#1 resource for Cigar Box Guitars, Free Plans, How-To, Parts & More!

NEED ADVICE: Mounting pickup with low action without weakening the neck??

Greets,

I am starting a new build, and I am facing the dilemma how how to mount the pickup without chopping deeply into the neck.

In the past I dodged this issue by using special ultra-thin pickups. Once I *did* notch the neck to fit the pickup lower, and it weakened the neck so bad the instrument wouldn't hold a tune at all, and I had to add metal straps internally to strengthen the neck in order to rescue the guitar.

There must be a better way!

Darn pickups are easily 1/2 inch high, and that makes it hard to achieve low action. I really want the high frets to be more usable, so low action is a must. As it is, if this pickup is mounted right against the neck with no notching, it will be a good 9 or 10 mm high!

I really want the neck all the way thru the body for strength. And I don't want to weaken it by notching a slot for the pickup. How have you guys worked around this?

Pics are attached...

Thanks and blessings,

/Mark

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on August 9, 2016 at 9:28am

I get a lot of jarrah where i am,hard,strong,it's compressive strength very high,making it ideal for necks,but unfortunately,it is rather plain in appearance when only 40 mm wide,the grain beauty only really starts to show at 150-200 mm widths,but I can live with that as long as a 5 minute walk can get me 3 or 4 necks worth for free by visiting a house building site or 2,but a t moment,i have about 3/4 of a tonne in my carport,reclaimed from a demolished shed for a bottle of rum,so i just try to use a contrasting fretboard as a feature.Jonno,I made many guitars from jarrah with no fretboard in my early builds,no problem strength wise,not sure how the merbau stacks against the jarrah,as i've only used it for a 6 string lap steel,25x 20 mm laminated, and that is very rigid with 6 strings

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jonno on August 9, 2016 at 12:05pm

Wow thatz oodles of Jarrah Darryl. Hey I think there is a little song title there 'Oodles Of Jarrah'.

@ At Fomhorach.Hmm. I'm a minimalist at heart. Leaving out a seperate fretboard might be my cup of tea. Correct me if wrong but I think I read that original fenders had neck/fretboard as single piece of sugar maple with no seperate frettie.

@Blues Frog. Can you explain or depict how you place the supporting piece in the box.

@Way. Would you choose the look of a wood over its hardness. Do you have a fave wood that is as hard as you can get but finishes up nice

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Blues Frog on August 9, 2016 at 12:21pm

See the piece in the photo. This allows the neck to be big enough to fit in the box at the right height, and i glue the neck in for added stability.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jonno on August 9, 2016 at 1:03pm

Gotcha Blues. Very nifty

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jonno on August 9, 2016 at 9:43pm

Thanx for great response Way. I met this chick years ago and I said,'How ya like ya wood. Fancy or hard'? She must have thought I was talkin bout golf coz she said' 'I like a man who hits a hole in one with his wood everytime.' I kid you not he he

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mark Jeghers on August 10, 2016 at 12:49pm

...to be young again...

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jonno on August 10, 2016 at 5:21pm

Not wrong Mark. Ya know you gettin old wben you go to beach and keep your gaze fixed straight out to sea.Coz if you look around all the youngins think ya a perve he he

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jonno on August 10, 2016 at 7:05pm

He he Way

Thought I would post a shot of my re touched build 4 showing the short thru box piece of wood, tail block for bridge support and transformer enclosure. Just about ready to attach a neck. Damn. Outa screws