# Rough cost of re-route



## TheYanChamp (Mar 6, 2009)

Whats the rough cost to re-route a telecaster neck pickup cavity these days?

I was wanting to do some pickup swapping for the first time in this guitar. I've loved it so far but wanted to probably change at least the neck pickup, or maybe order a nice set to change the character completely. I took the pickup cover off and noticed that the tele is only routed for a lipstick pickup and that it is completely rectangular, and a good 4" long as the lipstick has the ears on each end of it. I've noticed that most tele bridge and neck pickups have a triangular part where the wiring is attached so I don't think any would fit.

Also, I find the guitar to be quite attractive with no pickguard as the builder did not route out wiring channels. It looks quite clean so is it possible to touch the fresh wood up or something after the fact to look good without the cover?


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

Pics?


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## Guest (Sep 3, 2017)

You might be able to do this yourself with some patience and an Exacto knife. A Dremel tool for less patience. Pics are good.


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## nnieman (Jun 19, 2013)

It's very difficult to route a finished body without damaging the finish.

Depending on the finish, damn near impossible.

You can enlarge a pickup route with a drill press, Forster bit and chisel.
If you're not sure what pickup you want there is recommended a big route that'll fit humbucker, p90 etc.
But you will have to put a pickguard on it.

Price wise you'd be anywhere from 30 to $80, but you're not going to find anyone that will garuntee they won't damage the existing finish.

Nathan


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

I bought a Tele (Am Special, I think) that was routed for a humbucker in the neck position, but as it turned out, the SD '59 I had for that purpose wouldn't fit. The pockets for the 'ears' wasn't deep enough. 

My tech said it was probably set up for a Fender reissue WR but not aftermarket pups. So I had him carve it out to work with the SD for about $50. Still ended up selling the guitar as the 'swiss army knife' thing I was going for never really worked out, and my other Tele was a better guitar.


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## Ayr Guitars (Oct 24, 2016)

Where are you located? If you are close enough to Kitchener/Cambridge, bring it by and I can do it for you relativity inexpensively (if the guitar is alresdy disassembled). 

No problem to route a finished body; just apply masking tape over the whole body and the template on top of the tape. Won't harm the finish at all; I've done lots of these.


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## DavidP (Mar 7, 2006)

I'm about to do this for a Tele neck route enlargement for a mini-HB. While I do all my electronics, I don't have the tools (beyond a CDN Tire Dremel clone) to carve out this amount of body wood. A local luthier who I've known for 20+ years quoted me $50 cash for the routing --worth it IMHO.


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## TheYanChamp (Mar 6, 2009)

Finally took some pics. This guitar sounds and looks sexy so thats the only reason I'm on the fence for routing or drastic mods.























Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

my 2 cents would be to do a proper full P90 route.
What this gets you is pretty cool.
First. you can always go beck to your single coil.
Second , you can do the P90 thing...
Third, with no mods at all, you can place a mini humbucker in there.

All you have to worry about is having the different pickguard to cover the proper pickups.
Here is my original P90 LP thats been converted to mini humbuckers...

please note that a full humbucker route is NOT compatible with a P90 route.
G.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

GTmaker said:


> please note that a full humbucker route is NOT compatible with a P90 route.


Unless you get a P90 style in a humbucker size.

This is a Seymour Duncan "Phat Cat" as an example...


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