Humbucker pickup ring (slight) confusion

scarry67

Just got a used '07 MIJ Tokai Love Rock and both rings are cracked in middle. I'd like to replace them but having trawled ebay there are a few different sized ones and the ones on the guitar are smaller than most although only by a mm or two. 90 mm x 45 mm. Is that Gibson size? I'm also not sure whether they are actually flat bottomed ones that have curved slightly to fit the Les Paul "arched" top - that's what WD Music site recommends. Anyone replaced rings successfully? No jests please...

Funkfingers

Gibson surrounds should be Imperial. Tokai ones will be Metric. This will account for the marginally different mounting screw positions.

The cracked surrounds are due to either hard, brittle plastic or over- tightening flat surrounds onto a steeply arched guitar top. The *proper* Gibson/Hughes plastic has a degree of flexibility that some imitations lack.

scarry67

Thanks. I’ve found some which seem close so I’ll give them a go at a fiver.

ICBM

I always prefer to shape the ring to the top a bit - I know it’s not ‘historically correct’, but it takes the stress off it and stops it breaking again.

You can do it fairly easily if you put the ring upside down on a hard surface and scrape the plastic with a sharp knife blade.

scarry67

Presumably the curved bottomed ones are designed to reduce the stress on the plastic then? I'm guessing that the distance between the ring and the actual hole in the wooden top allows for a little leeway.