Ok, In a nutshell I have a pair of hot jazzes that I bought a few years ago intending to fit them to a LP copy. Partly cos I like chunky SCs, and partly cos I wanted to be different.
Now it's a couple of years later and my guitar life is getting back on the road after life got in the way.
I've had the things out of the boxes, and I'm amazed at how exactly they're the same size as a HB mount ring. There goes plan 1.
The take off points for the wiring are pretty much exactly under two of the 4 mount ring->body screw holes. There goes plan 2 of a simple shave down.
It's worth noting that the coil winding barely comes halfway across the width of the bobbin. I assume Fender had a reason for making the thing so big, but certainly as wound by SD there's a lot of wasted bobbin material there, making me think that a cutdown might be possible.
What worries me is moving the take-off points. I've modded regular Gibson HBs for 4-core wire before, so don't mind getting physical with a pickup, but I don't like the look of that pickup wire going to the take-off. It looks like my soldering iron might just melt it.
My ideal plan would be to trim the top of the bobbin to clear the inside of the mount ring and similar to the bottom, leaving a couple of lugs to mount regular HB fitting screws and springs thru; and move the takeoff pints inboard 5mil or so to accomodate.
How much does this sound like a disaster in the making, and can anyone comment on soldering pickup wire? Especially info like iron wattage and any non-standard solder wire etc...
Has anyone else attempted such a fitting?
Now it's a couple of years later and my guitar life is getting back on the road after life got in the way.
I've had the things out of the boxes, and I'm amazed at how exactly they're the same size as a HB mount ring. There goes plan 1.
The take off points for the wiring are pretty much exactly under two of the 4 mount ring->body screw holes. There goes plan 2 of a simple shave down.
It's worth noting that the coil winding barely comes halfway across the width of the bobbin. I assume Fender had a reason for making the thing so big, but certainly as wound by SD there's a lot of wasted bobbin material there, making me think that a cutdown might be possible.
What worries me is moving the take-off points. I've modded regular Gibson HBs for 4-core wire before, so don't mind getting physical with a pickup, but I don't like the look of that pickup wire going to the take-off. It looks like my soldering iron might just melt it.
My ideal plan would be to trim the top of the bobbin to clear the inside of the mount ring and similar to the bottom, leaving a couple of lugs to mount regular HB fitting screws and springs thru; and move the takeoff pints inboard 5mil or so to accomodate.
How much does this sound like a disaster in the making, and can anyone comment on soldering pickup wire? Especially info like iron wattage and any non-standard solder wire etc...
Has anyone else attempted such a fitting?
