I'm not new to wiring in new PU's on my guitars, however I was in a huge rush, and had four or five beers in me when I decided to start this project before heading to the studio. Good news? The wiring went great! Bad news - I botched the easiest and most important part; mounting.
There are a couple parts to this problem that I'm trying to solve, so I will try to explain it as best as possible, without knowing proper terminology for a lot of the parts.
First of all the guitar is a Jackson Soloist SL2QM, and it uses a PU mounting method I am not familiar with - two screws that go directly through each tab on the PU and into the body of the guitar, inside the PU recess.
The PU I ordered is a Lace Dissonant Aggressor, and uses a traditional humbucker mounting method.
The first issue I found was that the Jackson mounting screws wouldn't fit through the threaded holes on the PU. This lead to my first mistake - without much thought, I decided the best option would be to simply drill the holes out so the screw threads could slip through and all would be gravy. (not entirely wrong).
Now the meat and potatoes, the most expensive ham-fisted, beer fueled mistake I've ever made on a guitar. I stripped one of the mounting screws while installing the PU. I really don't want to or need to get into how I did it, or how (insanely) bad it was stripped, but I had no choice to hammer a chisel into the screw as to use a flat-head driver to get it out, which didn't work either. I ended up having to pry the pickup back out which completely stripped the screw hole to nothing, and slightly damage the face of the guitar.
Now I am at a cross-roads. I am not opposed to trying to mount the PU the way it's intended by drilling four holes in the guitar to mount the "cage?", and doing that would also hide the body damage I've done. However the mounting points on the PU are now drilled out and the factory screws will not fit.
Now here's my question, and it's a two-parter:
1. Should I find new screws, tap the drilled out holes, drill out the body and mount the PU the way it was intended, or should I (somehow) repair the hole I ripped out and mount it the way Jackson mounted their Seymour Duncans?
2. What are the best options for either replacing the PU mounting screws, or filling in this screw hole?
All damage is on the left side of the cavity, and you can see the drilled out holes on the PU mounting brackets.
Thanks so much for any!
yours truly,
Mr. Ham-fist VonHireSomeoneNextTime
