Making wooden pickup covers

[Jason Rodgers]

Another option is to rout larger pickup holes.

After going through my lengthy process of thermoforming custom covers, a friend on facebook says "Let me know if you need someone to test-drive any of your pickups. I'd like to try something new in my SG." I thought to myself, "Well, $#!+, I guess that's why folks make drop-in pickups." Of course, you know this, T. Custom, one-off pickups for custom, one-off guitars are always possible, but it all comes down to your goals. I would kinda like to have someone test-drive my pickups, and if I ever end up selling a guitar, I wonder if that person will ever want to swap out pickups. By making everything custom right now, I'm having to grapple with the fact that I am very much limiting those opportunities.

[Jim Shine]

If I were looking to make Jazz bass covers exact in size and thickness, I would not be routing them from a solid block of wood. Instead I would build them from thinstock lumber. You can create the screw tabs by cutting dowels in half.