Pickup Ring Height?

[Fadedepi]

Hi All,

 

Today I received a pair of replacement rings from Guitarfetish. I want to use them on my G-400. Checking them out, I noticed they are different heights than the stock Epi rings. Neck ring is not as tall. (1/16th shorter at both ends) The bridge ring is taller. (1/16th taller at both ends) I know it's not much, but, will this make any difference in the install (Pup height?) or sound? Obviously it will make a difference with the mounting screws. (more threads needed at the neck to tighten, less threads needed at the bridge to tighten)

 

Anyone got experience with this?? I don't want to put them on and f*** something up!!

 

Thanks, Fe.

[yosoybay]

As long as the screws fit, I would think you could just raise or lower the pickup height to make up for the thinner or thicker rings, respectively.

[Ron G]

I used rings from GF and they were slightly different than the stock ones but worked fine. A minor difference in height shouldn't be a problem - and of course you'll have to adjust the pickup height after installation.

[Fadedepi]

Thanks Guys,

 

I have no experience with this, (Duh) Is the pup height adjusted by the center screws on the sides of the ring or are there internal screws?

 

Guess I just better go for it! More questions to follow.... maybe.

 

Thanks, Fe.

[yosoybay]

Thanks Guys' date='

 

I have no experience with this, (Duh) Is the pup height adjusted by the center screws on the sides of the ring or are there internal screws?

 

Guess I just better go for it! More questions to follow.... maybe.

 

Thanks, Fe.[/quote']

 

Screws at the four corners simply attach the pickup ring to the body. The screws on each side of the pickup covers in the middle adjust the height (turn right=up, turn left=down)

[glenn1281733995]

Do you mean they are different thicknesses like this?

If this is what you mean, the thinnest ring goes in the neck position.

[smokestack]

Hope you're being a **** Glenn ;^)

....I think he'd figured that out

 

Joking asside, [and though they're obviously no big deal] pup rings can be a minefield for the inexperienced.

We soon learn that rings come in all shapes and sizes.

Rings for guitars with an arched top, rings for a flat top...staggered and tapered rings for guitars with a neck angle. Then you have the differences between the traditional USA spec rings and the slightly wider "import" rings as used in Standard Epi production. [widened for ease of production and to accomodate the often crude and larger pup rout].

It's certainly not easy for the novice tinkerer to choose the right ones without appropriate descriptions and guidance from the vendor.

[glenn1281733995]

A ****!

Well I never

[smokestack]

;^)

[Biff]

I've always reused the stock Epiphone pickup rings, the ones that come with the GFS pickups haven't looked to me like a good match.

[smokestack]

I usually retrofit flat botomed rings to Epi Les Pauls and curve them to the body under tension of the fixing screws.

I think they look so much better that way...more integral to the lines of the guitar and more akin to how the Gibson rings are fitted in current Les Paul production.

With certain plastics there may be an issue of stress fractures with this approach... but I've not had any problems so far.

[Ricochet]

I usually retrofit flat botomed rings to Epi Les Pauls and curve them to the body under tension of the fixing screws.

 

Interesting. Does this work with the bridge PU as well?

[Dave]

I usually retrofit flat botomed rings to Epi Les Pauls and curve them to the body under tension of the fixing screws.

I think they look so much better that way...more integral to the lines of the guitar and more akin to how the Gibson rings are fitted in current Les Paul production.

With certain plastics there may be an issue of stress fractures with this approach... but I've not had any problems so far.

 

I had stress cracks when I allowed mine to form to the body under screw tension. I had to use my grinder wheel to shape the curve using my Epi rings as a template to mark the new ones. I almost ordered the metal rings from Stewmac but didn't know if the curves would actually match. Another alternative is to lightly steel wool the old rings and spray paint them.

[carverman]

Rings for guitars with an arched top' date=' rings for a flat top...staggered and tapered rings for guitars with a neck angle. Then you have the differences between the traditional USA spec rings and the slightly wider "import" rings as used in Standard Epi production. [widened for ease of production and to accomodate the often crude and larger pup rout'].

It's certainly not easy for the novice tinkerer to choose the right ones without appropriate descriptions and guidance from the vendor.

 

Smoke! What's going on in your life that you have to drop this bombshell on us?

You didn't include ear rings, nose rings, toe rings, class rings and engagement rings....

Now, I'm confused by your post and I though I knew everything! :-)

 

Generally speaking (some) online vendors aren't that much help if you are ordering

pickups that happen to come with some default rings. If you order from a more

knowledgable online store like Stew-Mac, you can get their catalog for free

and the ring heights/sizes are mentioned. The other nice thing is that if you

have any individual queries, you can send them an email to their tech support

group and get an answer.

 

I had to swap out the aftermarket P_up rings for the originals that came with my Emperor IIs, because

they came with rings that were more LP suited and on an archtop the bridge height

can be much higher.

[RotcanX]

the slightly wider "import" rings as used in Standard Epi production. (widened for ease of production and to accomodate the often crude and larger pup rout).

 

Actually, Smoke, I would place my money on the idea that they are merely engineered to metric dimensions as opposed to those outmoded imperial units of measure; same reasoning that makes the bridges and tailpieces not quite interchangeable with their American counterparts.

[smokestack]

I think there's more to it than that Spud. The rings found on many Asian and other lower cost insruments are quite a bit wider than would result from any imperial to metric conversion. A USA pup ring will often not align correctly to cover the routs of those instruments ...which tend not to have the more complex shape of the proper rout that allows for the pup mounting lugs and the ring fixing screws. You can find that either the ring doesn't fully cover the rout...or that the fixing holes are right on the edge of the wood.

I've always suspected that the wider width was initially adopted to allow for the lower alignment tolerances in cheaper and typically more crudely assembled instruments.

[RotcanX]

Hmmm... interesting point. I'm going to have to look into this.