of the screws not being flush with the claw--is this normal?

Thanks

[Jon]

I wont be too much help on the questions since they're mostly guitar related. But on note of the neck pocket question - I use double-stick tape with posterboard on the back of the neck heel. I then cut the posterboard with an Xacto blade to get it lined up with the neck heel, then poke into the screw holes with a pencil. Peel off, flip around and you've got your screw hole placement for the neck pocket. To get it centered, just figure the center of the neck and mark the template and neck pocket down the center so they line up. I thought it'd be a complicated process as well, but it took me a few minutes to figure and less than 10 to have the proper hole placement.

[WiFiGuy]

I wont be too much help on the questions since they're mostly guitar related. But on note of the neck pocket question - I use double-stick tape with posterboard on the back of the neck heel. I then cut the posterboard with an Xacto blade to get it lined up with the neck heel, then poke into the screw holes with a pencil. Peel off, flip around and you've got your screw hole placement for the neck pocket. To get it centered, just figure the center of the neck and mark the template and neck pocket down the center so they line up. I thought it'd be a complicated process as well, but it took me a few minutes to figure and less than 10 to have the proper hole placement.

Jon---thanks for sharing the tip. Sometimes this stuff is obvious, but I can't or won't see it because I'm so fixated on trying not to mess up. Your technique sounds good and I'll give it a try.