Hex Screw Mod

[BlackhawkRise]

A few nights ago I was playing a gig at a bar (the crowd loved our two signature songs Cheese Brain and Vondervoll) and afterwords some lady came up to me and asked if I had considered switching to hex screws (I promise, that was not the opening line to the conversation).

She then mumbled some words she didn't understand about 'electromagnetism' and 'tone gremlins are in your guitar'.. Before I had a chance to ask back what she meant, she evaporated before my own two eyes.


What's there to replacing my slotted screws with hex screws? I don't want tone gremlins in my guitar any longer than I have to.

 

[Masta' C]

What are you hoping to achieve?

The swap is easy...unscrew the slotted screws, screw in the hex bolts. Just need to source the hex bolts...

 

[BlackhawkRise]

Nothing really in particular, just interested in the concept.

She said it makes a noticeable change in the lower mid, upper bass frequency and stops the notes from blending together so much (whether that's a good or bad thing I guess depends)

I'm thinking of trying it on my Explorer (Gibson, not Ford), but I don't know where I could find hex screws that match the color of the current ones, which I think are nickel.

 

[Masta' C]

For most standard humbuckers, you need #5-40 socket cap screws in either 1/2" or 5/8" length.

The biggest issue is that there's a large variation in the alloys used and the exact compositions are rarely disclosed. That said, if you can find "nickel-plated alloy steel", it should work fairly well. Just avoid anything that says "stainless steel".

Looks like most of the sources online no longer carry nickel-plated options in this size. This is the only one I could find, but no clue who makes the actual screws:

https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/56038474

 

[Masta' C]

You might reach out to Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio and see if they'll sell you a set since they custom order them with the different platings.

 

[BlackhawkRise]

How would I go about contacting them, customer support?

 

[BlackhawkRise]

Also how would I check my thread size? I'm using a set of pickups designed in america but manufactered in korea that I think would make a suitable test bed for this. I'm assuming if I measure the current screw length and it comes out to a clean metric number its M3, but if it comes to a clean imperial number it's imperial?

 

[beaubrummels]

Nothing really in particular, just interested in the concept.

She said it makes a noticeable change in the lower mid, upper bass frequency and stops the notes from blending together so much (whether that's a good or bad thing I guess depends)

I'm thinking of trying it on my Explorer (Gibson, not Ford), but I don't know where I could find hex screws that match the color of the current ones, which I think are nickel.

I disagree with this. IME it scoops the sound greatly so it seems like it's all tight bass and high treble. It doesn't do anything specific about notes blending. It makes a big shift in EQ, and IME it works best as a rhythm sound or de-tuned sound, but not so much on leads unless you recover some mids somewhere else in the chain, like the amp, speakers or effects.

The fact that the person said 'tone gremlins' in reference to pickups with filister screws (which is 90% of pickups since humbuckers were invented) makes me not take their view so seriously right there. I don't know what the point of that conversation was.

 

[Mincer]

How would I go about contacting them, customer support?

You might also put a message in our Trading Post on this forum, someone might have a set.

 

[Seashore]

I disagree with this. IME it scoops the sound greatly so it seems like it's all tight bass and high treble. It doesn't do anything specific about notes blending. It makes a big shift in EQ, and IME it works best as a rhythm sound or de-tuned sound, but not so much on leads unless you recover some mids somewhere else in the chain, like the amp, speakers or effects.

Noob question - how much of the tonal difference is down to the heads, as opposed to other factors like length and composition? Like, if you got hex head posts of the same length and alloy as your filister heads, and installed them at the same height relative to the pickup body, and set it the same distance from your strings, would it be that scooped? The only pickups I've used with hex heads were Bareknuckle Nailbombs and they were pretty middy.

 

[beaubrummels]

I haven't used hexes of every alloy to test subtle differences like that. I do know that filisters that are cut to the baseplate length result in a significantly brighter pickup than with full length. If the Nailbombs were designed for hexes, they might have worked the wind and other parts to give it whatever mids it has. But IME, if I take a normal humbucker that we designed to use filisters, and I replace with hexes, it gets pretty scooped in comparison. YMMV. It's the cheapest thing in the world to try, so just try it.

 

[Chistopher]

I totally forgot about this trick, I may have to test it to fix one of my problems I'm having right now on a new guitar

 

[BlackhawkRise]

The fact that the person said 'tone gremlins' in reference to pickups with filister screws (which is 90% of pickups since humbuckers were invented) makes me not take their view so seriously right there. I don't know what the point of that conversation was.

The emphasis on tone gremlins was mine. The main point of the conversation was that she was hot and somehow guitar gear became the subject of the conversation.

 

[Seashore]

TBH I'm not looking to scoop anything very much right now. I dig the look of hex heads and I considered putting some in the Pegasus 7 but that kind of sound alteration is definitely not what the pickup needs in this guitar. I do have some Invader-size cap head hex posts that I might try somewhere for grins.

 

[devastone]

Yes, that's the only kind of pickup talk I ever got in a bar, and it was usually from the boyfriend.

Oh, and I like black oxide hex heads, ~$12/100 at mcmaster.com

As for the Korean pickups, they are probably metric threads, you would have to pull them out and check them.

 

[BlackhawkRise]

Is this in zinc plated what im looking for?

 

[Seashore]

Is this in zinc plated what im looking for?

Those are only 1/2" long - would that length work? All of my pickups have at least 5/8" posts.

 

[Chistopher]

if I recall hex screws are 1/2", slotted is usually 3/4"ish

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

Word to the wise - many stainless steel grades are non magnetic.

 

[BlackhawkRise]

As for the Korean pickups, they are probably metric threads, you would have to pull them out and check them.

How would I check whether they are metric or imperial