Poor Man's Router - Sinking Tall Pickups

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McLeanAB

McLeanAB

Active member
Hey all...

Odd question... I'm loving my EMG's in my newly acquired Charvel Wildcards... however, there's a delicate dance of adjustment with the floating FR trem, the lowest possible action, and not letting the strings fret out on the pickup... the original Seymour Duncan bridge pickup fit nice and low due to the shallow nature and the partial routing for the pole pieces... unfortunately, without routing, the EMG sits much higher... it's not bad, mind you, just noticeable...

So, is there a 'poor man's' version of a router? Something along the lines of a hand held screw gun with the appropriate bit/head to shave down the cavity to the lower height where the SD pole pieces sat?

I'm in no hurry, I have very little experience taking anything more than my fingers to the guitar, so I'm just exploring options before letting a professional take all of my money and do it right. It's all of routing out the cavity to be uniform... probably a centimeter or so...

Any and all thoughts appreciated, those who don't have professional grade tools...

Let me know!

Thanks in advance...
 
A Dremel is a great tool to have and they have bits for just about anything. Just be careful! ;)
 
Yeah, there is a router base available for Dremel tools as well. It makes a nice low power, easy to control tool for working on guitars. But if you don't own the Dremel already, it's probably cheaper just to get a pro to fix the pickup height for you.
 
Should have added that I did this exact thing with a Dremel and the router base when I wanted to put MCP Afwayu's in my Ibanez baritone.
Removed about a quarter inch from the bottom of both pickup cavities. Worked great and was easy to do.
 
Dremels are great tools...BUT, do not use one on high speed. It will cut through shit like butter. If you’ve never used one, practice a bunch of times on some spare wood, like pine, maple and oak. Get a feel for it.
 
fusedbrain":26z4rap1 said:
Yeah, there is a router base available for Dremel tools as well. It makes a nice low power, easy to control tool for working on guitars.
Click to expand...
+1

Used one of these when I changed out an OFR for a German-made Schaller Floyd.

Slightly larger route required. :doh:
 
Thanks for the tips! A little more research and this might do the trick!

Thanks!
 
Dremel router base is a bit small and can be a chore to Lee straight around a large hole, such as a pickup.
Cheapest option is taking to a pro, or you could use a simple chisel.
A chisel is cheap and works very well to remove the bottom of a pickup route.
 
The Dremel router base is a complete pile of shit. It's a flimsy, plastic toy basically and I would not recommend it to anyone.

This is 1000 times better, and not much more $.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Precision-Rout ... xyXHpSSlnc

s-l300.jpg


But yeah, unless you're really sure what you're doing, take it to a pro.
 
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