Hi, I've just bought a Mexican Telecaster deluxe '72 reissue. It sounded good in the shop but there is kind of a design flaw in the bridge pickup (fender humbucker). The only way I can get the sound I want out of it is to raise the screw in the face of the pickup closer to the E-string. The problem is, if I give the string a decent twang, it catches on the screw (literally hooks under the rim and gets stuck).
Any ideas?
My other thought was to make this a project guitar - change the pick-ups, add a locking nut etc but thats new territory for me. Is it hard to do?
Hi, and welcome to GN.
Nope, not hard to do at all. Lots of people change pickups in their guitars. It's really simple. Not short-bus simple, but easy enough. Normally a few screws and a few zaps with the soldering iron. Even if you do not want to try, it's cheap enough. I bet you can find someone who'll do it for $20-$25 bucks. Choosing the pickup, though, is another story. There must be 100 different ones to choose from.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
It's possible the pup has become de-magnetized to some extent. If so, that should be a warranty issue on a new guitar.
Otherwise ...
Might help: Lower the high e pole screw back to position where it will not catch, then raise the whole treble side of the pup using the mounting screw on the treble side. In this position, the pup polepiece will be close without having a lip on which to catch. However, this probably won't fix string wacking the pup/polepiece. And if the strings are unbalanced in output level, that too is still a problem. (Of course, check your amp and make sure treble isn't all the way down and the real cause.)
Unlikely, but happens: Could be a defective e-string. Have you replaced it yet?
Other: Larger gauge strings do not displace (vibrate back and forth) as much, so would be less likely to do this. Larger gauge also provides more output, You could up the gauge.
-=tension & release=-
Hi,
I agree with Greg about lowering the screw and raising the pup on that side.
That is the correct way to adjust pup height.
Each side of the pup should be highered/lowerd to the desired 'sound'.
The screws are for fine tuning to the neck/string curvature.
Ken
"The man who has begun to live more seriously within
begins to live more simply without"
-Ernest Hemingway
"A genuine individual is an outright nuisance in a factory"
-Orson Welles
