making a pick-up cavity deeper?

[pazuzu666]

Hello all, I have a dilemma that I need some advice on, maybe some of you know the problem and/or have experience with fixing it. Here it goes:

I've spotted a '98 Soloist pro that I'm thinking of buying. However, the height of the two single coils on the guitar can't be altered. This is somewhat of a problem to me, since I like my neck pickups to be somewhat low so that they don't get in the way when picking. My question is the following; Would it be possible to make the holes for the pickups deeper and if so, how would I do this? (I would then also put spings under them so that I can alter the height somewhat). Has anyone ever done such a thing?

Your help is greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Bert

[Chuckracer]

Re: making a pick-up cavity deeper?

"...the height of the two single coils on the guitar can't be altered."

Are you sure about that?

[etaeniura]

Re: making a pick-up cavity deeper?

I have never seen a guitar without adjustable pickup heights....

[jazzman]

Re: making a pick-up cavity deeper?

I'd have to see the guitar. But, A lot of direct mount pickups have a piece of foam under them to act like a spring. If there is a piece in there, Put a smaller one in.

[Ace]

Re: making a pick-up cavity deeper?

I've done it. But I used a inverted pin router and a single coil pickup template. You could do it on a mill, if you have access to one.

[pazuzu666]

Re: making a pick-up cavity deeper?

I'm not 100% sure they can't be adjusted, but from the specs I figured it is a Soloist Standard Professional, and in the harmony central reviews it is mentioned a few times that the single coils can't be adjusted ( H.C. soloist standard reviews ), so that's why.

Ace, what exactly is an inverted pin router and what is a pickup template? My english vocabulary isn't that big.
Could a dremel-like tool do the job?

[jazzman]

Re: making a pick-up cavity deeper?

I think you could just use a router. Take a piece of plywood and cut a hole in it a little bigger than the pickup hole. Put a thick cloth (also with a hole in it) between the guitar body and the plywood. The router will lay over the plywood and not on the guitar Let me know if this seems to confusing. I'm one of those "There ain't no job I can't cob" kind of guys. I'll make anything work.

[pazuzu666]

Re: making a pick-up cavity deeper?

Well I bought the guitar, and there is indeed some foam under the single coils which can be compressed enough to get them low enough for me.
I'll be changing at least one of the single coils though, so should I need to make the cavity deeper for that one, I'll consider the router solution.

Any advise on hot single coils btw? I was thinking about either a JB jr. or Dimarzio Chopper. I'll be putting a high gain pu (evolution or JB) in the bridge, so I'm gonna need something to pair with that.

Thanks for all the advice!
Bert

[Chuckracer]

Re: making a pick-up cavity deeper?

Um...if you don't know what you are doing with a router, and clearly you don't, then DO NOT take Jazzmans advice and just go for it. Sorry J.
The pickups you want should fit just fine. If not, take it to a pro.

[MetalMedal II]

Re: making a pick-up cavity deeper?

[ QUOTE ]
Well I bought the guitar, and there is indeed some foam under the single coils which can be compressed enough to get them low enough for me.
I'll be changing at least one of the single coils though, so should I need to make the cavity deeper for that one, I'll consider the router solution.


[/ QUOTE ]

If you want the single coil any lower, you can slice part of the foam off with a razor (be careful, don't slice your fingers!). I find slicing about 1/2 the foam off gets the middle pickup low enough for me. This was on my Dinky XL. I replaced the neck pu with a JB jr and used longer wood screws (i used bass pickup height screws) with springs to get the pickup up to the height I wanted. You should't need to route out any wood with this method, at least I didn't.

[pazuzu666]

Re: making a pick-up cavity deeper?

yeah, I've got it down to a decent level now, without any routing. The output of the single coils is pretty pathetic though, but I bought a secondhand lil' screamin' demon, which should arrive this week (hopefully). That should take care of the output problem. I've also found someone who'll sell me a gotoh floyd-rose, so then I'll have a decent bridge aswell, then all I need is a good humbucker for the bridge position and I'll have a great guitar! Ohyeah, and tonight I'll take the guitar back to the shop to have the frets levelled and rounded. Man, can't wait to play with this baby at band practice....

[Ace]

Re: making a pick-up cavity deeper?

A router is one of the most dangerous tools in any shop. If you don't know what you are doing with it, you can be seriously maimed or killed very quickly. Here's a picture of one.

[pazuzu666]

Re: making a pick-up cavity deeper?

hmm, that's pretty big indeed, and I was thinking it was just a small device.... Anyway, ass I said, I won't be needing one after all. And if I should sometime in the future, I'll surely let a pro handle it.