Long pickup legs won't fit guitar - what to do?

G

GabenFreeman

New member
I bought a new Seymour Duncan custom shop Jazz neck and already began installing it before realizing it won't fit my guitar because it has long legs.

What should I do? I bought a new baseplate for it with short legs and was just going to swap it but I did some research and it seems a little more complicated than I thought. How hard is it to swap the baseplate? It sounds like when you open up the pickup there is some risk of damaging the internal wiring which is delicate. I have a decent amount of experience with soldering but I've never taken a pickup apart before. Is it something that's doable for someone who's never done it before? Are there any good guides for doing it?

I guess another option would be to have holes drilled in the pickup cavity which would be pretty painful for me to do because it's a pretty expensive guitar that I'm kind of attached to.

But not sure which option would be easier. I'm pretty sure I can't return the pickup because I already stripped the wires and soldered them and everything.

Thanks
 
welcome to the forum!

you can swap the baseplate, you just need be careful and go slow.
 
I agree with Jeremy. I’ve done it a couple of times without killing the pickup. One is a Demon, and one is a 59. Just take your time and don’t pull hard on any wires. Now that I think about it, that Demon needs a home.
 
I was afraid of baseplate swapping, too, but it is better than carving up your guitar. It is just slightly harder than swapping a magnet, and that isn't too hard.
 
Ok cool I'll probably try swapping the base plate. Are there any guides for it, or could someone give me a quick rundown of it?

Also should I get some pickup tape? I'm guessing I have to peel the tape off and re-tape it with new tape after putting the new base plate on. Not sure exactly what the process for that is though.
 
Encountered this back in the 80's when I changed from JB to Distortion in my Strat. I was able use my Dremel and carefully rout out pickup leg sized spaces in the wood. Not much wood needed removed and and the guitar had already been routed for a humbucker in the bridge. If the guitar had not already been modified, I might have opted for the baseplate change, although I think the baseplate would have taken more time.
 
basically you need to unscrew the screw poles so they are clear of the baseplate, remove the four little brass screws that hold the bobbins to the baseplate, use a soldering iron to gently remove the bare ground wire from the base plate, snake the four conductor wire out of the hole in the old baseplate, then reverse the process. you shouldnt need to mess with the coils or coil tap if you are careful. as you take the pup apart, be aware of where the keeper and the spacer go so you can put them back in the same way.
 
GabenFreeman said:
I guess another option would be to have holes drilled in the pickup cavity which would be pretty painful for me to do because it's a pretty expensive guitar that I'm kind of attached to.
Click to expand...

Just a general philosophy. If you have two things that won't work together because one of them is non-standard or irregular, don't make the normal thing irregular to match the irregular thing. Cuz then you have two irregular things. Extra true in your case because a guitar costs more to mess up than a pickup.
 
Mincer said:
Pickup tape is always a good thing to have on hand, especially for any respectable pickup modder. :)
Click to expand...

+1

Coil tape is so useful. I also use it to tape off solder joints, bundle wires, etc. It’s easier to work with than electrical tape and sticks just as good.
 
Years ago I had this issue, and I resolved it by carefully straightening out the lower part of the leg, so that the entire leg was perpendicular to the pickup. I then measured a point about half way between the pickup base and the crease where the leg had previously been bent, I marked that point and folded the bottom part of the leg back outward from that mark. I then carefully bent the leg back inward from the crease at the base of the pickup, then manipulated the bottom portion of the leg back outward, creating sort of a 'Z' shape with the legs, thereby shortening them, but ending up with the mounting screw holes back in roughly the same relative position that they were. I'll see if I still have any pictures...
 
This might be a dumb question, but why do long leg baseplates even exist? My Seth had one and it was just a nuisance. I really can’t think of any reason why I would want that. Any explanations?
 
I thought long legs were the older spec for LPs, with their deeper pickup cavities and/or need to get the pickup close enough under the strings with the standoff of TOM bridges.

The only time I really wished I had a long-leg pickup was when I switched my Epiphone 7 string LP over to rings. I could only find short flat rings online for a while and my short-leg pickup couldn't get high enough.
 
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