Replacing Pickup mouting Rings

Wormwood

Hi Guys
Les Paul mounting rings come standard with a flat bottom.
the internet is divided on whether you should shape the bottom of the ring to fit the carved top or just screw it down and let it shape itself ( sometimes warming up the ring slightly).

Has anyone here just screwed them down?
I don't really have any tools to do any shaping ect

Chocklit_Thunda

You can buy curved bottom rings

AlanRatcliffe

If the guitar top is curved, either buy curved rings or shape them - bending them, you end up with the top edges curved, which doesn't look great alongside a flat topped pickup..

To shape, simply put some 120 - 220 grit sandpaper on the top of the guitar (rough side up! ?) and rub the mounting ring back and forth over the relevant area until it fits (you actually get a better fit this way than using the generic curved rings).

Tokai-SA

Wormwood wrote:
Has anyone here just screwed them down?

Yes, about 694 times X 2. ?

Just use flat rings and make sure the 4 holes in the maple top are perfectly drilled/aligned and match the screws you're using.
If the holes aren't perfectly aligned or slightly too small/thin or not matched to the screws, then what can happen is as you screw in the screws they pull in different directions on the ring itself which causes the ring to bend out of shape...especially when the top part of the screw tucks itself into the bevel in the pickup ring.

Wormwood

Thanks, i think im going to try one then the other if it don't look good

Wormwood

Gents, this is not going well
I tried tokai sa's version andnot only did they bow, but they were too high.
then tried Alan's now and theyre still bowing quite badly. the thing is that thering is about 3mm longer than std and the holes dont line up.

I will try paul bothners for another set, I assumed theyd get them from terryd.co.za
im not too happy about drilling more holes since they will be too close to the old ones..

any suggestions where I would be a le to get the correct size?
I was 3mm short of having an amazing looking LP

Wormwood

Im going to picture doc this whole thing, so other noobs like me dont have to go through this.
Hopefully tomorrow it will be sorted

AlanRatcliffe

Yeah, mounting rings are not all created equal. You're OK if you have a Gibson and you get a Gibson ring, but otherwise there are a lot of variables. Especially if you get Asian=made rings like Mighty Mites.

Only way to be sure is to have a sample to compare...

Wormwood

As Alan said, get Gibson rings, they fit perfectly
I think what tripped me up is that before i bought them I asked if they would fit a gibson and was told Ya, totally, these are made to replace parts on the Standard.

in any event this is what it used to look like:

and this is what it looks like now:

A hell of a lot better I think