Should the pickup sit perfectly flat in the ring?

[theodessakid]

Hi, on my 58 reissue I have noticed that the pickpus do not sit flat inside the pickup ring. The bridge pickup sits slightly higher on the side closer to the neck. They also float if you press down on the high side. My tech sais he just adjusts the pole screws to compensate. Is this common?

[marvar]

It is fairly common, especially if the covers are removed, there are a couple of ways to deal with it, and what you tech said to do isn't one of them, (personally, I'd be looking for a new tech, or, better yet, learn to do your own work)

Some of the ways I've delt with it in the past is:

1. Get longer/stiffer mounting springs, to put a bit more pressure on the whole set up, hopefully, holding them flatter.

2. Get some thin cardboard, (I used to use matchbook covers.) fold it a few times, and wedge it inside the pickup ring, between the side/bottom plate of the pickup and the pickup cavity, then move the pickup by hand to a flat position. if you do it right, you won't even be able to see it , so it won't take away from the visual aspects of your guitar.

[slimjimdom]

In my experience some techs will put a piece of foam rubber under the low side of the pickup to level it out. It worked great on my SG.