DANELECTRO
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2003
- Messages
- 6,320
This is something I've had on my list of things to do and I finally got around to it. I picked up this 1959 Melody Maker from a fellow forum member back in the fall. Its a great playing guitar, however the stock pickup just didn't cut it. I wanted a P90 in it, however a standard P90 will not fit and however routing was out of the question. Jason Lollar makes a P90 with a narrow baseplate that fits within the cavity of the Melody Maker. I've had regular Lollar P90s before so I knew the pickup would sound great, however I wasn't crazy about the looks of its open bobbin design. I was pretty sure that I could adapt a P90 cover to it, so I went ahead and ordered the pickup. As it turns out, the pickup fits inside a standard P90 cover just fine, although the polepiece spacing is wider on the Lollar. Anyway, here's a pictorial of the installation:
Guitar before mods
I didn't want to modify the original pickguard, so I made a new one. I had cut the outer profile prior to receiving the pickup in the mail, so I didn't cut the hole for the pickup until I was sure what size to make it.
Lollar P90 and a '60's vintage P90 cover.
I elongated the outer holes to accommodate the wider polepiece spacing of the Lollar
Cutout is laid out for routing.
This is a fixture I made to rout the cutout
Cutout routed. Note that I countersunk the pickup mounting screws for a flush mount because the P90 cover partially overlaps the screws.
The cover was too tall to fit under the strings. I determined what height the pickup would be, then cut the cover down to match the height of the pickup bobbin above the pickguard (an unmodified cover is in the back)
Lollar P90 resting in the cavity
Pickup mounted in the guard. I used 6-32 flathead machine screws which have a hex drive for an Allen wrench. Even though the cover partially covers the screws, I can still get to the drive to adjust the height if necessary.
Guitar before mods
I didn't want to modify the original pickguard, so I made a new one. I had cut the outer profile prior to receiving the pickup in the mail, so I didn't cut the hole for the pickup until I was sure what size to make it.
Lollar P90 and a '60's vintage P90 cover.
I elongated the outer holes to accommodate the wider polepiece spacing of the Lollar
Cutout is laid out for routing.
This is a fixture I made to rout the cutout
Cutout routed. Note that I countersunk the pickup mounting screws for a flush mount because the P90 cover partially overlaps the screws.
The cover was too tall to fit under the strings. I determined what height the pickup would be, then cut the cover down to match the height of the pickup bobbin above the pickguard (an unmodified cover is in the back)
Lollar P90 resting in the cavity
Pickup mounted in the guard. I used 6-32 flathead machine screws which have a hex drive for an Allen wrench. Even though the cover partially covers the screws, I can still get to the drive to adjust the height if necessary.