Routing Strat for humbuckers. Advice please

boogieman · August 2022

I’ve got a Strat body that I want to modify from SSS to fit a couple of SD humbuckers. I’ve got a reasonable quality Bosch plunge router and bits. What’s the best way to proceed?

Is it best to make up a template first? Is there a recommended place to download template plans from? (for free preferably).

Any general advice welcome really. TIA.

TTony · August 2022

Do you want to make two nice neat HB cavities, or just do a swimming pool rout (I presume it'll all be covered with a standard Strat scratchplate)?

Funkfingers · August 2022

Swimming pool has ramifications for one of the pickguard fastening screws. No early Sixties scratchplates!

Winny_Pooh · August 2022

If you dont want swimming pool (easily done with 4 bits of wood screwed to make a rectangle, you can find a plexiglass humbucker template online quiet cheaply. Then get double sided tape, whack it on and route away. Worth getting a HH pickgaurd first so you can find your positioning before routing

Sporky · August 2022

Might I suggest golf grip tape rather than normal double-sided? Much stronger, and peels off cleanly leaving no residue.

boogieman · August 2022

Ta for the replies so far. I’ve already got an HH scratchplate so can use that for positioning. I hadn’t thought about doing a swimming pool rout, that would be a lot easier to do I guess. Any downsides to it apart from the screw issue that Funky mentioned?

DrBob · August 2022

I’ve got some mdf templates you can borrow if you like ? You will need a bearing guided bit though

boogieman · August 2022

DrBob said:

I’ve got some mdf templates you can borrow if you like ? You will need a bearing guided bit though

Ooh cheers Rob I may well take you up on that.

ICBM · August 2022

A swimming pool rout isn’t easier, unless you have industrial-size routing equipment - it’s far more material to remove. It can also compromise the vibrato screw anchor positions if you take away the section between the neck and middle pickups. Don’t. Do the job properly and make two correct-size humbucker cavities.

mooncat · August 2022

This is an easy way to make a template.

https://projectelectricguitar.com/a-new-way-to-make-a-humbucker-pickup-routing-template/

CasperCaster · August 2022

As @ICBM has already suggested, the trem claw screws are slightly angled and typically terminate in the material between the neck and middle pickups. It's a close call as to whether the holes drilled for them will be exposed or not - Fender have obviously managed fine on many many Strats, but I've seen some home bodges too.

I'd also suggest you think carefully about the depth of the rout wrt your humbuckers. If you have short leg humbuckers you can take the depth of the pickup cavities down to about 21mm which is what Fender do on modern Strats (in vintage Strats and reissues the pickup cavities are about 17.5mm deep). At 21mm deep there is still about 5-6mm of wood between the pickup cavity and the trem spring cavity behind, leaving enough for some strength/ stiffness in the body, whilst still allowing a short leg pickup to fit, with short mounting screws (Fender screws are about 20mm).

If you have long leg humbuckers you face an additional challenge, since you need to rout extra depth very very accurately for the legs - look at the width between the legs and compare this to the width of the trem spring cavity - it's quite close, and indexing is an issue i.e. you don't know exactly where the boundaries of trem spring cavity are whilst routing for the legs, and it is possible to break through into the trem spring cavity, or get tear out and a hole between the cavities. There are many Strats modified in the 70's and 80s with this 'feature'. I simply don't install long leg humbuckers on Strats - too much hassle. Buy/ install short leg pickups, or have the pickups rebuilt on short leg bases of the right polepiece spacing.

Regarding swimming pool routs, when the US Std Strat (swimming pool rout) first came out in 1986 Fender realised after a couple of years they had too many returns for warped bodies. The move to more pieces of wood for the body, veneered front and back mitigated this to some extent (and helped with material costs), but returns continued. Ultimately they dropped the swimming pool rout on almost all guitars (Mex Blacktops are the only recent exception I can think of).

Winny_Pooh · August 2022

^ In 25 years of guitar obsession (and having owned a late 90's AM Std strat) I have never heard of warped bodies due to a swimming pool route...

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Routing Strat for humbuckers. Advice please

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