Magnets to hold on Strat trem cavity cover

mistercharlie

Anyone using magnets instead of screws to make their guitar's panels easier to whip off? I thought I might add some to my Strat. Any downsides?

carlos

I tried to make this work, but there wasn't enough room without extra routing. The magnet strip itself, even if thin, does take space. And don't forget you need to add a way to actually pull the thing out. With screws gravity or a quick tap will make it pop out, but with magnets it won't come out that easy. You'd need some holes for your finger(s) to get some purchase or another way to at least grab it.
If you're concerned about messing up the magnetic field generated by the pickups, then don't. It shouldn't be a factor at all.

mistercharlie

I thought I’d put some slim magnets inside the edge of the hole, and go from there. The plate already has holes for the strings, so I could grab it by one of those. Or I could just slide the cover sideways to break the connection, as it won’t be recessed. 

Then again, I could just leave the cover off. I haven’t drilled holes for it yet anyway. 

Jaycee

I use magnets on all my builds, (control cavity cover) no problems with any of them

WezV

Where ever there is a screw hole in the guitar, fit a small round magnet.   Then glue some cut off screw heads into the holes in the plate, making sure no sharp edges protrude below the bottom face.   If you don't want the stock look of visible screws you will need to make a plate  with no screw holes and recess another small magnet or piece of metal on the underside where the screw would be

if you do go for the faux screw look you could even do it with (all/some of ) the magnets slightly recessed and file the end of the screws down so they act as locating pins in the guitar

to make it easier to remove, file a reverse bevel  in the back edge, just needs to be enough to slide a pick under to pop the plate off

mistercharlie

Nice! I don’t have any screw holes in the body yet, but it’s an old plate, so I can use your trick there.