Hey! my new pickup just arrived but it doenst fit on the sound hole of my guitar.... I'm desperate... how do I sand off part of the pickup or if the guitar? i have a yamaha C40 please help me I'm desperate... or could you give me another solution??
Go back to wherever you bought it from and tell them the situation. Maybe they have a solution.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
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You have a bigger problem than size.
The Yamaha C40 is a classical guitar. The Promag is a pickup for steel strings. It doesn't matter what you modify - once you get it in the pickup isn't going to work.
You're going to want an under-saddle piezo pickup.
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It works because i changed the strings... my only problem is size, in the instructions it said that i could sand off some piece of it....
Whilst it will solve the current problem, putting steel strings onto a classical is likely to bow the neck due to the increased tension (unless, of course the C40 has a truss rod).
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
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There's no truss rod in a C40.
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It's more than the truss rod. On a classical guitar, the bridge is usually glued on - on a steel string, it's connected to the bridge block inside the body by pins or dowels. The tension of steel strings (roughly double that of nylon) will eventually rip the bridge off the top.
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That may be so on some, but I don't think a single one of my guitar bridges is held on by anything more than glue. Still it's a point well taken. Different bracing is used, different bridge plate material, different thicknesses of wood to accomodate the greater stresses of a steel string.
The neck will probably warp first, then your bridge plate deforms the top slightly and gives much more stress to the bridge itself until eventually the thing pulls away from the top.
If you don't really care about the guitar, or only plan to use it this way for a short time you might be fine.
I'll bet at least a few of your axes have pinned bridges, Nick. On better guitars they're often hidden.
For example, here's a page showing a bridge replacement on a 1941 Martin. If you look at the top with the bridge removed, you'll see eight holes - six for bridge pins, two for dowels or pins.
As I recall, you're a fan of Breedloves - they use a JLD truss system to anchor the bridge. That comes in two options, one which uses a single pin to anchor the bridge and one that doesn't - you can tell if yours has a pin, because it'll be covered by a small inlay dot. If it doesn't, you're correct that it's just glued... but even in the case of glued bridges, the stress distribution is completely different, because the ball end of strings go through the bridge block, which places string tension on the entire top. On a classical guitar, the stress is lateral, through the tie block - and the bridge will rip right off over time.
As far as I know, most mass produced guitars are using pins or dowels. I've even seen some cheapo models with exposed phillips head screws. Attaching bridges that way is both more secure and cheaper - both big advantages if you're knocking them out by the thousands.
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I stand corrected on the Breedlove. I forgot about that one. But I've replaced the bridges on a number of mine, and even if you look at fretnot you'll see the guitar tops sanded smooth and then glued. No dowels, pins or screws to be seen.
I have a limited number of guitars that I've worked on though, so don't take my word for it.
