Parallel Axis and pickup height

[iffy50]

Hi,

I've got an older Japanese Charvel San Dimas with direct to wood pickups. It's a great (acoustic) sounding and playing guitar, but I've never been able to find a bridge pickup that agrees with it. The main problem seems to be the shallow pickup routes put most humbuckers far too close to the strings (1-2mm). I've been through a bunch to try and find something that works and currently have a Dimarzio SD in there and the neck shimmed up a crazy amount to try and get some distance. Muddy as anything compared to any other guitar I've got.

So far, I've tried: JB, 59/Custom hybrid, screamin' demon. BK Nailbomb alnico & ceramic, BK rebel yell. In every case you can hear that they'd be great if they just had a bit of distance from the strings to let them breathe.

<direct to wood pickup mount rant>

I've consider just getting deeper routes and installing rings, but I'd prefer not to do this if it's avoidable.

So, one final thought I had is, would a PA1TB (or PA2TB, although I guess this is probably thicker due to the magnet) be more forgiving with the distance from the strings? If not that, what about a blade based design (BL 500XL or similar)?

Cheers,
Ian

 

[dave74]

Re: Parallel Axis and pickup height

What did those come with stock?

Dimebuckers need some room to breathe, but they work well in shallow routes because they are shorter overall.

 

[iffy50]

Re: Parallel Axis and pickup height

TB-4 is stock, but didn't sound great (but then I've never really been a JB guy).

Interesting point about the Dimebucker - that could be worth a look. Are they as height sensitive as pickups with regular pole pieces?

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Parallel Axis and pickup height

The Dime is height sensitive, but it is always, ALWAYS, bright, punchy, aggressive, and has a ton of grind to it. It also splits remarkably well.

Think of it as a big, very angry broadcaster pickup on a LOT of steroids and you're in the ballpark.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Parallel Axis and pickup height

FWIW, I have a PATB-3 in an all maple (ebony fingerboard) Carvin DC127-T pretty close to the strings and it sounds great. It has a lot of PAF vibe amd feel to it while still letting a lot of the guitar's character come through.

 

[dave74]

Re: Parallel Axis and pickup height

I haven't found any pickups to be any more or less height-sensitive, as long as it far enough away so that the 24th fret notes are clear and do not have any wavering.
Once the strings are clear of any magnet-pull then it's just small tonal changes from there. I set mine as high as possible without any interference at the last frets.

The difference in distance between different pickups can vary a lot though.

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Parallel Axis and pickup height

Prob has a recessed tem too doesn't it? Makes the neck pocket angle shallow and everything else closer to the body in general and really exaggerates the issue you're dealing with..
Im guessing they're short leg baseplates too?? that would be my suggestion. You should easily be able to remove 1-2mm's of material from your pup cavity to give you some more clearance and adjustment room you'd think... You shouldn't have to worry about blowing through the spring cavity but sometimes that is a possibility you want to be mindful of.

Dave74, plus the Dimebucker and Lawrences have their tabs dead even with the baseplate so it makes them nice to use...

 

[SFW]

Parallel Axis and pickup height

I run my PATB-1 set at 3/32 in my alder charvel San Dimas pro mod. The pickups are also direct mounted. I put a small amount of pickup foam below the pickup to act as an adjustment “spring.” They sound good to me.


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[dave74]

Re: Parallel Axis and pickup height

Dave74, plus the Dimebucker and Lawrences have their tabs dead even with the baseplate so it makes them nice to use...

Exactly.

When I went to change pickups on my 08 prestige (v7/v8) I ran into the same deal. The routes were not deep enough for the thicker dimarzios which was all I had free at the time, that is except for the dime. Until then I had only used the dime in it's custom ring so I'd never realized how short it was from mounts to rails. I already knew about what clearance was needed for my setup with the dime so was still able to fit a very thin piece of dense foam under it and have the proper adjustment window. If I had used the thicker foam piece that was handy there would not have been enough clearance from the strings.

 

[iffy50]

Re: Parallel Axis and pickup height

Thanks for the info. Last night I borrowed a PATB-3 off a friend and stuck it into the bridge. It looks like there's enough space there for some height flexibility (I had to remove some of the neck shimming to get it about right). Not to into the PATB-3 tone myself (I love Saraceno, but his tone's his and his alone). But, I'm encouraged to give a PATB-1 a go if I can get my hands on one.

One other question regarding direct to wood. I see people advising putting foam under the pickup to act as a spring. However, unless the pickup leg hole has been bored out (which I hate doing - my pickups tend to migrate between quite a few different guitars over their lifetime), I can't see how this can help with height adjustment. i.e. if there's a threaded pickup screw hole and a threaded body screw hole, the distance between to two is fixed when the screw enters the body.

Am I missing something here?

Afterthought: I've been interested in the PATB-2 for a while. I can't find any info on the dimensions of it. Is it taller than the PATB-1 for the thicker ceramic mag?

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Parallel Axis and pickup height

Youre correct, unless you have room for the pickup legs you’ll only be able to lower it so much.

 

[DonP]

Re: Parallel Axis and pickup height

Prob has a recessed tem too doesn't it?

No, MIJ ProMods were not recessed. Some wildcards were (my #4 Aqua is) Recessed trems started on all in the MIM years, 2013 I think?



OP,

I have a MIJ SD I made from parts, but the body was already mod'ed for pickup rings (my preference). I have a JB2 (TB4 with AII) in the bridge, and a Screamin Demon in the neck. Sounds badass.

I recently purchased a MIJ SoCal. The issue with this is someone used too long of pickup height springs so the pickups are miles from the strings. I has a SuperD in the neck (I think) and an X2N in the bridge. Because of the huge distance to the springs, the X2N has less output than the JB2, but it still has that X2N tone. I'm going to tear it apart this weekend and fix it.

All three of my Charvels sound awesome, so don't give up on them.

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Parallel Axis and pickup height

Got ya, yea I didnt see it was an MIJ until you posted this... makes sense now.

I always liked those Wild Card models and I also liked their Primer Scream model as well.
Your JB2/Demon neck sounds like a nice combo!

Ive had guitars where I literally had to trim the pickup springs in half because they were too long and almost compressed the whole way (which is known as coil bind in the automotive world)...
If you ever trim them and trim too much, simply pull the spring to stretch it...still works fine, just takes up some slack.

 

[dave74]

Re: Parallel Axis and pickup height

One other question regarding direct to wood. I see people advising putting foam under the pickup to act as a spring. However, unless the pickup leg hole has been bored out (which I hate doing - my pickups tend to migrate between quite a few different guitars over their lifetime), I can't see how this can help with height adjustment. i.e. if there's a threaded pickup screw hole and a threaded body screw hole, the distance between to two is fixed when the screw enters the body.

Am I missing something here?

You have to use tiny wood screws that can drop through the holes in the pickup's tabs. (so not to mess with the threading)
If the holes going into the guitar's body(within the routes) are too large then they'll need refilled first.

You can also bore the tabs for larger wood screws, but as you said that makes them useless for ring-mounting later.
New baseplate/tabs can always be used if you do ever want to go back to ring-mount.

 

[SFW]

Re: Parallel Axis and pickup height

You can buy the same screws that Charvel uses. They will go through the normal leg hole. The are a bit tight, but they do not mess up the threads on the pickup leg.

Fender PN: 0027035049




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[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Parallel Axis and pickup height

Any chance you could shim the neck and raise the bridge a bit?

PS: I love my PATB-3; it's in an alder body Floydcaster.