Changing pup rings on over-sized jackson.....

[RR05xx]

Hey all, I have a 89 KV that has had EMGs in it forever (much better). The thing is, the guitar came with those oversized jackson pups and I just swapped then in and left the over sized pup rings in place. Can I just swao in regular pup rings or will there be a screw hole or discolored paint issue from b/c the original pups are so damn big?\


What say yous?

[Grandturk]

Budman.

[StukaJU87]

Budman.

Agreed. He can make you the rings that will fit your EMG's snugly and still retain the original screw placement.

[neilli]

Budman (www.fretsonthenet.com) all the way.....

[Nazgul]

does anyone know if there are any visible holes outside the pickup ring when you change normal ring to "oversized jackson" and vice versa?

[RR05xx]

Ah. Budman, thanks guys. That is what I need!

[neilli]

does anyone know if there are any visible holes outside the pickup ring when you change normal ring to "oversized jackson" and vice versa?

The oversized rings are physically wider from bridge to nut. The mounting screws are still in the corners, so yes, replacing an oversize with a normal size pickup ring will leave visible screw holes, and possibly even the edge of the pickup route will be visible.

You'd only want to do this in reverse if you were retrofitting an oversize Jackson pickup, in which case you'd have to enlarge the pickup route and drill 2 new pickup ring mounting holes....

[Nazgul]

You'd only want to do this in reverse if you were retrofitting an oversize Jackson pickup, in which case you'd have to enlarge the pickup route and drill 2 new pickup ring mounting holes....

yep, i want to do that (j90c, remember? ). I noticed that I have to enlarge the pickup route and drill new holes for the ring. Now, drilling holes is not hard, but how do I enlarge the pickup route? with chisel?

[neilli]

Um, you'd probably want to use a router in order to do a tidy job - a chisel would do it, but you're likely to make a mess.
I wouldn't recommend you doing this to a guitar with much value, cos you can't undo it, so the only neat way to go back would be to get a 'oversized conversion' ring from Dave. If you really love the sound of those pickups, then fair enough, but personally I'd just go for a Duncan or something and save hacking the guitar around…..Do you actually have an oversize ring for that pickup?

[Nazgul]

Do you actually have an oversize ring for that pickup?

No not yet, but I'm thinking about buying one from Budman. I might also get one from this one guy a met about week ago who has charvel model 6, but changed pickups to emgs. he probably changed the pickup ring too, cause the there was no space between emg and ring. I was talking to him a bit and he said he still has original pickups at home. I forgot to ask about rings....i'm gonna call him sometime soon, because i'm also interested into buying him off j50bc.

there is still option of removing the pickup cover .

[neilli]

EMGs are smaller, so a swap would have left a gap between the pickup and the ring.

Removing the pickup cover won't achieve anything, cos the pickup itself is bigger.

[Nazgul]

OK, I get it, but I think you didn't understand my first question.
I was thinking about this:

normal pickup route + oversized pickup ring + oversized jackson pickup (<-- You were probably thinking about normal non-jackson humbucker here)

and

oversized pickup route + normal pickup ring + normal sized pickup

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(that is normal duncan/dimarzio/whatever pickup ring which would require new screw holes)

will there be any visible old screw holes OUTSIDE the pickup ring in these configurations?

[neilli]

If you currently have an oversized pickup route, then using a normal pickup in a small ring will leave 2 screw holes and possibly a small part of the route exposed along one of the long sides.

A normal pickup will have a space by each long side if used in an oversized ring.

If you have a normal route, it will be too small for the oversized pickup, so the route will have to be enlarged and you'll have to drill 2 more screw holes for the mounting ring. This is not easy to reverse.

An oversize pickup won't fit in a normal pickup ring


I think that's covered every permutation, unless you want to start cutting up the pickup!

[Nazgul]

OK, you covered it all now . I doubt that uncovered jackson won't fit i nthe normal route though...

[jacksonaxes]

I think the J90-C is normal size without the cover on it?