The guitar I'm working on has a 2TEK bridge, and an Alumitone Deathbucker in the bridge position. It's a Telecaster body, and 2TEK actually makes a bridge plate/mounting ring for this exact combination. Perfect, right?
Only--in reality--if the plate is lined up perfectly with the bridge, it actually lines up pretty awkwardly with the pickup. The weirdest thing about that is that Warmoth made this body, and Warmoth is the sole distributor for 2TEK bridges and bridge plates. I've interfaced with their customer service, who have largely been very helpful, but ultimately it seems that my pickup rout is placed correctly, which apparently means "placed to Fender's specs". So, the problem is with the bridge plate. See below.
Now, to be clear, this plate will work. If I pull the plate as far toward the pickup as possible and pull the pickup as far toward the bridge as possible, the pickup will mount straight. But, wood will be visible inside the ring around the bridge and it's a very tight fit for the pickup. On top of that, the bridge plate is nickel, and all of my hardware (other than the bridge itself) is chrome. It's hard to tell in the picture above, but I think it'll bother me.
So, I looked at getting a mounting ring just for the humbucker and leaving the bridge naked, which may be what I end up doing, but I think the bridge will look a lot better covered. I think the ideal solution is having a similar bridge plate/mounting ring built, with a chrome finish and an extra 1/8" between the two cut-outs. Anyone have any thoughts on who might be able to do that for me? I know custom metalwork can get pretty expensive, but if this is a project that gets too far north of $30 to $40, I'll probably just get a mounting ring and call it a day. I'd definitely rather start by exploring options that get the bridge covered, though. I'm happy to mail my existing plate to whomever, to help facilitate this.
Thanks!