Pick up guru's, could this be why my pick up is microphonic?

[d1dsj]

Well I finally settled on a A8 mag in my Ant bridge humbucker and to be honest it's an absolute killer sounding pick up. I left the cover off leaving the zebra bobbins exposed because it looks so cool but even with the cover off the pick up feeds back more than it did before. Now I "think" the problem could be because the A8 magnet is thicker than the original and I could not quite tighten the baseplate screws up very tight because they now now seem quite long enough. Does this seem logical? Maybe next time I change the strings I should remove the magnet and melt some wax on the mag, re-install it and then heat everything up with a hair dryer... what do you think? Or should I try to make a slightly thicker spacer and see if there are some slightly longer screws available.

 

[VanR]

Re: Pick up guru's, could this be why my pick up is microphonic?

Did you wax pot the pickup after you changed the magnet. If not try doing so. I use my wife's foot waxer to do it.

 

[925SS]

Re: Pick up guru's, could this be why my pick up is microphonic?

Wax shouldn't be needed, & the screws should be plenty long enough.
I'd just get the right size spacer.
BTW, how close are you standing to the amp?

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Pick up guru's, could this be why my pick up is microphonic?

If the magnet is just a bit thicker, the screws not going in as far doesn't make sense to me. They won't go into the bobbins as deeply, but they should still hold everything together tightly.

The spacers not being the right thickness, and the screws not being completely tight, is a recipe for squealing. I'd shim the spacer and keeper bar, and try the screws again, making extra sure they are not cross threaded.

 

[d1dsj]

Re: Pick up guru's, could this be why my pick up is microphonic?

Thanks for the replies. I just decided to take it apart again and I took the screws completely out and didn't realise they were that long! As I took them out there were 2 that had stripped the plastic thread out of the bobbins? Strange as this was a brand new pick up to me and I am always extremely careful when tightening the screws. So I used some non permanent thread lock and a little wax, clamped it, heated it up with a hair dryer and carefully tightened everything up and it seems much better now. I really like this A8 Ant, comparing it to my favourite sounding guitar which is a mahogany bodied SG type with a Brobucker in, this LP with the A8 Ant has more clarity, plenty of thump, good strong mids and nice highs with no sign of any icepick treble at all! It's very balanced and rolling off the volume gets some very smokey blues tones, rolling the tone off gets some really nice flute like tones... I love it! I do have a Brobucker on the way which was destined for this guitar but I think this one is now done BUT only gigging volume will confirm all of the above. I never thought I'd mess with this Ant but I recommend the Ant A8 to anyone who wants a beefy PAF sound, it's killer!