Tips for drilling pickup ring holes

[xero0620]

Does anyone have advice or a writeup on how to drill the holes for pickup rings and how to make sure they are centered? Thanks.

[jazzedout]

I don't thing that it is necessery to pre-drilll holes for the small screws that are used for pickup rings.
I guess I would just place the pickup ring were I want it and then screw them directly to the body... The pickup ring would act as a template for itself!
That's how I screwed a pickguard on a project I did.

[xero0620]

Im just concerned with getting them lined up properly. I will at least use a punch to mark the holes and maybe drill a tiny hole just to get them started.

[wilch]

Position them on the body where you want them, use masking tape to secure the rings to the location, drill pilot holes using the ring holes as guides.

That's how I did the ones for my pickguard.

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/f18/cu...-no-86488.html

[Rich]

Use a bit the size of the hole in the mounting ring and carefully drill until the paint if gone. Then use your smallest bit to drill for the screw. The V at the point of the hole will be your center guide, and it's best to drill the full width hole first because if you try to after drilling the small screw hole it can catch and tear the paint. If you don't drill larger than the screw the screw will chip the paint, sometimes quite large [and depending on the type clear, if it's nitro it won't chip at all].