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I need some routing templates for J-bass bridge and P-bass neck pickups. I was wondering if anyone has experience with these. One review stated they work great if using a pick guard but were too big for use without a pick guard. the other reviews seemed to be all good but this info also came off the stewmac website. The price is not bad I guess I could always just buy some and check them out.

Then again maybe someone here has a better idea.

Thanks
Richard

Don't know about the StewMac templates. Never used them. It's much easier and much more economical for me to make the templates from the pickups themselves. It's not difficult to do, and that way I control the accuracy. MHO.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

They're good templates. I've used them for basses and had no problems. The problem is with their guided template router bits. The sleeve they provide to hold the bearing down stops it from turning and it gets hot and blows up and then you destroy your template and ruin your instrument.

I wrap a small piece of masking tape around the bit just above the bearing and glue it (the tape) down with CA, and lubricate the bearing with motor oil. Don't let the bearing touch the plastic more than a few second, and make sure the bearing is not going to ride up the shaft and leave the template surface.

I eventually used my plastic templates to make wooden templates that don't melt and are tall enough that I don't have to route down almost a half inch before the final cavity shape can be routed.

Nowadays, when I need a template, I make one myself, that's what I did for the bass I recently started a thread on.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

I don't mind to make my own -- I am just not real sure how to go about it. I figured for 11$ it would be worth it just to save the time and trouble. However if accuracy is an issue then time and trouble are no big deal. If I am better off to make my own then I will. Can you guys give me the right way to go about making templates? I will also need to make one for my control cavity. I am sure this is all a newby topic but I really appreciate all the help I can get. This is my first build project. All my work is being done at other peoples shops and so on. I really enjoy it so far. If this bass turns out good I might just convert my garage from cars to guitars. I think this is by far the most relaxing/stress relieving project I have done.

As for my router bits -- so far so good. They did not come from stewmac --

I bought P-Bass template... and they don't fit Seymour's P-Bass.

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

definately make your own. just put your pickup (upside down) on a sheet of mdf, double sided tape straight peices of mdf around your pickup and router with a guided cutter. voila, a perfect fit. you will figure out the best way for you with a little experimenting. always take into account the 'draft angle' of a vacuum formed pickup cover. basically, pickup sides are not square and if you make the template to fit the top, the bottom will be too big. just leave a little gap all around. the reason i say fit to the top is due to the height adjustment screw lugs, which will be in the way the other way around, and will need routing/chiseling by hand, i think (i never use pickups with bits sticking out). also any cable will get in the way. you could just forget making a template and just position the pup, and double sided tape the mdf peices straight on to the body. i actually make the pieces oversized where possible, and clamp them down. you have to make sure your router isn't going to bump into any clamps etc. correct me if i'm wrong somebody. also, always start with a centre line and work to it all the way. if you dont have that line on your template, you will never be able to line it up on your bass.

Definately work with a center line. You won't like the results without one. The way I do it is a little different. I sit the templaate on the template material(in my case birch plywood) right side up, and draw an outline of the pickup, skipping the wires, which line I can connect afterwards. I then remove the pickup and position my straight edges on those lines. It's important to note that if you do it this way, IMHO you should take a set of calipers and measure the pickup, and make sure these measurements are the same (with a little wiggle room) when you position your pieces. This works for me. One other thing when making templates. Always test fit the pickup in the template before accepting it as good. And if this is your first time making one, expect you might have to do it twice to get it right.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Here's another way to make a template.
Measure how wide the pup is, rip the width you want,
I go a little wider so the pup doesn't bind,
cut the ripped ply to 5 inches or so,
put the pup in the middle of the pieces, lay it on wax paper, clamp the pieces,
then thin ca the parts and use kicker.
turn over and glue the back seams as well, kick those.
In 20 minutes you should be good to go.
Here's an example that should explain what I just said.

i bought a couple of the stewmac pup templates last fall, i wont buy them again, for me it was not an accuracy issue, but durability and usability. the plastic that they are made of does not hold up to any frictional heat at all, and in my opinion they should be at least twice as thick to be very usable. i wound up using the stewmac templates to make more usable more usable one out of half inch plywood. i wish i would have just made my own to begin with.

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~shad peters

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http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

well it has been a while -- thanks for the replies --

I ordered my pups today -- got the quarter pound jass bridge and qp p bass neck pup from seymour duncan. I read a lot of really good reviews on these units. also if I ever decide to change them out -- all the really expensive makers of pups have direct replacement for this configuration. I also like the way it looks on this bass. When the pups arrive I will try and make some templates from the above directions -- I am sure I will have some more questions as the time comes. It seems to be a couple of weeks to get pups from SD. Does anyone have a recommendation for what size router bit to use for such a task?

Thank you for the help
Richard

i have a set of them for humbuckers and soaps but the humbucker is a bit.. hand cut? I don't know but I'm saying it doesn't look straight

They are CNC'ed. And that could explain irregularities in analog curves.. but not in straight line. It doesn't look straight? Is it or not? Just take a straightedge and confirm before saying anything.

Francis

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars