I've just bought a P-90 sized DiMarzio Super Distortion to mount in a Les Paul DC. The problem is the current P90s are mounted with two screws close to the centre of the pickup, like this
The DiMarzio has the mounting holes at the far ends of the pickup so rather than drill into the body, I'm going to need to build some sort of plate to attach to the body using the current holes and then to attach to the new pickup, I imagine something like this:
Anyone have any advice as to what to use - aluminium? wood? to do this and where to get the materials?
Even if you do make that mounting plate (and I'd go non-ferrous if I did) you'll still end up with the screws going into the wood beneath. Why not just source wood screws that fit aesthetically, do a wee pilot hole and screw the pickup in? I'd put some foam under them to act like a spring and fill the 'resonant gap'. That last term came via a guitar builder in Manchester who advised filling the space beneath pickups so as to eliminate the 'resonant gap'. Never really understood what he meant to be honest.... But I do it anyway. LOL.
Another thought. Pull the threaded plugs out and move them to where you need them to be.
Molly wrote:Pull the threaded plugs out and move them to where you need them to be.
That sounds like a good idea, or even better install an extra set. I wonder if you can buy them somewhere?
Wouldn't know where to begin to be honest. Maybe buy a couple of brass nuts from a fastener specialist place or model shop and file them round by tightening them on a bolt, putting it in your drill and holding it against a file. Use a spare bolt from the same fasteners place.
Could you use a thin bit of wood roughly the size of the pickup route, drill holes so you can reuse the original mounting studs in the middle to hold the wood in place, then use wood screws to hold the pickup down. Just make sure the wood screws aren't too long and don't dig into the guitar, then you can remove it all in the future and leave no signs of modification.
