It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
What type are the pickups?
Given that self-built guitars rarely sell for the same money as their famous name "real thing" equivalents, the notional re-sale value of a project is of little or no consequence.
Whatever you have built, you are probably stuck with it for life. Hence, you might as well create something that you will want to play often. Indulge your pickup fantasies. Maybe, even, create an exotic combination that nobody has commercialised before.
If they're the pickups that came with a kit, and the kit is a typical MIC £150 kit, then your sensing re the pickups are probably correct.
If you want better, for not a lot of ££, take a look at the Iron Gear pickups.
http://axetec.co.uk/guitar_parts_uk_069.htm
Unless I'm making something "special", these are what I'll typically use. To get a lot better, you'll need to spend a lot (x3) more.
The website also includes dimensions for the pickups, so you can double check that they'll fit.
As an example, Standard humbuckers tend to be 1 size, but within that you have a few factors that will affect fit and can sometimes catch you out
* pole spacing - usually roughly 50mm E-e. vintage gibson spec is 49.2mm for bridge and neck. some offer wider spacing for the bridge like SD's trembuckers at 52.6mm. whilst the pole spacing is mostly aesthetic, you really don;t want to put a wide spaced one in a neck position
*cover or no cover... both will fit a standard humbucker ring, but a covered pickup will be a tighter fit. if you have a guitar with direct mount uncovered pickups with no rings, don't assume a covered pickup will fit in the same route
* leg length and shape. Vintage humbuckers have long legs with big rectangular tabs on the end. Most have shorter legs, some have no legs at all. They can also have small triangular tabs
lets say I want to change the pickups on this
it has a really good fit for the chosen pickups. If i added a vintage uncovered gibson pickups they will look much looser in the cavity and the pole spacing at the bridge will be noticeably narrower. The big issues would be the mounting tabs, they simply won't fit, so you either have to modify the guitar, or swap the pickup baseplates out.
Strat and tele pickups tend to be easier, but its worth paying attention to the height of the coil, and any magnets underneath as that can sometimes be an issue on shallower routes.
P-90's just have the difference between Soapbar and dog ear covers really. some vintage variations on that but the same route can work for both, although you can get away with a sloppier fit on a dogear and its worth checking templates. Many places sell P-90 templates that can look really bad with a soapbar as they are a bit oversized, but fine for a dogear.
Instagram