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Topic: The springs under your pickups |
Jon Hyde
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 5 Nov 2017 2:20 pm |
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I bought a new-to-me steel recently. Never owned a modern steel before - I’m psyched to see what’s different, what’s the same, what’s better, what’s worse. I’m the 3rd owner and it came with mismatched pickups and I wanted them to match and I want this one to retain a vintage vibe and sound. I love an old Sho Bud so I had some Sho Bud pickups rewound and installed them in the guitar using the springs that were under the original pickups. I played some gigs with it. Fantastic guitar and sounds great but I’m noticing that it’s noisy when I’m palm blocking. A gentle tap on the pickup results in a pronounced low end thud. Less so on the C6 neck but also there. So I noticed that the E9 pickup is floating - springy, bouncy if you press it. On my other steels the pickups don’t float like that and don’t have this issue. So, on a whim, I replaced the springs under the E9 with heavier gauge bigger springs. I had bought box of assorted springs at the hardware store and I just found a spring seemed like it’d work. Trimmed it to roughly the same length as the old spring and installed them. Holding the pickup firmly in place. To my delight I discovered that the issue was pretty much resolved! Working totally like you’d expect now. I’m sure this has been covered here before but I did a little searching and didn’t really come up with anything. Learn something new every day!
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Larry Weaver
From:
Asheville, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 5 Nov 2017 2:46 pm
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| Cool post Jon, thanks for sharing the info. Great idea to have a box of assorted springs on hand. On my list for the next trip to the hardware store! |
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Georg Sørtun
From:
Mandal, Agder, Norway
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Posted 5 Nov 2017 4:29 pm
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I know the problem  Soft rubber or foam to adjust/press the PU against, will also work. |
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Jim Bob Sedgwick
From:
Clinton, Missouri USA
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Posted 5 Nov 2017 5:17 pm
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| A kitchen sponge slightly damp under the pickup will also work because when it dries, it becomes as hard as a brick. Will NOT damage your pick-up. |
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Jon Hyde
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 7 Nov 2017 12:59 pm
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| Not surprised that you all are familiar with this one. Kind of surprised it was new to me! Also not surprised that there are a variety of ways to minimize the issue. Cool forum for that sort of thing! |
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