Positioning Pickups Before Drilling
This is part 2 of the video series on Replacing Pickups in a semi-hollowbody guitar. Here, I show some common-sense tricks for properly positioning the pickups front-to-back and side-to-side on the guitar, without having to make lots of measurements, etc. To place the pickups parallel with the edge of the fretboard and parallel with each other, I use spacers. You can experiment with spacers of different sizes to find a good fit – I’ve used pens and pencils and scrap wood. Just make sure the spacer is equal in size along its entire length – avoid tapered pens. Here, I’m using drill bits wrapped in tape, since my bit set has so many choices in size. I also show a way to use the low and high E strings as a straightedge when aligning the pickup polepieces under the strings. Note, in the video, I didn’t realize the camera was slightly angled when showing the pole piece alignment, so it’s not as
Note to self: next time, set the camera to proper manual focus before doing those closeups!
Tagged with: Electronics • Epiphone Riviera P93 • Pickups • Video
Filed under: Guitar
Nice tutorial.
Yeah id like to say amazing 3 part tutorial! brilliant quality and nice of you to take the time to do this, good work
Wow, amazing detail. Thanks. What brand are the new pick ups?
@888SHAC888 – these are P-90′s from Vintage Vibe Guitars. Very nice pickups. Hear some before/after in my vid “Epiphone Electronics Overhaul, Before and After”
I will check it out, thanks. Have you tested other picks before you chose this one?
@888SHAC888 – I would have loved to, but these boutique pickups are pricey and built-to-order, so doing a bunch of experiments/comparisons would be pretty expensive.
I was going to switch out one of my pickups for a dirty fingers one, Do i have to make them both dirty fingers or leave on stock and one new one? Like can i play between my neck pick up and bottom pick up?
@lmfaoman1001 – up to you. if you install both your stock pickup and a dirty fingers, you may not have a very even balance of output levels since the dirty fingers will be hotter than the stock. if you have two volume knobs, you can easily deal with it. or if you usually play one or the other, but not mixed. try it and see!
hey where did yo purchase those spacers?
@enjoiamelon – i got these spacers from Pete Biltoft at Vintage Vibe Guitars when I purchased my pickups. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a packaged set of dogear spacers maybe from Allparts at guitarcenter. Lollar sells a pack of shims (search “lollar p90 shims”)
what guitar is this that your use in this video
Epiphone Riviera P93
hey where did yo purchase those spacers?
would it be possible just to put some soap bars right in there?
like could you get any soar bar and put covers on it?
@gabeNvincentstudios – they won’t just drop in. since these pickups are dog-eared, the holes are out on the sides and you’d have to do some body-work to fill and hide them (which is hard to get right) and/or possibly routing out the holes for a different size soapbar. You’ll have to take some measurements of the current holes and the new pickups to see if you can make it work.
Is it possible to put Gibson 57′s in?
@rossdarocker39 – they won’t just drop in. see my previous reply about soapbars to gabeNvincentstudios
Thanks alot for this video really helpfull, a handfull of very good tips!!
Hello John,
You mentioned, in another video that replacing the electronics didn’t do a lot to improve the quality of sound. Do you think that replacing the pickups is another story and is really worth the effort (and why not, the price)?
Yes, changing the pickups is the most dramatic way to change the sound of your guitar. See my video “Epiphone Electronics Overhaul, Before and After Comparisons” for examples and details. watch?v=fxc6s6tXefE
Hi John, ok thanks. I will watch it, of course.