Having dealt with the tuner Odyssey, I've run straight into my next problem. Looking for more advice.
I picked up a really lovely scratch plate from a guy who makes them locally, supposedly to US spec, which is what the body is, and it appeared to be a great fit:
I then picked up some very cheap Squier Mustang pickups from eBay, not planning to use them long term but as an intermediary set and to make sure I can understand and test the wiring setup before I get some high end pups. They appear to sit okay in the body routes, although a bit wonky. 'no problem' I think, as they're mounted to the pickguard anyway so that'll keep them level:
However, loading them to the pickguard and fitting the lot to the body, the fit isn't quite perfect. It can just about be wiggled in to place, but the body routes and the pickguard holes seem to be slightly at odds. The pickguard forces the pickups hard up against the inner side of both routes, so that the pickups won't sit flat, they both tilt towards the middle of the body as they are hard up against the inner edges of the route. This wasn't very easy to photograph but is quite noticeable in person, and not at all desirable. I've also shown the problem here with the pickups uncovered, but I've got white covers that I want to use and the extra mm those add make the problem even more pronounced.
So, the questions are: does anyone have an opinion on the likely cause of the problem, and what should I do about it?
I guess the problem is either:
a) the scratch plate isn't quite cut properly, the pickup holes being a little too close together? This would be a shame as it looks lovely, and I couldn't be sure in buying another one that it would be any different, as that level of specification isn't readily available.
b) the Squier pickups in a US Fender spec body are the problem, perhaps their base plate is slightly wider than the US ones, and they are thus slightly too tight in the body routes?
c) the body routes are slightly too far apart, it's not a Fender body, I'm not entirely sure where it was made, it's a new third party replica that is supposedly cut to exact US spec, but perhaps it's not as exact as the seller claimed?
In line with this, I guess the potential solutions are:
a) buy another pickguard and see if it improves the problem, a real shame as I got two cut to the same spec by this seller and they are high quality great jobs in terms of looks and shape - really nice tight lines at the neck and bridge that fit perfectly.
b) go ahead and get those hand wound boutique pick ups I was eventually going to install anyway, and hope they fit better, a gamble in a way I suppose but I was going to buy them eventually anyway.
c) carefully widen the routes on the body a little to improve the fit. This perhaps seems like the most drastic solution, but is also potentially the cheapest and easiest one, something I could do right away and ought to guarantee an improved fit without changing pickups or the plate. However, I don't want to make that decision lightly.
If I could ask for any opinions or advice, I would be most grateful.
(Also sorry I'm so fucking long winded and verbose, I hope someone can be bothered to read all of this).
. . . y'll have to be careful to not interfere with the tuner mounting screws though . . .
