oldflattop Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 Hi folks, Got a bit of a problem with setting string action on my Epi Casino, and I was hoping that the brilliant folks here could help me out. The background of this Casino is as follows - it's a Korean model dating back to 2007. I bought it stock, fitted a Bigsby to it, and have recently replaced the pickups with Lollar P90s (which were built into the original metal covers from the Epiphone pickups). It's never been my main guitar, but since fitting the Lollars I've been loving the sound of it, so wanted to get it playing just right. Here's the problem: I basically can't get the string action on the guitar to where I'd like it, which is 5/64ths on the bass and 4/64ths on the treble, without some of the strings (low E, B and high E) hitting the polepieces on the bridge P90. The polepieces are as low as they can go, and for the strings to clear the polepieces, the action needs to be set way too high (Around 7/64ths on both sides). Also, the truss rod is measuring fine, so no problems there. Just wondering if anyone had any advice on how to tackle this. Do I try to file the base of the metal casing of the P90 down by a millimetre or so, so that the pickup housing sits lower to the guitar body? Do I need to get a tech to file a little bit of wood off the top of the guitar? Or do I get the pickups looked at, as the polepieces won't screw down far enough into the casing of the pickup. Any thoughts or advice provided would be much appreciated. Cheers, -oldflattop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 Hi o-f-t... From dates etc your Casino might be a Peerless... I have played Chinese Casinos and owned a Peerless Songbird in the past Currently own a Gibson ES330... The design is IMO somewhat crude in having fixed P/U body height Would probably be best to find a competent local tech who can examine the guitar and offer advice V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldflattop Posted July 13, 2015 Author Share Posted July 13, 2015 The design is IMO somewhat crude in having fixed P/U body height Would probably be best to find a competent local tech who can examine the guitar and offer advice Ok, just thought I'd provide an update in case this may be useful to any other Casino owners. Took the guitar to my favourite local tech, who has seen this problem before in a bunch of Casinos, with the bridge pickup cover being quite simply too tall to get the action on the guitar down to where it should be. His solution is to file down the height of the bridge pickup cover to about half of its current height. To do this, he's going to desolder the pickup and remove it from the cover, file down the cover, resolder the pickup back into the cover, and then re-attach it to the guitar. This will not affect the pickup itself, which has plenty of room to sit low inside the bridge pickup cavity. However, the result is that both cover and pickup will sit lower to the body of the guitar. All in all, this procedure should provide sufficient clearance for the strings to pass over the pickup. Any necessary adjustments for balancing with the neck pickup can then be done by adjusting the polepieces. For others who find themselves in this situation, I'd definitely leave this to an experienced tech - you wouldn't want to file one of these chrome pickup covers down unevenly or ruin it. Cheers, - oldflattop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve112 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Ok, just thought I'd provide an update in case this may be useful to any other Casino owners. Took the guitar to my favourite local tech, who has seen this problem before in a bunch of Casinos, with the bridge pickup cover being quite simply too tall to get the action on the guitar down to where it should be. His solution is to file down the height of the bridge pickup cover to about half of its current height. To do this, he's going to desolder the pickup and remove it from the cover, file down the cover, resolder the pickup back into the cover, and then re-attach it to the guitar. This will not affect the pickup itself, which has plenty of room to sit low inside the bridge pickup cavity. However, the result is that both cover and pickup will sit lower to the body of the guitar. All in all, this procedure should provide sufficient clearance for the strings to pass over the pickup. Any necessary adjustments for balancing with the neck pickup can then be done by adjusting the polepieces. For others who find themselves in this situation, I'd definitely leave this to an experienced tech - you wouldn't want to file one of these chrome pickup covers down unevenly or ruin it. Cheers, - oldflattop Thanks for the update, oldflattop. Yes, this is a pro job to avoid mutilating the pup cover and making your guitar look like crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.