badbluesplayer Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 Hey lookey lookey. I straightened the neck pup out on my niner. I took a bridge pickup ring and shaved it with my radial saw so it has a two degree bevel (thicker at the neck). It's about 3/16 of an inch thick. I know y'all are jealous now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSG_Standard Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 that's great! I tried to accomplish the same thing by installing the taller "historic" pickup rings on my ES135 and it didn't work. Now, I guess that I'll have to break out the dremel and work on the old bridge ring...maybe there is hope for my tilted neck pup. thanks for the pic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clayville Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 Looks like "mission accomplished" to me. My CS-356 has a distinct tilt on the neck pickup ring too, and in the five years I've had it, I've seen lots of folks try to tackle this "issue" in various ways (bending the mounting tabs, sanding, rotating 180 degrees, etc). But... mine sounds so good right like it is that I'm afraid to touch it! And nobody has ever been able to explain to me why a parallel-to-the-strings pickup is mechanically desirable. It certainly looks less, err, odd... but is there any tone or physics argument for why parallel should be mo' bettah? Or is it simply an aesthetic preference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don. Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 Someone on this forum suggested spinning the p/u ring 180 degrees on the neck. I tried that at the last string change, and that works too, as my neck p/u is now parallel with the strings. I'm curious, b.b. player, how did you hold the ring to cut it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 I was thinking I'd read that all you had to do was turn it around (180) and it fixed it. I haven't messed with trying it yet, I'm still only changing strings one at a time on this (fairly) new guitar. And, like Clayville, it sounds fine, and nobody is ever gonna see that except me. Best to ya. Murph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 I'm curious' date=' b.b. player, how did you hold the ring to cut it? [/quote'] Well, it took a little head scratching. I took the package that the ring came in and peeled the cardboard off the back, leaving the plastic wrapped around the top and sides of the ring. I took a 8" long piece of 2x4 and trimmed one of the 2" sides with the blade set at 90 degrees on the dial, just to make sure it was square according to the dial. Then I reset the blade angle two degrees off of 90 degrees on the dial. I measured the two degree angle on my guitar - the angle may be different on other 339's. Then I took two of the mounting screws included with the ring and mounted the ring with the top face of the ring against the edge of the 2x4. The plastic wrapper sat against the 2x4 to protect the ring during the work. I screwed the ring down by fastening two mounting screws through the backside of the pickup height adjustment holes. Then I slowly shaved the exposed side of the pickup ring (the bottom as it sits on the guitar) with the saw at 92 degrees or 88 degrees or whatever it was. I unmounted it and peeled the plastic off it and it was ready to go. A couple of things. A table saw would work fine, also - it's actually probably better for this job. A trim blade will work better than a blade with fewer teeth. You have to saw sloooooowly to avoid chipping the plastic out of the ring. The plastic chipped a little on mine, but luckily the chipped area was against the fretboard and the pickguard, so I lucked out. If you shave it too thin, you'll nick the heads of the screws that are holding it. I just barely nicked one of the screws, but since I have a carbide tipped blade on the saw, it wasn't a big deal. It's funny, but after I leveled the pickup out, it looked weird for awhile. Still looks a little funky compared to what I was used to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobv Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Sorry but that sounds like an unsafe thing to do with a radial arm saw. Nicking the screws, sending carbide teeth flying, grabbing the workpiece, tearing out the plastic. It's just not something that a radial arm is meant to do. And an 8" piece of wood sounds like your hands were pretty close to the blade. If you must adjust the shape of a mounting ring, a piece of sandpaper on a flat surface works just fine. Use a disk sander or stationary edge belt sander if you must use power tools for this simple job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted January 8, 2009 Author Share Posted January 8, 2009 If you must adjust the shape of a mounting ring' date=' a piece of sandpaper on a flat surface works just fine. Use a disk sander or stationary edge belt sander if you must use power tools for this simple job.[/quote'] Bob - You are absolutely right. Using sandpaper will work fine and you'll still have your pinky finger. That's what I'll do next time. Radial saws are very dangerous. I would never recommend that anybody ever use a radial saw for anything, period. :P Thanks for the reality check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSG_Standard Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I tried flipping the ring 180, it didn't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobv Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Bob - You are absolutely right. OK maybe you're a newbie. You're only supposed to direct saracasm to AXE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted January 11, 2009 Author Share Posted January 11, 2009 Bob - I'll save the sarcasm until I can make it really hurt. Nice avatar, by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobv Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Nice avatar' date=' by the way.[/quote'] Back at ya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynadude Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 I have the same issue with my Epi Dot. It drives me nuts, but I hate to take the ring off just to "level" it. I'll probably just use a flat file and a sheet of 220 sandpaper on a slightly curved surface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobv Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Epi dot has a more severe problem than the 339 (I didn't see any need to adjust the 339, just back out the polepiece screws a touch to follow the fretboard radius and they'll be close in distance to the other coil). On the dot, bending the L tabs on the pickup didn't seem to help at all, so modifying the ring worked out for me. On the Dot, you can't just buy a Gibson mounting ring to play with since the four mounting screw holes won't line up. You have to mess with the original ring, and turning it around backwards is too much. Scribe a line at an angle on the side of the ring and sand it to meet the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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