Pickup cavity

The route cut into a guitar's body to house a pickup, which sets the mounting type and how much adjustment the pickup allows.

Depth and shape decide whether a pickup is mounted with rings screwed into wood, directly into the cavity, or from a pickguard or bracket, and whether height screws have anything to bear against. A shallow cavity limits how far a pickup can be lowered, and a cavity that is too tight around a cover can cause hum or a short. On hollow instruments the cavity may be cut into the top only, leaving the pickup floating over a chamber.

Example: fitting a deeper humbucker into a body routed only for a single coil means enlarging the cavity, which is irreversible.

Pickup cavity

See also