Installing Pickup rings on FullGuards etc...

[AngelDeVille]

I just ordered some screws off eBay for cheap. I think I'll glue some wood in the cavities for the screws to sink into.

So now I'll have black screws for the white ring, and chrome screws for the black ring..

Once I get this all buttoned down she gets painted.

 

[cerebral gasket]

Metal or plastic?

Paper or Plastic?

 

[Raiyn]

Probably none.
Once plugged in and playing with high gain, I don't think my ears would be able to tell the difference.

Oh there's a member here (not me) who'd swear up and down they could. Guy probably thinks he can hear two fleas having a conversation on hound dog's ass in the next county.

 

[cerebral gasket]

I just ordered some screws off eBay for cheap. I think I'll glue some wood in the cavities for the screws to sink into.

So now I'll have black screws for the white ring, and chrome screws for the black ring..

Once I get this all buttoned down she gets painted.

Great.
You got the details down on the color coordination.
How do you like the modification on yours so far?
I'm guessing what prompted it was being more concerned about getting the pickups leveled to strings and not having any expectations of it creating any drastic sonic improvements in sound if any.
I don't hear much difference on mine if any, but like to have things lined up properly for aesthetics reasons.

 

[AngelDeVille]

Great.
You got the details down on the color coordination.
How do you like the modification on yours so far?
I'm guessing what prompted it was being more concerned about getting the pickups leveled to strings and not having any expectations of it creating any drastic sonic improvements in sound if any.
I don't hear much difference if any, but like to have things lined up properly for aesthetics reasons.

Yeah, It just looked like crap with the pickup that high and not level with the strings.

Purely aesthetic.

 

[cerebral gasket]

Once I get this all buttoned down she gets painted.

What color?

 

[AngelDeVille]

What color is it getting painted?

Lake Placid/Pelham Blue

 

[cerebral gasket]

I was thinking you were going for the all black and white theme.
But the Pelham Blue or any color works well with black and white checkers.
It looks awesome now, but will be even better when you get it painted the color you want.
The ebony board is also a plus because it matches everything.

 

[AngelDeVille]

The screws came in. Stainless on the black rings, black on the white rings.

The forward screws on the neck ring were in wood.

I'm definitely going to glue wood into the pickup cavities later.




Now I just need to get my new pickguard.

 

[cerebral gasket]

^ Awesome.

Was looking at previous photo of side view and noticed I had edge close to bridge slightly low.
Made height adjustment screw holes on guard slightly elongated and was able to move ring forward before anchoring with four corner screws.

 

[Dave_Death]

I ground away part of the pickguard on mine under the pickup rings so that the pickups can be lifted out of the guitar without removing the pickguard and the bridge. For me that was the whole point of the conversion, to avoid removing the bridge every time. So now my pickups go in and out like any guitar with pickup ring mounting. The pickups don't go through the pickguard at all. You can't see the missing plastic with the pickup rings in.

 

[cerebral gasket]

Would be funny if the factory caught on that enough of us were doing this modification and redesigned the batwings with pickup mounting rings as stock equipment.

Look up the Flying V History model.
Pickup mounting rings are stock items on the large guard.

 

[drown]

I ground away part of the pickguard on mine under the pickup rings so that the pickups can be lifted out of the guitar without removing the pickguard and the bridge. For me that was the whole point of the conversion, to avoid removing the bridge every time. So now my pickups go in and out like any guitar with pickup ring mounting. The pickups don't go through the pickguard at all. You can can't see the missing plastic with the pickup rings in.

Would love more details on this. I got the rings to do this mod but haven't done it yet. Would love to set my faded up this way. Basically you are enlarging the pickup holes in the guard so that they are large enough to accomodate the ring.

 

[cerebral gasket]

Cutouts on guard remain same size.
Only need to cut notches out of side edges for pickup legs to pass through.
Pilot the four corner holes slightly smaller than screw diameter.
4th hole on bottom right corner will not have wood underneath.
Make certain to dry fit everything in place prior to drilling holes.
You will need to push the ring slightly towards neck so that pickup is parallel with strings. See photos in earlier posts of this thread.

 

[Dave_Death]

Used one of these bad boys:

 

[Polidavey66]

I've been thinking about attempting to to add pickup mounting rings to both of my full-pickguard SG's for a long time now. I' ve been going back & forth, trying to decide whether or not this is a project that I'm willing to tackle. I think I might want to do it. I'm just a little weary about making any major modifications to my guitars by myself. so, I just want to make sure I understand the procedure completely... in order to do this, you have to essentially take off the entire "batwing" pickguard, and take the pickups out entirely, right? I'm assuming this is what has to be done. or is this procedure possible without going through all that? I would love to see a full instructional video showing this exact thing done, from beginning to end. is there anything like this available online?

 

[cerebral gasket]

Removing the batwing guard is simple, only time consuming. Remove strings, bridge and thumbwheels to bridge. Remove the 11 screws holding guard to body. Remove the 2 pickup height adjustment screws with springs that hold the pickup to the guard. No need to unsolder any wires. Then refer to previous posts and images in this thread.

You can always order a second full batwing guard if you are wary about any permanent modifications to the original. If you decide to revert back to original condition, the small screw holes under the guard will be covered by the original guard. Always dry fit parts prior to drilling any holes. Pay attention to the ring placement and top face of pickup as it will need to be pushed toward the neck slightly to level the pickup.

See image below for modification of the bridge position pickup on the guard.

I only install the rings on bridge position and foam shims under neck position.

 

[Polidavey66]

very cool. yes, I suppose that the time consuming aspect of it is probably the most annoying part. are you able to easily screw each of the 4 mounting screws around each pickup mounting ring into the pickguard with no issues? I'm worried that they will crack the pickguard. also, did you have to adjust (cut down) any of the screws or the springs to make for an easier fit? I guess I'm just paranoid that I will run into some kind of roadblock or difficulty with this whole process, but clearly the results here speak for themselves. I may give it a shot on my SG standard, before I tackle my 3-pickup SG. thanks for the info.

 

[Raiyn]

Weary = tired

Wary = apprehensive

 

[cerebral gasket]

No worries on the screws. Use a pin vise with a drill bit slightly smaller than the screw diameter to pilot the holes in guard and wood at same time while dry fitting. The pickup height adjustment screws do not need to be shortened since you are adding parts (the ring) to the screw. The screws will not bottom out in the cavity. The springs can be cut down if too tight. Re-installing the springs is the only tricky part if they are too long.

Before cutting notches out on guard, you can assemble the ring and pickup to guard with pickup height adjustment screws and then dry fit to body. Attach the guard to body with a couple screws so that it will not move. Then you can make certain pickup is positioned correctly in the cutout and move slightly toward neck until top face is level before marking the four wood screw holes.