Down under

Howdy, y'all. Some of you are downright frustrated when it comes to dealing with direct-mount pickups. Yes, the ones that don't attach themselves to pick guards or mounting rings. Default pickups would feature foam/pad (some with springs) under the chassis. If you choose to swap those pickups out, you'd have to deal with padding your new ones & seen here is an economical way to do it.

The padding there are the ones used for chairs/ tables to prevent noisy drag noises, attached to the base of the furniture legs. They are available at the hardware store, some are sold at thrift shops in your neighbourhood. They are equipped with industrial strength adhesive so when it comes to using them, it's simple- just peel off the protective tape. Cut them up to size & stick them where they should be. I would keep stacking the pads just so the thickness would exceed the height of the pickup's pole pieces, this way, you have some play when there is a need to adjust the pickup's height subsequently.

Foam support

Direct mount pickups (such as the humbuckers in my Ibanez SV5470) are not spring mounted, in lieu of this, foams are used to prop the pickups up. Replacement pickups which would go into these cavities require such foams which aren't sold in any guitar shops, you have to make do with whatever foamy substitutes you can acquire. The material to be considered shouldn't be too soft, otherwise it won't spring the pickups up.