Nazgul and Sentient metal covers

[Haunting]

I have a Nazgul/Sentient set with black metal covers and the Sentient is sitting a lot deeper inside the cover than the Nazgul, which has the baseplate flush with the cover edge. Also, the Sentient's left side has been pushed noticeably deeper in than the right side.

Assuming that the pickups are the same height, this would mean that the slug coils of the Nazgul are actually about 3 mm farther away from the strings than the screw coils, same with the coils on the right side of the Sentient. That has to affect the sound of the pickups and the Sentient just looks wrong.

Am I missing something here, or have the covers been installed wrong? I've never owned any covered SD pickups, so I'm really not sure what's normal and what isn't. I only installed the Nazgul, and while it sounded good, it really didn't have a lot of output. Again, I don't know if that's normal or not, it's my understanding that it doesn't really have a super high output anyway.

 

[Despised]

Re: Nazgul and Sentient metal covers

Hmmm. That don't sound right. Irregardless of the pickup or manufacturer, every metal covered pickup I've ever seen has a little bit of cover going just past the baseplate, so it can be soldered to the baseplate so it won't fall off...

Have you taken pictures of the pickups and raised the issue with SD themselves??? While I can't say for 100% certainty, but this sounds to be manufactured wrong. I'd contact SD and see what they say.

Also, post pics here of it as well so we can see what you mean. I'm sure that this is a rare occurance and someone was either in a rush to get them finished before punching out for the day, or the covers moved during the building/wax potting process...

 

[Haunting]

Re: Nazgul and Sentient metal covers

I contacted them, and I did take pictures. Thing is, though, the unevenness of the Sentient's baseplate isn't as obvious in the photos as it actually is when looking at it, for some reason. I know this probably isn't common, but unfortunately it does make me wary of buying covered Duncan pickups again, I'm somewhat obsessive when it comes to "small flaws" like that.

I forgot to mention that the covers are properly soldered and not loose at all, which is good, but it also means that whoever did the soldering must have seen how the covers were on the pickups, yet they were packaged and sold. Also, I want to say that If I'm wrong and this is perfectly normal, I apologise for the unnecessary whining.

 

[Haunting]

Re: Nazgul and Sentient metal covers



Here's a picture of the bottoms of the pickups.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Nazgul and Sentient metal covers

I'm not familiar with these pickups at all but very often my own sets will have a similar situation because I use taller bobbins for the bridge. There's an outside chance this one might be using taller bobbins too. Pull the cover off and have a look.

 

[Haunting]

Re: Nazgul and Sentient metal covers

I took a closer look at the Nazgul with a bright light and noticed that it seems to just have a taller magnet bar than the Sentient, so that explains the difference, there's nothing wrong with the Nazgul and my whining was unnecessary.

The way the Sentient's cover is installed still looks strange, though. I was going to remove the solder and try pushing the right side a bit deeper but won't the wax make that a bit difficult? I really don't want to break the windings by applying too much pressure.

 

[Demina]

Re: Nazgul and Sentient metal covers

I don't know anything about these either but I'm sure it's not supposed to be crooked like that.

I'd un-solder it and see if it drops down level on it's own. If not then pull the cover off, since you already have it un-soldered, and make sure there's not something in the way. You certainly don't want to force it, as, like you say, it could break something.

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Nazgul and Sentient metal covers

It's because the Nazgul has a thicker magnet, thus the pickup is taller with the cover off. When you put a cover on the baseplate doesn't sit as deep. It's OK, do NOT start messing with it.