Pickup height and volume balance - 1963 Jazzmaster

[lnwt]

Hi OSG,

I adjusted my pickups about 3 years ago so that the neck is fairly loud and the bridge quieter.

The bridge I found was always starkly raspier - this helped to mitigate some of the startling high end when switching down.

But I now find the volume difference between them to be a bit frustrating.

The screws for adjusting don't make much difference - and I'm anxious about wearing out/stripping the screw holes in the guitar (or even ruining the screw heads themselves, as they're nearly done).

Have any of you adjusted pickup height in guitars with very well used screws? How do you approach it without damaging the guitar?

Cheers,

Luke

[JSett]

Hi OSG,

I adjusted my pickups about 3 years ago so that the neck is fairly loud and the bridge quieter.

The bridge I found was always starkly raspier - this helped to mitigate some of the startling high end when switching down.

But I now find the volume difference between them to be a bit frustrating.

The screws for adjusting don't make much difference - and I'm anxious about wearing out/stripping the screw holes in the guitar (or even ruining the screw heads themselves, as they're nearly done).

Have any of you adjusted pickup height in guitars with very well used screws? How do you approach it without damaging the guitar?

Cheers,

Luke

If you're concerned that you might ruin the originals with much more adjustment I'd suggest buying a set of brand new ones that are probably $10 or so, very carefully removing the old ones out with the best fitting screwdriver you can find and popping them somewhere safe, then just use the new ones with wild abandon. There's no point in originality if it's hindering the playability of the instrument.

If you're not getting much adjustment variance then I'd suggest that your pickup foam is likely shot underneath too. That's practically considered a consumable after this amount off time so swap in some new pads while you're there too...the old is likely solid/dust/goo by now and about as much use and value as rusty strings. Leaving it there is like not cleaning out bunked original grease in tuners and using them all seized-up for the sake of originality.

[adamrobertt]

Hi OSG,

I adjusted my pickups about 3 years ago so that the neck is fairly loud and the bridge quieter.

The bridge I found was always starkly raspier - this helped to mitigate some of the startling high end when switching down.

But I now find the volume difference between them to be a bit frustrating.

The screws for adjusting don't make much difference - and I'm anxious about wearing out/stripping the screw holes in the guitar (or even ruining the screw heads themselves, as they're nearly done).

Have any of you adjusted pickup height in guitars with very well used screws? How do you approach it without damaging the guitar?

Cheers,

Luke

If you're concerned that you might ruin the originals with much more adjustment I'd suggest buying a set of brand new ones that are probably $10 or so, very carefully removing the old ones out with the best fitting screwdriver you can find and popping them somewhere safe, then just use the new ones with wild abandon. There's no point in originality if it's hindering the playability of the instrument.

If you're not getting much adjustment variance then I'd suggest that your pickup foam is likely shot underneath too. That's practically considered a consumable after this amount off time so swap in some new pads while you're there too...the old is likely solid/dust/goo by now and about as much use and value as rusty strings. Leaving it there is like not cleaning out bunked original grease in tuners and using them all seized-up for the sake of originality.

Yep. /thread

[lnwt]

Resurrecting an ancient thread rather than start a new one.

Is there a particular type of foam to use for placing under the pickups? Feels as though this ought to be technical and have a specification... but also that it could be as simple as 'any spongey foam'.

Anyone have recommendations/guidance?

[GreenKnee]

1/2" thick neoprene will do the job. Fender have some listed on their site but I imagine it is way overpriced compared to buying it from a hardware shop

[jdr1014]

I have used strips of that self-adhesive weatherstrip foam readily available in hardware and building supply stores. It comes in various thicknesses. If one is concerned about the adhesive, just don't peel off the backing.