What should I use to route out a pickup?

[MateoG78]

(If this is the wrong place to post, sorry)

Hello talkbass. I need some help on routing out a pickup. I have a Dean Edge 09 which I love and had for a while out but the pickup in it is kind of eh sounding. I’m gonna buy one of the Emg sig. sets which have soapbar pickups. It has two pickups in the set, but my bass only has one pickup.

What should I use to make another pickup hole? Should I even get one another pickup or should I just stick to one? I’m a total beginner to this kind of stuff.

 

[Warpeg]

Creating a new pickup cavity, and the additional cabling path and potentiometer hole, is something that should be done by an experienced craftsman. If you attempt to do this yourself, then either prepare for an unpredictable outcome or take a lot of time to practice on scrap pieces of painted wood.

If you want to do it yourself, then you will need a good router with correct bit set, template, accurate measuring tools, masking tape, drill with correct bit set, oil or paint for sealing the newly-exposed wood, an additional potentiometer (volume, if you want to do a VVT setup?), a soldering iron, solder,......the list can go on and on here. You get the point.

 

[MateoG78]

Creating a new pickup cavity, and the additional cabling path and potentiometer hole, is something that should be done by an experienced craftsman. If you attempt to do this yourself, then either prepare for an unpredictable outcome or take a lot of time to practice on scrap pieces of painted wood.

If you want to do it yourself, then you will need a good router with correct bit set, template, accurate measuring tools, masking tape, drill with correct bit set, oil or paint for sealing the newly-exposed wood, an additional potentiometer (volume, if you want to do a VVT setup?), a soldering iron, solder,......the list can go on and on here. You get the point.

Oh damn, this is pretty complicated. I think I’ll just stick to one pickup then.

 

[ctmullins]

@Warpeg isnt wrong. But, to offer another perspective, a few guys have been pretty successful making music with instruments that they modified using nothing more than a rusty screwdriver and a bag of weed....

(courtesy of @doc540)

(courtesy of @Jim Miller )

 

[sikamikanico]

@Warpeg isnt wrong. But, to offer another perspective, a few guys have been pretty successful making music with instruments that they modified using nothing more than a rusty screwdriver and a bag of weed....

Yes, but to be fair, in both examples they had pickguards to cover up the mess

OP, I suggest you start with replacing one pickup, see how you like it. You can always add another pickup later, or just get a different bass with two pickups.

 

[2F/2F]

I would make a simple router template form out of 1x lumber or 3/4" ply, and use an electric router, myself. Use a rabbeting bit (straight, with a top bearing) of a large size to do the rough cutting quickly. Use the bearing that exactly matches the width of the bit. To finish up the edges, use the same type of bit, but of the size that will give you a corner radius that best matches the pickup cover. You want to use the original that you made of lumber to make a working template from which to rout – not rout into the instrument straight from the original form. I like 1/2" Plexiglas for working templates, but you can use other (cheaper) things too. You want your working template to be plenty large, so you can clamp it down and still get the router in between the clamps.