Saw it was 110 degrees in AZ.
Looking great Joe.
Thanks! Yeah its still hot as bejeezus here.
I got the pickups transplanted last night! Well, mostly. Still need to put them on the drill press to take care of the mounting holes:
I used the dremel with this metal cutoff wheel that comes in handy quite often. I ran it around the bead on the bottom, up the edges, and along the top edges of each plastic cover. Then I did as suggested and pried away with a small flatblade. The edges popped free without much effort, and the tops of the old covers peeled right off. You can see in the pic where they affixed the coils to the cover using a blob of silicone(?), and then potted the whole thing in epoxy.
After the pickups were skinned, I ran the edges over some 80-grit and got the fit with the chrome 70s covers just right. They're snug, but I can still get 'em out if needed. I'll probably secure each pickup to the cover with a small dot/bead of JB quick weld on each side.
One question for anyone who may know- the coils are offset to one side in each pickup. Here's a pic of them as received, so you can see what I mean:
Should the side with the coils closest to the edge be oriented towards the "bass" side, due to the extra string excursion there? That's what I'm assuming, but that would mean the wires are terminating on the wrong/opposite side. Just wanted to verify, since I didn't see them come out of the bass from which they were obtained.