drad Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 I bought an Epiphone Casino last week. Didn't play it too much through an amp until a few days ago... and it sounds horrible. It's the neck pickup, there is WAY too much output. Now, since they are dogear pickups they just lay on the guitar and there isn't a way to lower them... So, what should I do? Replace the pickups? Should I JUST replace the neck pickup? Is it possible to lower the pole pieces enough to stop this problem? I tried turning the volume knob down on the neck, but when I do that and use both pickups, turning the volume down a little bit to the point where it's not all loud and bassy just makes it sound like the bridge pickup. I need help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweed2 Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 So have you tried lowering the posts, flush with the cover? How much room between the strings and the posts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drad Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 So have you tried lowering the posts, flush with the cover? How much room between the strings and the posts? are the posts the pole pieces? I've tried lowering them a LOT on the neck pickup... like screwed them far into the cover... is that bad? How far do they go? Should I try raising the pole pieces on the bridge now up closer to the string? Does adjusting these pieces do enough to the balance, or should I try to shim the bridge up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweed2 Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Yes, what I called the posts are the poles (bad habit and confusing). I don't know for a fact, but I'm guessing that lowering the poles below the face of the pickup cover won't help much. Raising the bridge poles might help balance the pickups, but I'm wondering if this isn't an electronic issue, something I know little about. Maybe a bad pot or something. Anybody out there have any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drad Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Yes, what I called the posts are the poles (bad habit and confusing). I don't know for a fact, but I'm guessing that lowering the poles below the face of the pickup cover won't help much. Raising the bridge poles might help balance the pickups, but I'm wondering if this isn't an electronic issue, something I know little about. Maybe a bad pot or something. Anybody out there have any thoughts? ANother thing, I tried lowering the poles on the neck pickup, and I'm just wondering if it's possible to lower them TOO much, like if it will break the pickup if you keep tightening them? I tightened mine pretty low, like about half a centimeter below the cover. Apparently this is a major problem with the casinos, and most people either shim the bridge pickup up, or just replace the neck pickup with an underwound p90. Idk what I should do. I'd prefer to just adjust the pole pieces of that would work, if not I might try to shim the bridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antwhi2001 Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 You shouldn't have a huge difference in output between pickups, if you have, there's a fault somewhere. Either a faulty bridge pickup or a wiring fault. It's common for the bridge pup to sound slightly quieter than the neck on Casinos/Sorrentos, but I do mean slightly. To most people it's not a major issue. For those that want a rockier sound, you can replace the bridge pup with a higher output version, but they are typically only about 10% higher in output. that's usually enough to bring it at least up to the same volume as the neck. If the difference you have is really that great and you bought from a dealer, take it back. It's faulty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Graves Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 What does lowering the neck volume do? That's how I have to run my Alleykat. Neck 4, bridge 9. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Does the neck pickup really sound "horrible", or is it just too loud compared to the bridge? If the former, then something is probably wrong. If the latter, I would shim the bridge pickup. There is a set from Allparts made especially for dogear pickups. Use the thinner shim under the bridge pickup. I wouldn't make huge adjustments in the pole piece screws, and certainly not half a centimeter below the pickup cover. On my Elitist Casino, the difference in volume between the two pickups was signficant. I shimmed the bridge pickup and it is MUCH better. The sound with both pickups sounds great now, instead of sounding mostly like the neck pickup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drad Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Does the neck pickup really sound "horrible", or is it just too loud compared to the bridge? If the former, then something is probably wrong. If the latter, I would shim the bridge pickup. There is a set from Allparts made especially for dogear pickups. Use the thinner shim under the bridge pickup. I wouldn't make huge adjustments in the pole piece screws, and certainly not half a centimeter below the pickup cover. On my Elitist Casino, the difference in volume between the two pickups was signficant. I shimmed the bridge pickup and it is MUCH better. The sound with both pickups sounds great now, instead of sounding mostly like the neck pickup. The sound of the guitar is just this BOOMING bass... like, it sounds really bad. I don't know if this is normal, but the bridge pickup sounds fine... but it's a lot softer than the neck. The bridge pickup sounds to have the same output as the neck AND bridge on my Strat... but the neck on the Casino is just EXTREMELY loud and booming. Having both pickups selected sounds almost the same as having just the neck selected. Honestly, it's just a lot of stress on me and I just bought this guitar a week ago from Guitar Center, and I'm tempted on taking it back. It has a warranty. Another problem with the guitar was the tone knob was completely broken - it's dis attached from the guitar. This isn't affecting the sound, because if you twist it long enough it will work, but it's still defective, and the guitar should be new. So should I just take it back to Guitar Center? What will they do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill67 Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 The sound of the guitar is just this BOOMING bass... like, it sounds really bad. I don't know if this is normal, but the bridge pickup sounds fine... but it's a lot softer than the neck. The bridge pickup sounds to have the same output as the neck AND bridge on my Strat... but the neck on the Casino is just EXTREMELY loud and booming. Having both pickups selected sounds almost the same as having just the neck selected. Honestly, it's just a lot of stress on me and I just bought this guitar a week ago from Guitar Center, and I'm tempted on taking it back. It has a warranty. Another problem with the guitar was the tone knob was completely broken - it's dis attached from the guitar. This isn't affecting the sound, because if you twist it long enough it will work, but it's still defective, and the guitar should be new. So should I just take it back to Guitar Center? What will they do? I would take it back and asked to try another guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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