q about pickup attached directly to body

[SeventhSon]

what's the standard way to adjust the pickup height?

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: q about pickup attached directly to body

Turn the screws?

Except they're turned in the INTUITIVE direction, not like humbuckers mounted on pickup rings where turning clockwise LIFTS the pickup higher. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[SeventhSon]

Re: q about pickup attached directly to body

I just don't have anything to experiment with right now, but i think it would depend on the mounting holes on the pickup. If they are not threaded, then you'll just have a loose pickup that will rattle around. But I think this is exactly what it is as it would allow you to tighten down on the screws to mount the pickup solidly to the body. Plus I don't think the pickup manufacturers do anything special for a direct mounted scenario (but i could be wrong).

So I'm guessing that you would use some kind of washer mechanism? But there really isn't enough room for normal washers, so just curious.

[Sunbane]

Re: q about pickup attached directly to body

In those few cases I've had guitars with direct mounted pickups, the mounting holes were non-threaded and wood screws were used to secure the pickups to the guitar. The pickups usually had a foam cusion under them to take out slack, although in one case there were springs under the pickups instead.

[MountainDog]

Re: q about pickup attached directly to body

The manufacturers do route the depth special for pickups mounted solidly to the body. They know the length of the pickup from top of it to the bottom of the mounting ear, and they know how high off the body the neck is holding the strings, and they add in how far away from the strings they want the pickup to be (say 1/8" to 3/32" or so), then they do the math and route the pickup 'ear' hole to that calculated depth.

The above is what I've noticed on all my guitars that have solid mounted pickups from the factory. The frustrating thing for me is I coil-tap my neck humbuckers so I get a single coil sound, then I usually back the pickup farther away from the strings for a 'cleaner' less powerful clean sound. With the solid mounted pickups, I have to dremel the wood a little deeper to accommodate my needs.

On a body that has a normal mounting ring for the pickup, you could use washers, or you could use little strips/blocks of wood. Hobby stores sell balsa wood strips in various thicknesses, and its easy to cut, plus you could easily sand the balsa to get a final pickup height if needed.

[SeventhSon]

Re: q about pickup attached directly to body

Sunbane, good call. This page has a graphic of the foam underneath a single coil directly mounted.

http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/option...ps_routing.cfm

[SeventhSon]

Re: q about pickup attached directly to body *DELETED*

Post deleted by SeventhSon

[SeventhSon]

Re: q about pickup attached directly to body

google cache of eddievanhalen.com thread on direct mounting...

http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:0D1...lient=firefox-a

[YetAnotherOne]

Re: q about pickup attached directly to body

If you can find the inserts this is also a slick way to do it:



Only problem is I've not found inserts that small anywhere. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[LexLuthier]

Re: q about pickup attached directly to body

Go to a hobby store, they have small screws and threaded inserts used in wood R/C airplanes.