What tool would I use to cut a humbucker shape?

[Blues_Breaker]

I am new to the forums and am looking to modifying a cheap strat. I have an old Squier Affinity Strat. I rarley play electric guitar, I like sound and feel of the acoustic more, but I figured I might as well have an electric I can play. Any way, the set up is S-S-S and I want it to be H-S-H. The single coil slots allready fit Soapbar and Mini-Humbucker pick-ups, I toiled around with the thought of using those for a while, but I also want to be able to coil tap the pickups to get a single-coil sound if i want to, so, what tool would be necessary to cut out the wood to fit the humbuckers?

[darren wilson]

Ideally, a router. Or, if you're not comfortable with power tools, or can't afford them, a hammer and a good sharp chisel (and a bit of patience) will work just as well.

[Blues_Breaker]

Allright, thank you. I will take the router into consideration. I am not sure I will be able to work confidently with it on my guitar though, even though it is a cheap-o I would rather not screw it up to much (and knowing me I would) so I guess I will try the hammer and chisle approach.

[truerussian558]

Allright, thank you.  I will take the router into consideration.  I am not sure I will be able to work confidently with it on my guitar though, even though it is a cheap-o I would rather not screw it up to much (and knowing me I would) so I guess I will try the hammer and chisle approach.

if its an el-cheapo then it might be made of mdf, look at the material and if ti doesnt look woody, then it might be mdf or some other cheap wood substitute, which a chisel and mallet would be like a hot nife through butter, and you wouldnt have to shell out from 80-200 greens for a power tool you might only use once or twice

[Blues_Breaker]

It is an alder body, I know it isn't made of false wood. haha.

[truerussian558]

, just makes ure you are ready to touc up (or not if you dont really care) the sorounding area, as no matter wahat route you take it will chip the finish around it

[fidgec94]

Last year, i modified my no-name strat copy from S/S/S to H/S/S. I used a chisel and mallet <shudder> never again!

I was shaving down one of the sides and hit the malet too hard, the chisel slipped and hit the cavity floor and went straight through into the tremolo cavity, tearing out a huge chuck with it (the thickness between the two cavities was pretty thin). Luckily, some wood glue and awkward clamping fixed the problem.

Lesson learnt..I bought a router for my next project!

The chisel method can also be a lot less tidy (i think), then again, maybe i'm just not that skilled with a mallet and chisel. My rout was being covered by a pickguard so i didn't really care at the time, i would've preferred a router in hindsight though.

[fidgec94]

if its an el-cheapo   then it might be made of mdf, look at the material and if ti doesnt look woody, then it might be mdf or some other cheap wood substitute, which a chisel and mallet would be like a hot nife through butter, and you wouldnt have to shell out from 80-200 greens for a power tool you might only use once or twice

In addition, when i stripped the body, i noticed that my guitar was mucho mucho el-cheapo. It was probably a composite of 4 or 5 pieces of random wood, but not any easier to cut with a chisel, it just squashed and tore and did bad things (hmmm, maybe the chisel wasn't quite sharp enough as well).

Moral of the story, my guitar is a POS

[Guitarfrenzy]

You need the following items to do a good job.

1. Router- borrow someone's if you can't afford to buy one. Preferably a plunge router. If your gonna buy one go ahead and get one that has a changeable base, so you can have fixed and plunge all in one. Dewalt, Porter Cable, Bosch, etc... are all good brands.

2. Humbucker templates. You can get these from Stewart MacDonald.

Various pickup cavity templates they sell. Just decide on which you'll need.

3. Good thin, strong Double Stick tape.

You can either buy it from StewMac or from a 3M product dealer. Just make sure it's thin so that the template won't ride to high up or be prone to shift when the weight of the router is on it.

4. A good overhead bearing Flush Trim Router bit.

You can get these from all over the web or a local store near you.

I recommend you reading KrazyD's router tutorial before you start using one. It's a good article that will help you learn the in's and out's of routers. Basically you locate where you want the humbucker to be, align the template, push it down in place with doube stick tape, and route it to the right depth with a router and flush trim bit.

Good luck

[jefm]

If it's a strat....the pickguard will cover it all anyway...so a couple chips will be irrelevant...

You could always use box cutters

[truerussian558]

yes the route for humbuckers on a strat is just a box shape. its not fancy like the humbuckers that have no pickguard, plus the route is ussually big enough to accomidate both a single or a hum, so if you decide to switch later, it will be easier