[Brainstorming] 7string actives -> passives, what do I need

[D4niel]

Well, I need help of you guys who have more experience with replacing active with passive pu's ...

I have decided, to swap pickups in my Agile. After immediatly deciding, to go for BK's ... and then getting extreme GAS concerning the new Aftermath, the decision was made: An Aftermath for the bridge, an CS for the neck.

Now, while still working on the money part, I think it's time to get practical!
What else do I need, to replace actives with passives?

- Concerning the circuit:
  I know that replacing actives with passives always comes with replacing potis. The first question here would be, what values to go for? (one Tone, one Vol, I would like to get Pushpulls)
 Second, the circuit of the Septor is a real mess ... I really concider helping the tonepoti with a capacitor, are there any recommendations?

- The replacement procedure itself:
   7string actives have a different spacing, dont't they? The soapbar is now filling the whole hole, but as soon as the passives will be installed, there will be "gaps", won't they?
Is there any elegant way to cover this gap, while not ruining the beautiful guitar with a pickup ring?

Is there any other problem, I might be facing?

Well, I hope that some questions can be answered, as this is new for me. I have built an Amp myself, but never even dared to touch the electronics in my guitar  :?

[Sifu Ben]

For pot values you want 500s or 1 meg, for the stuff relating to the actual pickup, Tim may be able to give you some advice. I've said before, I think he should do 707 replacement pickups, as they're now almost ubiquitis.

[Keven]

1) you can have the cavity routed out by a pro
1b) you can bend the legs CAREFULLY of the pickups to make them fit for L type legs
1c) you can trim the legs with a file or a good steel cutter if they're flat bottomed like dimarzios (my 7's had long legs, my 8 string pups had a flat bottom)

the 707 cavity isn't wide enough to accomodate the pickup legs. get it routed or modify the pickup

2) go for 500k as it's the standard for humbuckers. 250 will be too dark and 1Meg might be too bright
3)for caps, someone else with more experience might chime in, i run my guitars with one volume and one 3 way switch :D
4) don't forget to run a ground wire from the electronics cavity to the bridge. actives are internally grounded but passives need the strings to be grounded too.

for pickup rings, allparts have some (hard to find on the site) 7 string pickup rings for quite cheap. also, Dave from fretsonthenet can custom build you some nice rings, but they're pricier