Direct mounted pickups - Pain in the arse!

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napalmdeath

napalmdeath

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Got a brand new Jackson Soloist, immediately took off the .009's to put on .010's, and do a set up. Went to lower the pickups since I lowered the action, (to what seems to be a foot), and the damn screws hardly budge! The bridge pickup was touching the strings, and trying to lower it, and actually broke the damn screw! Easy fix, it actually has three tabs, so I went with 2 screws on that side, fixed. But, I've always had this problem with direct mounts. Takes too much force to raise/lower/turn the screws!
 
Yup, not a huge fan. I dont know why everyone hates pickup rings these days.

I will say though that some guitars do it right. My Schecter Banshee has little metal parts in the wood that the screws screw into. That guitar is extremely easy to adjust. All direct mounted pickups should be done this way.
 
Not a fan of direct mount pickups either, but only my pre Fender Gretsch Brian Setzer Hot Rod has them. I had to use some mouse pad to adjust the height on the one.
 
I have my guitar tech go ahead and install the rings if I get a guitar with direct mounts, I actually keep a spare stack of rings for this purpose. I have no idea why this became a trend, I hate the look and the lack of functionality.
 
I've only had one. No issues. They put foam in between and the pickups moved up and down where I needed without an issue.

Not sure if it is bare wood under the foam or screw placers or whatever but it works. Looks better too and from what people say more sustain.
 
All m guitars have metal inserts in the body of the guitar and the machine screws for the pickups move up/down just like regular ring mounted pickups. What's the problem?
 
I had a Kiesel DC600 made that was direct mount. Tried changing the pickups, bridge went fine, but when installing the neck pickup, the screws went through the back of the fucking guitar. Turns out, they used screws on the neck pickup that were 1/4" longer than the bridge pickup. WTF...When I emailed them about this, the guy was like, no we use the same size screws. I sent him a picture of the 2 different sized screws.

AUmsGUEl.jpg


Here are the guitars, just for fun. The strat shaped DC600 is the one I had this issue on. I never changed the pups on the SCB6. Pissed me off pretty bad and turned me off them for life...mainly the fact that the guy was like...nah, they are the same size. Bitch, no the fuck they are not!!

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FourT6and2":23y893yt said:
All m guitars have metal inserts in the body of the guitar and the machine screws for the pickups move up/down just like regular ring mounted pickups. What's the problem?
Click to expand...

This is not typical, I think.
 
rbasaria":2sfczuep said:
FourT6and2":2sfczuep said:
All m guitars have metal inserts in the body of the guitar and the machine screws for the pickups move up/down just like regular ring mounted pickups. What's the problem?
Click to expand...

This is not typical, I think.
Click to expand...

definitely not AFAIK. The only guitars I have this on are my P90 equipped Gibsons that aren't dog ears.

I'm not saying they don't exist. But I don't know of many production line guitars like this. But I certainly don't know them all.
 
Mine are Mayones Duvells. They don't use wood screws. They use machine screws with inserts in the body. And the screws have springs on them, with foam under the pickup. So they behave just like ring mounted. Do other guitar companies just use wood screws? That seems like a nightmare.
 
FourT6and2":2hahxr22 said:
All m guitars have metal inserts in the body of the guitar and the machine screws for the pickups move up/down just like regular ring mounted pickups. What's the problem?
Click to expand...

Not this one. These screw right into pre-drilled holes in the wood.

It's the foam under the pickup that's the problem. It's hard as a rock. This is why it takes so much force to compress it. Needs to be spongier.
 
My Mayones has those inserts and uses machine screws, but every other guitar I have with direct mount pickups just uses wood screws. I don’t really mind direct mount, I kinda like the cleaner look. It certainly can be more of a pain though, if you use too much or too little foam under the pickup, or if it sits at an angle.

I’ve only ever had problems with one old schecter, the heads on the screws were partially rounded out so it was a huge pain to get them out. A bit of chapstick on the screw thread will make it go in and out nice and smooth.
 
FourT6and2":1ojke1st said:
Mine are Mayones Duvells. They don't use wood screws. They use machine screws with inserts in the body. And the screws have springs on them, with foam under the pickup. So they behave just like ring mounted. Do other guitar companies just use wood screws? That seems like a nightmare.
Click to expand...

Yup, wood screws directly into the wood. See my post above about my custom Keisel guitars and how that worked out. At that price point, I would EXPECT something like what Mayones is doing. Those guitars cost me about $1500-$1600 each. Are these little inserts so expensive that they cant use them? Highly doubtful.
 
I am the opposite. I love the look of direct mounted. I have never owned one until a few years. When I decided to change pickups, good lord. I had to grind the pickup plate corners down so they would drop into the cavity. Looks good, but damn. The pickup height was a little challenge as well.
 
MARK1970":tzt69on3 said:
I am the opposite. I love the look of direct mounted. I have never owned one until a few years. When I decided to change pickups, good lord. I had to grind the pickup plate corners down so they would drop into the cavity. Looks good, but damn. The pickup height was a little challenge as well.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Plus if you decide to try out other pickups you wind up killing the value of the ones you don't keep by drilling. Soldering a tiny nut underneath the plate doesn't get you more for them.
 
napalmdeath":fkk477xk said:
Got a brand new Jackson Soloist, immediately took off the .009's to put on .010's, and do a set up. Went to lower the pickups since I lowered the action, (to what seems to be a foot), and the damn screws hardly budge! The bridge pickup was touching the strings, and trying to lower it, and actually broke the damn screw! Easy fix, it actually has three tabs, so I went with 2 screws on that side, fixed. But, I've always had this problem with direct mounts. Takes too much force to raise/lower/turn the screws!
Click to expand...

You probably don't want to do this to brand new guitar but you could install pickup rings. I installed rings on my MIM Charvel hardtail to make adjusting the pickups easier
 
napalmdeath":2zrai9db said:
FourT6and2":2zrai9db said:
All m guitars have metal inserts in the body of the guitar and the machine screws for the pickups move up/down just like regular ring mounted pickups. What's the problem?
Click to expand...

Not this one. These screw right into pre-drilled holes in the wood.

It's the foam under the pickup that's the problem. It's hard as a rock. This is why it takes so much force to compress it. Needs to be spongier.
Click to expand...
Ive used drinking straws in the past.
And surgical rubber tubing.
Found it was easier then messing with foam.
 
I was on the verge of getting direct mounted bridge pup for my incoming custom guitar, but after reading this, i'm thankful that i did not, the luthier wouldn't probably recommend that either.

Besides, pup rings look cool with right color combinations!
 
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