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H140 shallow pickup cavities?


ekkybedmond

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Posted

Hi,

 

I'm getting on with getting my 1989 blue H140 ready for action.

 

I had a set of used pickups lying about, but the neck pickup (standard long legs) didn'it fit at all. Seemd the PU cavity, espc where the legs go, it too shallow.

 

Enter: new neck-PU with short legs. BUT now the adjustable polepiece screws come to rest on the cavity. I'm sure a solution will be found, but anyone had these experience/problems ?

 

The standard Shallers have indeed VERY short legs and VERY short polepiece adj screws....

 

Thcs

Posted

i remember about a year 1/2 ago one of our members over seas who has a blue H 357 firebird had to drill his pickup pockets deeper to accomidate different pups....but thats all i remember

 

you should be able to drill just the sides where the brackets sit with a paddle bit and a drill....just drill slow and use caution

Posted

NOOOOO!

Just a quick note -- don't try using a paddle bit (boring bit) to dig into that body. You'd be much better off using a dremel with a milling bit. The high speed of the dremel will be much closer to that of a router, and allow you to shave that wood out much more precisely; a power drill doesn't have the necessary RPMs to keep that bit from digging in, and if that bit catches, it'll jump right out of that hole and gouge the top very easily. That's assuming it doesn't catch and spin that guitar body around and right off your workbench. I've had to do this on guitars, and it works very well using a high-speed rotary tool.

 

rooster.

Posted

Oh -- one more thing: why not either alter the brackets on the pickups (PITA, but you won't endanger the guitar), or simply buy a different pickup? Either solution is much easier on the guitar.

 

rooster.

Posted

On some pickups, G**son comes to mind, the brackets are very long and go very deep into the cavity, so cutting the screws won't really help. I have, on occasion, had to bend them out straight and drill/tap new holes for pickup screws in them to get them to fit into various guitars. It's not easy. As well, if you cut the screw, you need to grind the end where you cut it and chase the threads out so they won't ream out the pickup bracket. Very fine work, very small files, and very steady hands.

 

rooster.

Posted

Hi guys,

 

thanks for all the response. Here's an update.

 

Altering the length of the PU-legs was no option. Asked the builder, would cost about as much as buying new, as the PU would have to be taken apart completely, so I bought two new pickups (PAS).

 

The builder (Michael Pantleon, www.leosounds.de) is kind enough to send me a set of 6 shorter polepiece screws, so that should solve things.

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