pickups too deep, need to route.

[skiltrip]

I am in the process of putting Dimarzio Model J pickups in my Fender Squier Mexi bass. The stock pickups were much shallower, and accordingly so are the pickup cavities. Even with a thin sliver of foam the new Model J's won't sit deep enough, and the strings lay right across the tops of the pickups.

So .. I think I need to route the cavities out a little deeper.

What kind of tool should I use for this, I've never done it before. Please post links to stuff at homedepot or lowes if you could so I know exactly what I'm looking for. thanks!

[lowtide]

How much deeper are you talking about? Could it be compensated with raising the saddles and adjusting the neck angle?

[skiltrip]

I'll probably have to route almost 1/4".

The new pickups are probably about 1/4" taller. The height of the old pickups + the original foam was the same as the height of the new pickups with no foam. So I'd basically have no choice but to bottom them out with little or no foam padding under them, and then adjust the saddles and neck, but still be like 1/8" string to pickup.

I think routing is the only realistic thing to do... unfortunately. I did NOT want to have to do this, but what can ya do? So what kinda tool should I be looking at?

[punkrocko]

The price of a router, bit, and template will probably be more than just taking it and having a pro do the job for you.

One alternative would be to get a Forstner drill bit, and using a drill press, drill a series of holes in the pickup route to the desired depth. This wouldn’t be as clean but it would get you there.

[4Mal]

I would have to second the vote for having a luthier do the route. A decent router and bit - not to mention a routing template is going to set you back way more than the labor for the route. Which luthier ? They guy who has a J pickup routing template... he's probably done it before.

This is a majorly simple job - if you know what you're doing and have the tools so it shouldn't cost an arm or a leg to get it done.

[skiltrip]

Originally Posted by punkrocko

The price of a router, bit, and template will probably be more than just taking it and having a pro do the job for you.

One alternative would be to get a Forstner drill bit, and using a drill press, drill a series of holes in the pickup route to the desired depth. This wouldn’t be as clean but it would get you there.

I don't need it to be clean by any means. It's a cheapo bass to begin with. Should I just use my hand drill, clamp down the body and start drilling holes or what? I got no problem doing that, just a little crass to do it that way.

[jwymore]

I have done this before using a dremel router attachment. If you already have a dremel tool the router attachment is fairly cheap. If you don't already have adremel then the take it to a tech idea is probably the safest and least expensive.

[skiltrip]

Originally Posted by jwymore

I have done this before using a dremel router attachment. If you already have a dremel tool the router attachment is fairly cheap. If you don't already have adremel then the take it to a tech idea is probably the safest and least expensive.

a cordless Dremel Multipro is like 40 bucks. seems like it could do the trick. and a handy thing to have around in any case. I could definitely justify that purchase. Would I use a sanding bit or is there another kind of drillbit type of bit to route into the wood?

[BruceWane]

If you've already got a router, you could use something like this....

Since you're just going deeper, the top bearing allows you to use the existing pickup route as a guide.

#45475-S is probably your best bet - the smaller diameter will get into the corners a little further. You'll probably still need to do a little bit of clean out with a chisel or a Dremel in the sharpest area of the corners.

[Jarno]

I would use a forstner bit to remove most of the material, and the clean it up using a chisel. Don't touch the top edge and everything will be invisible.
Important points:

Measure the thickness of your bass to see if you can accomodate the deep rout.

Remove the bulk of the material using a forstner bit, use the depth stop on a drill press. And don't attempt to use these without a drill press.
Account for the protruding points of these drills!

Clamp the body/ bass to your clean workbench, put something between the workbench and the clamps.

Remove the rest of the material using a SHARP chisel (10mm width).

Regards,

Jarno.

[Rodent]

BruceWayne has the most correct answer and has identified the right tool for the job

if you have a friend with router experience, this is a 15 minute job tops for someone with the proper skills and experience

if you don't have the tools available, a local tech should be able to do this for you for less than what it'll cost to buy the router bit for

all the best,

R