# Removing pickup rings...permanently?



## J_Mac (Jul 26, 2018)

I do hate pup rings, has anyone got any ingenious solutions for removing them and tidying up the top? Or an alternative solution? Like custom wooden mounts or something?


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## KnightBrolaire (Jul 26, 2018)

direct mounted pickups with threaded inserts is the only way to get around pickup rings that I can think of right now.
not really sure what you mean by removing them, pickup rings should be removable.


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## J_Mac (Jul 26, 2018)

KnightBrolaire said:


> direct mounted pickups with threaded inserts is the only way to get around pickup rings that I can think of right now.
> not really sure what you mean by removing them, pickup rings should be removable.


Absolutely, I have one or two guitars I’d like to take pup rings off permanently. But the routing is usually rough and there will be 4 screw holes. Just wondered if anyone had any nifty solutions...


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## KnightBrolaire (Jul 26, 2018)

J_Mac said:


> Absolutely, I have one or two guitars I’d like to take pup rings off permanently. But the routing is usually rough and there will be 4 screw holes. Just wondered if anyone had any nifty solutions...


grab some scrap wood of the same type as the top wood, turn them into sawdust, and fill the holes with the sawdust. Better if you use a plug but I know it's relatively hard to make plugs that small. It probably won't look seamless though.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Jul 26, 2018)

http://www.fu-tone.com/catalog/inde...ducts_id=261&zenid=bk05jlbols9bcmcogg3si7tb97

Problem is the price.

And the name.


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## lewis (Jul 26, 2018)

Fill the holes and smooth/refinish. Its what im doing on my fender showmaster body.

Warwick do threaded inserts for inside the pickup routes for about 11 euros for 4 and shipping. Way cheaper than the $100 for 2 of the FUtone PMS stuff.


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## KnightBrolaire (Jul 26, 2018)

you can buy threaded inserts for a couple bucks at most. installing them is relatively easy too.


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## J_Mac (Jul 27, 2018)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> http://www.fu-tone.com/catalog/inde...ducts_id=261&zenid=bk05jlbols9bcmcogg3si7tb97
> 
> Problem is the price.
> 
> And the name.


FU PMS?! Lmao!


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## J_Mac (Jul 27, 2018)

KnightBrolaire said:


> you can buy threaded inserts for a couple bucks at most. installing them is relatively easy too.


Yeah I have some lying around, problem is really the screw holes in a finished top.


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## J_Mac (Jul 27, 2018)

lewis said:


> Fill the holes and smooth/refinish. Its what im doing on my fender showmaster body.
> 
> Warwick do threaded inserts for inside the pickup routes for about 11 euros for 4 and shipping. Way cheaper than the $100 for 2 of the FUtone PMS stuff.


Got any pics of that job dude?


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## lewis (Jul 27, 2018)

J_Mac said:


> Got any pics of that job dude?


I have a whole thread of the progress in the mods forum mate.

I havent gotten around to the respray part yet, but the holes are filled and smoothed ready for it.
Ive had loads of outgoings this month so progress has been slow since last month.


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## pastanator (Jul 27, 2018)

if its just for the screw holes could you not just use toothpicks and wood glue like you would for a strap button?


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## Omzig (Jul 27, 2018)

Ive found a lot of guitars with pup rings have very excessive routes,sometime with one side having more removed that the other (i guess due to the pup mount plates) which can look really ugly (IMO) 

Take this HM strat i refinished last year 







To get this looking anything like acceptable for a direct mount (to me atleast) i had to bandsaw/shape some maple ears,glue and then reroute the sides,filled mounting holes with epoxy/dust (as you can see i also filled the middle position as that pup gets in the way of my picking  ) 






base coat then top coat/gloss









So this might look all peachy and hidden but....after 10 months of curing the top coat/gloss has sunk somewhat in the filled areas as the epoxy under it has shrunk doh!....im hopping i can get away with just rubbing down and rebuilding the clear in just the sunken parts...


Anyhows if you have good clean routes under your rings id fill with a tooth pick that's a few mm short of the top,if you need an odd color match pop along to a nail polish shop with your guitar and see if they can match it (or ifs its a real wacky color lightly sand some of the paint from inside the trem/cavities if it's been painted) then clear/epoxy/CA the top and polish to blend in


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## J_Mac (Jul 27, 2018)

Omzig said:


> Ive found a lot of guitars with pup rings have very excessive routes,sometime with one side having more removed that the other (i guess due to the pup mount plates) which can look really ugly (IMO)
> 
> Take this HM strat i refinished last year
> 
> ...


Amazing! What a paint job! Thanks for the tips dude. 

I’ve had a couple of goes at paint but just can’t get away with it. Far too messy for me! 

The guitars I have in mind are stained and nitro’d. I can’t see a solution other than some sort of wooden ‘skirt’ to replace the plastic pup rings...


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## Omzig (Jul 27, 2018)

J_Mac said:


> Amazing! What a paint job! Thanks for the tips dude.
> 
> I’ve had a couple of goes at paint but just can’t get away with it. Far too messy for me!
> 
> The guitars I have in mind are stained and nitro’d. I can’t see a solution other than some sort of wooden ‘skirt’ to replace the plastic pup rings...



Thx  i have a love/hate relationship with painting,love the finished articular hate the work involved (id love a full compressor/gun setup to do more/faster but don't have the space so rattle cans it is) 

humm on stained and nitro’d how about clear pup rings or maybe some matching wooden/stained ones ? not DM levels of sexy but better than plastic/chrome (or dear god ivory/cream urghh)


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## NateFalcon (Jul 27, 2018)

‘Freeze and fill’ cyanacrylate from Stewmac won’t shrink or settle and a quality epoxy like West System can be thickened with non-shrinking colloidal filler, you can buy it in very small single-use packs...filling with dowels and wood almost always causes some “shift” in the finish down the road due to the grain variation and moisture and acclamation of the wood itself


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## Wolfos (Oct 31, 2018)

Just noticed this thread, I just bought a ridiculously cheap and amazing Godin Freeway classic that I wanted to upgrade (including taking the ring covers off) my issue is it has a lovely flammed maple top I dont want to ruin...


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## LiveOVErdrive (Oct 31, 2018)

Just take them off. Naked routes don't look THAT bad.


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## Pikka Bird (Nov 5, 2018)

In my experience a spot fill with toothpicks, well-matched dye and a suitable clear can blend in very well (depending on this and that).


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## spudmunkey (Nov 5, 2018)

You could also get fretboard-wood-matching (or exotic wood contrasting) pickup rings. Depending on the guitar, that could look quite nice.


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