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do was put a safety stop of the appropriate sized drill (more masking tape, this time to prevent the drill going too deep). After that, fitting the machineheads was really easy, and it meant I could string the guitar up for the first time. One reason I took the neck off again was to


Fig. 4 -The machineheads have lugs in the back to locate them accurately. The question is, how do you drill the holes in the right place?


and tightened some more using a spanner. For luck, I checked the alignment once more and gave them all a final tighten. As I hoped, when I unbolted the


machineheads, the lugs had made small indents in the back of the head (See fig. 5). All I had to


file a wee bit more off the neck socket. I’d made it so tight first time round that the neck wasn’t really sitting hard against the floor of the pocket. Rather, it was wedged against the sides. It looked flush but there were some alarming creaking noises coming from the joint as I tightened the strings! It’s fine now I’ve taken a bit more wood off the body.


While the strings weren’t under any tension, my next task was to take the bridge plate off and enlarge the pickup rout. I should have seen this coming because I knew that a Tele pickup wouldn’t fit the existing humbucker rout. To be honest, I was so focused on getting the neck to fit, I forgot all about it! It took about 20 minutes with a sharp chisel to get the rout right and as you can see from the picture, the bridge pickup is now perfectly in place (See fig. 6).


EXTRA ONLINE RESOURCES Even though we’re using pre-made parts on this phase of our guitar- modifying project, there are several extra details I’d like to share with you that there just isn’t room for in the magazine. So if you’d like to see a lot more tips and tricks that can make the difference between an OK guitar build and one that knocks yer socks off, please visit the web site for the videos and PDFs I’ve put together. www.playmusicpickup.co.uk


You also notice that I’ve drawn a scratch plate shape directly onto the body using a soft pencil. Next month, I’ll show you how I transfer that shape to paper, improve it to that the curves look smooth and professional, and then cut my custom plate from that. PM


Fig. 5 - My solution was to line up the machine heads then tighten the retaining nuts, which caused the lugs to leave dents in the neck I could use as drill guides.


Fig. 6 - Bridge pickup and plate are now in place. You can also see where I’ve sketched out my scratch plate design.


Q & A WITH SIMON


Q A


I’ve been wondering if I could get more tones from my Gibson SG by adding coil taps to the pickups. Two problems though: the pickups only seem to have one wire, plus the outer braid. Would I have to take the pickups apart to do the mod? Also, I don’t really want to drill any holes in the body, especially if the new sounds are not as good as I hope.


Back in the day, when almost no stock humbucker came with separate wires for each coil, the more adventurous/ foolhardy of us used to cut the solder


holding the pickup cover, ease the cover off, unscrew the little bolts holding the bobbins, unsolder the existing wires and add a four-core cable instead. There are downsides to this though. You can knacker the pickup if you are unlucky or careless. And if the pickup has been ‘potted’ in wax – which many are – to make it less microphonic, you could end up with a real mess on your hands. These days, there are a lot of high quality


replacement pickups around that already have the four-core cable you need for coil taps, series/ parallel and out of phase circuits. Often, there are sound files on the maker’s web site to help you choose the right model for you, and plenty of instructions to help you complete your mod. This is the road I’d be tempted to go down because it’s lower risk than messing with your guitar’s existing pickups – and there is a way back if it doesn’t work out, or you want to sell the guitar in the future. I totally agree with you about not cutting holes in the body unless you are really convinced that this is what you want. It will knock a chunk off the resale value, and change the look of the instrument in a way that can never be completely reversed. What I suggest you do is use replacement pots with push/pull switches, like the ones pictured here (See fig. 7 above). That way, not only do you keep the look of your instrument original, you can keep other guitarists guessing how you get your extra sounds! Depending how far you want to go, there are a lot more tones to be had from two humbuckers


Fig. 7 - Push-pull pots include a Double Pole switch on the back you can use for coil taps.


than a couple of coil taps. With all four pots swapped out to be push/pull switches, you can end up with as many as 22 combinations, according to wiring fanatic Deaf Eddie. Rather than take the glory that deserves to be Eddie’s, I’ll point you at a page on his web site: www.


deaf-eddie.net/pushpull/jp_ setup.html It’s also worth adding that Eddie has come up with variations on the Gibson Jimmy Page signature Les Paul wiring scheme that will work for the selector switches on Epiphones, as well as Gibsons. I haven’t personally tried these wiring schemes but I can tell that Eddie has thought them through very carefully. PM


pickup439


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