Mill the body or shorten the screws of my humbucker?

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Micha

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Hello guy's


My custom shop pickup is mounted with alnico 8 magnet and is very powerful. I lowered its height compared to the strings of the guitar.
The problem is that the screws are so long that I can't low down the pickup enough.
And I can't mill the body of the guitar because it's to thin.

The remaining solution could be to shorten the screws of my screw coil.
How will this affect the sound?


Thanks a lot
 
Re: Mill the body or shorten the screws of my humbucker?

I can’t remember if I’ve ever tried it, but yes, it will change the sound. Can you drill small holes for the screws to lower into?
 
Re: Mill the body or shorten the screws of my humbucker?

I can’t remember if I’ve ever tried it, but yes, it will change the sound. Can you drill small holes for the screws to lower into?
The problem is that my guitar maker told me it will affect the stability of the guitar.
And it's not precise enough to drill with enough accuracy
 
Re: Mill the body or shorten the screws of my humbucker?

I’ve had to do this several times with different pickup/guitar combos. Shortening the screws will alter the bass/treble response. Shorter screws will be brighter with less bass response. Luckily when I’ve needed to do this it was in the neck position where the extra brightness was welcome.

A 3/4” screws sounds much “fuller” than a 1/2” screw, all else being equal.
 
Re: Mill the body or shorten the screws of my humbucker?

If it would be a problem to deepen the routs 5–10 mm, that must be one very thin guitar.
 
Re: Mill the body or shorten the screws of my humbucker?

If you only need to shorten the screws 1/8" or so, you may not notice much of a difference, to be honest. The change in overall height of the pickup relative to the strings will probably have more of an impact on the sound and response in that case.

However, there is a chance you will notice a slightly brighter tonality as a result of the shorter poles depending on how short you go.
 
Re: Mill the body or shorten the screws of my humbucker?

You'll probably notice a difference in that case. The nice thing about shortening the screws is that you can always put regular-length poles back in. It's a little harder to put wood back into the guitar. I can't imagine how a few small divots beneath the pickup could affect the integrity of the guitar, but if the guitar builder says so, I'd be inclined to listen to them.
 
Re: Mill the body or shorten the screws of my humbucker?

You'll probably notice a difference in that case. The nice thing about shortening the screws is that you can always put regular-length poles back in. It's a little harder to put wood back into the guitar. I can't imagine how a few small divots beneath the pickup could affect the integrity of the guitar, but if the guitar builder says so, I'd be inclined to listen to them.

Finaly I cut 2/8" screws length.... Everything is alright
 
Re: Mill the body or shorten the screws of my humbucker?

I didn't want to cut them with pliers.
I didn't want to take them apart either .... Because of the soldering to be done.
Finally I wrapped the guitar in a sheet .... I put tape around the Pickup. I knew that by cutting the screws with the drehmel the filings would stay hooked because of the magnetism.
The adhesive tape being upside down. The filings remained directly stuck to this one.
A brush of drehmel and everything was perfect ^^
 
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