Help, pickup keeps falling down during gigs!

[MattRees]

The one side of my pickup keeps falling down into my guitar during gigs. At practice when it does this i just quickly screw it back up and it stays there for a while, I tend to play quite hard and the one side will slowly start sinking back into the guitar again. Its the bridge HB in a LP.
Its really annoying, how can i fix this?

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Help, pickup keeps falling down during gigs!

Glue a little piece of foam into the cavity to support it.

 

[Simon_F]

Re: Help, pickup keeps falling down during gigs!

It sounds to me like the spring that goes over the pickup screw isn't long enough. Some pickups have longer legs than others and require different lengths of spring. If the spring is too short it doesn't hold the pickup in place properly. Take the pickup and mounting ring off the body and check the springs.

 

[Imp]

Re: Help, pickup keeps falling down during gigs!

is it like unscrewing itself in the threaded hole?

this might sound extreme, but i'd dab a tiny drop of superglue (literally so that it'd break again if turned with a screwdriver) onto the join when you're at the height you want.. just to stop any loosening through vibration?

 

[Simon_F]

Re: Help, pickup keeps falling down during gigs!

The spring should be exerting enough force to prevent the screw loosening through vibration - this is why I suspect the spring is too short!

I had this problem myself once when I swapped out an APH-1n (short legs) for a 59n (long legs) but didn't change the springs. The pickup kept working loose and dropping down into the cavity. Using longer springs fixed it.

If the spring is only slightly too short you might get away with just stretching it to make it longer.

 

[sosomething]

Re: Help, pickup keeps falling down during gigs!

Simon, et al -

It sounds more to me like the spring is exerting enough pressure to push the threaded tab down over the screw without turning it. I'm willing to bet that either the threading on the baseplate or the screw is stripped.

Solution: wider screw or new baseplate

Could be wrong, though.

 

[Imp]

Re: Help, pickup keeps falling down during gigs!

if that's the case, strip a 'clicker' biro and cut the spring to length.. try that.

i use it for half my duncans... darned used pickups

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Help, pickup keeps falling down during gigs!

Simon, et al -

It sounds more to me like the spring is exerting enough pressure to push the threaded tab down over the screw without turning it. I'm willing to bet that either the threading on the baseplate or the screw is stripped.

Solution: wider screw or new baseplate

Could be wrong, though.

I agree, sounds like a strip.

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: Help, pickup keeps falling down during gigs!

It sounds to me like the spring that goes over the pickup screw isn't long enough. Some pickups have longer legs than others and require different lengths of spring. If the spring is too short it doesn't hold the pickup in place properly. Take the pickup and mounting ring off the body and check the springs.

I agree with Simon. It also wouldn't hurt to pack a little foam underneath as idsnowdog said, for added support.

 

[Kivitel]

Re: Help, pickup keeps falling down during gigs!

StewMac sells rubber tubing to use instead of springs. It's nice because you can cut any length you want and they won't sproing off the screw and blind you. Lace pickups come with this.

 

[MattRees]

Re: Help, pickup keeps falling down during gigs!

The spring should be exerting enough force to prevent the screw loosening through vibration - this is why I suspect the spring is too short!

I had this problem myself once when I swapped out an APH-1n (short legs) for a 59n (long legs) but didn't change the springs. The pickup kept working loose and dropping down into the cavity. Using longer springs fixed it.

If the spring is only slightly too short you might get away with just stretching it to make it longer.

Cheers this was exactly it. I didn't originally change over springs because the long ones were such a pain to attach but once done, no more problems!

 

[Glass Snuff]

Re: Help, pickup keeps falling down during gigs!

You think you got troubles?? My bass player keeps falling down during gigs!