I am having custom pickups made, can you tell me the angles and sizes of the pickup cavities?
Considering that some players might want to replace the stock pickups in our guitars at some time, we use standardized dimensions for our pickups and cavities. Some pickup manufacturers might use non-standard dimensions however, so please refer to the exact details below for reference when picking out replacements.
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Humbucker pickups
Our guitars with humbucker pickup configurations come with two different pickup designs; "direct mount" or "soapbar/active mount" pickups.
Direct Mount Humbuckers
A direct mount humbucker is the traditional design, with a metal base plate with "legs" and "feet", where the height adjustment screws are anchored.
All our 6-string and 7-string models with direct mount humbuckers have standard sized cavities that should fit most standard pickups, but with the following notes:
- The edges of the pickup's feet may have to berounded off
- The replacement pickups should have short "legs"
- If the replacement pickups has a wood or metal cover, ensure that the bottom edges don't flare out too much
Soapbar Humbuckers
A "soapbar" or "active mount" pickup is usually encased in plastic and is rectangular in shape. The mounting/height adjustment screws run through the pickup housing itself.
Our 7- and 8-string guitars with soapbar pickups use standard sized cavities, with the following things to note:
- 7-string guitars use a 3.5" sized cavity
- 8-string guitars use a 4" sized cavity
Slanted pickups
We use slanted pickups in our 7- and 8-string guitars to produce a more bright and crisp tone. Based on the different scale lenghts the degree of slanting vary.
- On 7-string fixed bridge guitars the neck pickup has a 7 degree angle and the bridge pickup has a 10 degree angle.
- On 8-string guitars the neck pickup has a 8 degree angle and the bridge pickup has a 12 degree angle.
Single Coil and T-Style Pickups
Boden Classic
The current Boden Classic 6-string models all have a HSH cavity. Previous discontinued 6-string models made in China and 7- and 8-string models had a "bathtub" cavity.
Sälen Classic & Deluxe
Sälen Classic and Deluxe both have standard sized T-style neck pickup cavities.