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 How to install your pickup rings correctly

IMPORTANT - READ THIS FIRST BEFORE YOU ATTEMPT TO INSTALL YOUR NEW RINGS !!

First things first. When your rings come to you in the mail, open the package with care.  If you are installing a new set of wood rings to a guitar that already has a set of rings, you will have to remove the old pickup rings.  Use a small phillips head screw driver and perhaps a small flat head screw driver to first undo the corner mounting screws and second, the two pickup height adjustment screws. 

If you are installing a set of rings on a guitar that has some strings on, it is adviseable to take the strings off the guitar entirely.
You may want to wait to install the rings until the time is right so as to do the ring install during a routine string change.

If you are building from scratch, you may have to mark where you want to put the mounting holes on the top of the guitar.  I prefer to use a scratch awl by inserting the tip of the awl through the ring mounting holes and then scribing a circle on the surface of the guitar.  Once all four corner holes are scribed, you can remove the ring and then use the awl again to center punch the scribed mark you left on the guitar so that when you drill the hole, the bit will cut in the exact center of the circle that you scribed and thus, put the drilled hole in just the right spot.

Put the height adjustment screw through the hole in the pickup ring and then put the height adjustment spring over the height adjustment screw.  The photo above shows just how it should look.

Gently compress the ring, height adjustment screw and height adjustment spring just enough to allow the height adjustment screw to notch into the humbucker baseplate screw hole.  BE SURE TO HOLD THE RING ONLY ON THE SIDES!! Once you have the screw lined up in the right spot you can then use either a phillips or flat head screw driver to thread the height adjustment screw into the humbucker baseplate.  If you have trouble getting this process to work just keep trying and remember - Patience is the key!!  If you try to rush this, you might break the ring.  Notice the photo above and study how the fingers are placed. 

With one side of the pickup ring fastened to the pickup, you can then turn to the other side.  The procedure is the same although, it is good to put the height adjustment screw through the ring only about halfway, then install the height adjustment spring to the screw and push the height adjustment screw all the way through.  You do this because the humbucker baseplate will be in the way and if you try to flex the ring to the side, it might break. Once you have the screw lined up with the humbucker baseplate, you can tighten the height adjustment screw to thread it up with the humbucker baseplate.  Study the photo above and try to hold the pickup ring and humbucker the same way.

Once you have both height adjustment screws fastened, you can then place the pickup with the ring into the pickup route pocket and line up the holes.  All you have to do now is install the corner screws and use the height adjustment screws to set the pickup the correct distance from the strings.  You are done!

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The finest American made electric guitars

Guilford Guitars, Inc.
P.O. Box 194
Glasford, IL 61533

jhguilford@yahoo.com

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and may not be duplicated or used in any way without written permission. 

* All Images of the Gibson Les Paul All Wood model are the property of Gibson Brands, Inc.