Pickguard: Humbucker Slot Too Small

[Captain Sociable]

I just purchased a black abalone H-S-S pickguard for my strat copy. However, the humbucker slot is about 1/16" too small. The easiest option would be to get a different humbucker but I like the one I bought for this guitar. What would be the simplest way to widen the slot. dremel? file? saw? this is very frustrating, I just want to hear what my new pickups sound like.

[thegarehanman]

Yeah, sounds like you're trying to fit an F-spaced humbucker into a PAF slot. It's odd though, because F spaced humbuckers were designed for strats, so you'd think that they'd make the pickguard suited to an F-spaced 'bucker. Anyhow, if it were me, I would first surround the pickup hole with masking tape. I'd then trace out the area I need to remove. I'd cut the tape off of the area that would need to be removed. Then, with a dremel on its lowest speed and a small sanding drum with fine medium grit paper, I'd slowly sand away the material not covered by tape. However, if you're not good with a dremel, this is obviously not a wise choice. I've become pretty accurate with them though.

I would avoid using a saw, as you might chip the abalone. However, if you own a jeweler's saw, that would work just fine.

peace,

russ

[Xanthus]

If you're only trying to get 1/16" off the sides, I would forget the Dremel and just use sandpaper and a block. I don't know what your pickup situation is, but I'd check the screw holes too, I hope those line up at least. Drilling new holes would be more of a chore than sanding a pickup slot larger.