Soloist Student project

[creekster52]

I recently acquired a 1985 Soloist (ser. J0935). I would like to add covered humbuckers, but the pickup routing is too small in the corners.

If I modify the corners to fit, will it decrease the value of the guitar? The modification will not be visible with the pickups and trim rings installed.

I really like the way it looks with the covers, but wanted to get opinions here first...

Marc

[j2379]

DONT route it.

[neilli]

If the guitar is in good condition, then I'd advise against it - can't you hack the covers around ('below the ring') rather than the guitar?

[J_A / 540s]

Sounds like a fun project but dont cut in to the guitar for the covers!.

I would strongly reccomend trimming the bottom of the covers so they are short enough to fit the way you like instead of routing the guitar to fit the covers. It may never matter depending on what you do with the guitar in the future however you cannot un-cut the guitar. If you decide down the road to put uncovered pickups back in it or have a buyer who looks for originality you are "covered" either way ( pun intended )

[creekster52]

The corners of the covers are too squared for the original routing, and trimming the covers will not remedy the situation. The baseplates of the humbuckers are more rounded and already have very close tolerance.


So, on to "Plan B"...Anyone have any suggestions on how to repaint the polepieces black? The pups had many scratches on the bobbins, and the original paint was heavily oxidized anyway, so I had to buff them out.

[creekster52]

Well...That was strange...here it is again...

The corners of the covers are too squared for the original routing, and trimming the covers will not remedy the situation. The baseplates of the humbuckers are more rounded and already have very close tolerance.

So, on to "Plan B"...Anyone have any suggestions on how to repaint the polepieces black? The pups had many scratches on the bobbins, and the original paint was heavily oxidized anyway, so I had to buff them out.

[creekster52]

Wtf

[Nazgul]

I know what you mean. I put 80s covered Jackson pickups in some of my guitars and I filed down the edges of the cavity with a file. It worked really good and when I put back the original pickups and rings, the mod was not visible at all.