Pickup Routes and Bridge Hole Fix

I screwed up the location of the bridge.  I had it about 2 mm too close to the bass side.  This was forcing the roller adjusters on the treble saddle all the way to the edge, putting a sideways bend in the strings over the saddles, and pissing me off.  So I got myself a 1/4" tapered plug cutter and made 6 plugs - because the plug cutter doesn't make them deep enough go all the way down the 1/4" holes I redrilled through the existing screw holes.  Then I put Titebond in each hole, put one plug all the way down (forcing it with the end of a 5mm allen key and a hammer), and repeated with half off another plug (the thicker half - remember, it's a tapered plug cutter).  About a 1/16 of an inch remained above the face of the guitar body as the glue dried.

The it was time to make the pickup routes.  I found this very difficult.  First I attempted to make a template from a piece of scrap drawer-front oak I had around:

The plan was to draw the pickup outline and, because I only have a 1/2" diameter flush-cut router bit, drill 1/4" holes in the corners first to more correctly match the pickup corner radius.  Well, all that was doable, but when I routed the center of the oak, things went sour.  I gouged it up, it tore chunks from the grain - it broke my template.  So I set my sights on something a little more tractable: 1/4" luan plywood.  Easy to work, I figured, and strong enough to run the flush-cut router bit against.

I didn't cut the pickup ears into the template.  That I'd do later.  I stuck the template to the guitar body with double-sided carpet tape (wonderful stuff, wish I'd discovered it sooner!) and pre-drilled the 1/4" corner holes.  Then I went to town with the router:

Then I put the pickup into the hole upside-down and marked the ears.  I used a 3/16" brad-point bit to rough out 3 small holes inline in the outline.  Then I whacked it with the chisel, which I had to sharpen; the long piece of glass with sandpaper glued to it proved excellent for this, in fact that's what I'll probably use that glass for in the future - 3 or 4 sections with different grits.

I'm tired.