Help locating the pickup hole in a pickguard

[don21480]

I’m awaiting the arrival of a new pickup for my Bass. The existing pickguard has a opening for a small 51p style pickup and i’ll be installing a larger soapbar style pickup in its place so I’ll be cutting a new pickup opening. The pickguard is tortoise 4 ply so the bottom is white which seems much easier to see a tracing when cutting and filing the new opening. To locate the pickup my plan was to put painters tape over the pickguard, put the pickguard on the bass with it strung, place the pickup in the correct place with double sided tape on the back of it so the strings line up over the polepieces, remove the strings and trace the outside of the pickup on the tape but boy it would sure be easier to figure out a way to do that tracing on the white back of the pickguard as the tape gets damaged cutting and filing which could lead to ar error in the cutout - am I missing something that would make it easy to transfer that tracing to the back side?

 

[frets4ever]

Here's a suggestion, use painters on the front side to lineup the pickup, mark the holes for the pickup mounting screws. Drill those holes, flip over the pickguard and screw the pickup with face touching the pickguard. Now you can trace on the white part of the pickguard for the pickup. Then cut. Good luck.

 

[don21480]

Yes - i’ll know better when the pickup arrives but i’m afraid the mounting holes will be inside the opening for the 51p pickup since the soapbar mounts to the body so those holes are in the middle in line with the polepieces of the pickup but i thought about using a heavier duty tape over that hole so i can do as you suggested

 

[frets4ever]

Doesn’t matter if they are wood screws. The goal is to align the pickup in the correct position. The screws are to be used as a centering index guide in the holes so you can drill under sized holes so the wood screw will grab the pickguard material. You can use some double sided tape on the pickups to hold in place as you draw. Another option is a scrap wood to drive the screws into. Lastly if you have machine screws with a nuts that will fit into the mounting holes.

See pic, take measurements using the bridge and neck heel. Then flip the pickguard over and correctly place to match normal location at the neck heel. Use the measurements from the front side to draw the lines. This will provide two more reference points to help with placement accuracy.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Are you doing this before or after the new pickup route is done? If you’re doing it before and have a way to center punch and drill accurately, trace out the pickup where you want it on the front of the pickguard, center punch and drill holes that designate the corners of the pickup, preferably with a bit that matches the corner radius of the pickup. Then you can lay out the pickup shape on the other side.

If the new pickup route is going to be done beforehand then screw down the pickguard and use a laminate trim bit in the route to cut out the guard. File as needed to touch things up.