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Enlarging Pickup Holes On Hollow Guitar.


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I have a japanese hollowbody that I'd like to put some Filtertrons in, and I need to enlarge the existing pickup holes by about 3/8ths of an inch. This is a fully hollow thinline, sort of a poor man's Es-330.

I have a jigsaw, but I'm nervous about using it on such a thin, arched top with no support, and I'd like to leave the finish as intact as possible. I have a dremel tool too, and I thought about using it with a sanding band to carefully remove the wood a bit at a time, but I'd like some expert advice before I do anything irreversable.

What's the safest way to widen the holes?

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If you don't have a router (I'm guessing you don't since you suggested using a jigsaw), you could try a chisel. Maybe scribe the exact lines of your new pickup holes and carefully carve down. If you work slowly you could be able to produce a good result, and I imagine that the pickups themselves will hide the very edges of the holes, thus you don't have to be perfect.

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Chisels on a true hollowbody (no centre block like an ES335) is not such a good idea.

What wood is the top made from? If it I spruce and it isn’t thicker that “normal” tops you can get yourself a router attachment for the dremel. Stewmac doesn’t carry a Filertron pickup cavity template. You will have to make one yourself, using acrylic, MDF or (and this is only if you think that you are steady on hand) you can free-hand it. I recommend making a template out of MDF. The MDF take a bit more wear compared to an acrylic template. You need that as I don’t think that Dremel have bearing bits for template following. I have never found any. So you need to use a routing bit that is the same cutting diameter as the shank (downward cutting bit with same cutting diameter as shank). Then you can run the shank against the template.

I have to stress one thing thou. Practise on some scrap before you put any cutting tool into a guitar that you like or care for.

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If it is a thin ply like top...tape around the area to protect the finish...use a sharp knife to score through the finish around the hole size to avoid the finish chipping. The dremel thing preferably with a template is good...a jig saw not so. You could use a very sharp knife however...drill small holes in the pickup corners is another good idea and some protection to the finish so to avoid a catastrophic knife accident...take it slow and watch the fingers!

pete

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