Dot pickup poles won't screw out

[ChangeLing]

I just bought an Epiphone Dot natural that I am loving so far, (made Jan. 2007).

 

I intended to adjust the pickup pole pieces to match the fretboard radius but discovered that the

adjusting screws won't move above the pickup cover, they will only screw down into the pickup.

 

After that first screw I decided to not try adjusting the others until I get some info.

 

1) was the screw simply all the way out already, (they are all even with the top of the cover)?

2) is the hole in the cover stopping the screw?

If this is true then I must have bent the baseplate down when I tried to screw it out,

(it did not spring back up as I expected).

 

Close inspection looks like the screws should be able to go through the holes.

I did notice there must be a good amount of wax around the screws.

 

The sound of the pickups appears to be good.

 

EDIT:

I forgot to mention that I don't want to have remove the pickup until the next

string change and I can't remember what state the bottom of the pole pieces

were in when I removed it the first time.

 

---

 

On a side note, the neck pickup was at a strange angle.

I removed that pickup and it looked like the cover was soldered on crooked.

So I bent the tabs on the baseplate to make it sit more evenly along the

top of the ring and almost matching the angle of the strings.

 

Was that an ok thing to do?

 

thanks so much for any help,

ChangeLing

[animalfarm]

Gonna be one of those days??? :blink:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8E_zMLCRNg

[ChangeLing]

I worded my question badly.

 

What I wanted to know is:

 

Has there ever been a pickup with screws that is 'not' intended to be adjusted,

(especially with reference to a Dot guitar)?

 

If so, then I may have one of those pickups and I will not worry about it.

 

Otherwise I will have to plan on removing them and inspecting for proper function

outside of the guitar at my next string change.

 

---

I am not worried or offended about no replies, I understand that sometimes

questions and answers simply don't work out as well as one would like:)

[wiggy]

You should be able to screw them all the way out so I'm guessing that they're snagging on the cover due to iffy aligmnent when it was fitted (most likely from what you said in the rest of your post)

 

The wax potting shouldn't be an issue if you can screw them down into the bobbin as you will have already freed them off by doing so (if the threads are clear in one way then they're clear in both)

[stein]

in a regular humbucker, you should be able to unscrew it all the way and remove it if you wanted to. if you are backing it out and the cover is stopping it, you are correct in your assessment. i don't think bending the tabs at the end of the pickups should have any effect on the aliegnment of the cover or the rest of the pickup.

i think problably the easiest way to fix it all the way around is to just unsolder the covers and put then on straight. it wouldn't hurt to take them out and have a closer look anyway.

[wiggy]

If you do decide to unsolder and remove the covers remember that the pups are potted so you're going to have to be very careful not to damage the coils.

 

Best thing to do, once you've desoldered (or carefully cut through it), is to warm the covers with a hairdryer or similiar (you could probably use a heat gun at it's lowest setting but you'd need to be VERY VERY careful not to overcook it and I personally wouldn't risk it) to soften the wax.

[ChangeLing]

ok, very good, thank you all.

 

I am new to electric guitars and don't know the details of pickups etc.

 

All of your help is very appreciated.

 

I will plan to remove them and have a look to find the problem.

 

Since the screws should come all the way out then it sure does sound like

the covers are the offending culprit.

 

thank you all again so much,

ChangeLing