Humbucker routing

[teejoo]

I'm about to assemble my first partscaster, and would like to rout the neck pickup cavity for a humbucker. Is it as easy as just drawing how big the new hole should be, and then just "cutting" it out with a Dremel or something?

[jwells393]

Here's a PDF of a Humbucker routing template. When the Adobe Reader print window opens, set "Page Scaling" to "None". It should print actual size. To check, the width of the opening should measure 3 7/16 in.

HumTemp.pdf

[ndeli55]

to make this easier, take that template that he gave you, and use either plexy, scrap wood or ply that is about 1/2 inch thick. transfer the pdf template too it, cut it out and make a nice smooth copy of it in the "template material" then you can use a router equipped with a template bit to follow the template you just made to cut the cavity.

just mount that template and follow it with a router. take a few trial passes before messing with the guitar and you should be good.

might be tough with a dremel, not to mention tough on the dremel.

[amx1]

is there a single coil neck cavity already? i am modding my squier standard, i had to plug the neck pup cavity with a solid block and then re-rout for the humbucker. not a big deal, just had to make sure the plug fit nice and snug, but not so tight that it would crack the body. here are some pics.

[jwells393]

amx1..............I'm curious as to why you needed to plug the neck cavity before routing. Was the original rout sized for a Strat pickup? Here I've put my humbucker template over a Tele pickup rout and it looks like it would work without plugging first.

......

[mlp-mx6]

That is exactly what I did. Lined up the centerline with the seam in the body, and the top of the template with the top of the existing rout. Worked just fine.

[reddogbass]

Looks like maybe the original pickup rout was a P-90?

[Zhangliqun]

How do you secure the template to the body so it doesn't move when the router bumps into it?

[eryque]

Originally Posted by Zhangliqun

How do you secure the template to the body so it doesn't move when the router bumps into it?

Heavy double stick tape and a clean surface. Don't push the router against the template too hard.

[jwells393]

Double sided tape will hold it in place if you don't exert a lot of side force on the template. The tape that looks sort of like cheese cloth works well. I usually pre-drill my cavities with a drill press and Forstner bit before using the router.

[erickhanson]

Yes, you could try doublesided tape. I just make my templates big enough to clamp to the top of the guitar. That way they won't move. I nearly spoiled a neck this way- the tape let go during a router pass and I cut a bit too deep. Luckily it was on a part that needed additional trimming, so I was saved. I wouldn't trust the double sided tape too much!

[reddogbass]

Or, you could screw the template to the body using the mounting ring holes.

[JasonRobert]

Originally Posted by jwells393

amx1..............I'm curious as to why you needed to plug the neck cavity before routing. Was the original rout sized for a Strat pickup? Here I've put my humbucker template over a Tele pickup rout and it looks like it would work without plugging first.

.....]

it looks like it was routed for a p90 as reddogbass said, and the holes for the surround would not be able to be drilled, because there is no wood to be drilled into.