Stratocaster HSS pickup is not level

nonesuch

I’ve got a new Mexican Standard Stratocaster with a humbucker pickup in the bridge position. The two halves of the humbucker are not level, they are slightly tilting away from each other. This is also resulting in a bit of a gap in the middle.

Firstly I was wondering if this could cause any issues, and secondly is there anything I can do to straighten it out, bringing the two halves together, so that it is horizontal to the strings as it should be?

I’ve tried to take a couple of pictures to show the problem.

richardhomer

Are the bobbins loose?

If so, they are held to the base plate by small screws and can be easily tightened (obviously you need to get under the scratchplate to do this).

Funkfingers

richardhomer said:

they are held to the base plate by small screws and can be easily tightened

Those screws can also be over-tightened.

Typically, the side of each bobbin above the bar magnet is prevented from moving any further towards the baseplate. Hence, over-tightening pulls the outermost edge of each bobbin in an arc, away from the centre line of the pickup.

richardhomer said:

you need to get under the scratchplate

In all frankness, once you are in there, the temptation will be to *solve* the MIM pickup problem by upgrading them.

richardhomer

Funkfingers said:

richardhomer said:

they are held to the base plate by small screws and can be easily tightened

Those screws can also be over-tightened.

Typically, the side of each bobbin above the bar magnet is prevented from moving any further towards the baseplate. Hence, over-tightening pulls the outermost edge of each bobbin in an arc, away from the centre line of the pickup.

richardhomer said:

you need to get under the scratchplate

In all frankness, once you are in there, the temptation will be to *solve* the MIM pickup problem by upgrading them.

How about helping the guy instead?

I asked if they were loose - clearly if they’re not - tightening the screws isn’t the solution.

nonesuch

richardhomer said:

Are the bobbins loose?

If so, they are held to the base plate by small screws and can be easily tightened (obviously you need to get under the scratchplate to do this).

No, nothing seems to be loose. So could the screws be over-tightened? Is that the screws on the base on the pickup?

richardhomer

nonesuch said:

richardhomer said:

Are the bobbins loose?

If so, they are held to the base plate by small screws and can be easily tightened (obviously you need to get under the scratchplate to do this).

No, nothing seems to be loose. So could the screws be over-tightened? Is that the screws on the base on the pickup?

Yes. Usually the bobbins rest on a bar magnet (which sits between the two rows of pole-pieces) and spacers to keep them level. It’s possible the spacers are missing - hard to know without seeing it.

nonesuch

OK thanks. I'll take the scratchplate off and have a look. Annoyingly I've just had a set-up and new strings put on.

Funkfingers

nonesuch said:
So could the screws be over-tightened? Is that the screws on the base on the pickup?

Yes.

How very unhelpful of me to suggest this. 

horse

nonesuch said:

OK thanks. I'll take the scratchplate off and have a look. Annoyingly I've just had a set-up and new strings put on.

If it is sounding ok I'd just leave it until you are next changing the strings.

OilCityPickups

Okay, the lowdown from someone who makes pickups for a living, this is very common in cheaper pickups. Firstly the outer edges of the bobbin rest on one side on a spacer (on some pickups a plastic one, on PAFs types etc, one made of maple or other wood). On the other side the bobbin outer edge usually sits on the output wires, as they actually come right across the pickup to connect into the coils on the bass side. If the shim is undersized or missing, or if the output lead is thinner than the magnet/pole shoe, the bobbins will lean outwards as the screws are tightened. This actually causes no issues to the performance of the pickup at all, but if it bothers you visually then you will need thicker spacer/spacers.
So long as the bobbins are not loose I'd just leave it.

However if you want it fixed I'd be happy to do it for the price of postage ... it's only a 90p shim!

nonesuch

TheGuitarWeasel said:

However if you want it fixed I'd be happy to do it for the price of postage ... it's only a 90p shim!

That's a really kind offer, I'll have a look and see if I can figure it out, then I might ask for your help! To be honest I probably need to look at a diagram of a pickup to understand the construction.

I've actually ordered a black scratchplate, so when that comes I'll be able to have a proper look under the pickup.

OilCityPickups

nonesuch said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

However if you want it fixed I'd be happy to do it for the price of postage ... it's only a 90p shim!

That's a really kind offer, I'll have a look and see if I can figure it out, then I might ask for your help! To be honest I probably need to look at a diagram of a pickup to understand the construction.

I've actually ordered a black scratchplate, so when that comes I'll be able to have a proper look under the pickup.

I'm building a couple of humbuckers tomorrow ... I'll take a pic or two to show you

nonesuch

That would be really interesting to see. It's always good to learn something new!

OilCityPickups

nonesuch said:

That would be really interesting to see. It's always good to learn something new!

Standby .... coming shortly ...

OilCityPickups

Okay ... from this you can see that if the output lead and keeper bar or the shim are thinner than the magnet ... as you tighten the bobbin screws ... the bobbins will lean outwards.

nonesuch

Thanks for that - I can see what you mean now. Presumably there'll be a cover over the base of the pickup, and will the bobbins be screwed onto the base cover from the back? Are there two screws either side?

OilCityPickups

What you see is the baseplate ... the bottom of the pickup viewed from above/the top ... before the bobbins are put on.
Yep there are two screws on each side ... easy to over tighten them and strip out the inside of the holes in the bobbins. The lean on your bobbins is very extreme, so it looks like they may have left out the shim completely! 

Funkfingers

nonesuch said:

Presumably there'll be a cover over the base of the pickup

No. No need. 

EDIT: Actually, some Fender in-house humbuckers, intended to fit into a Stratocaster, use a flat fibreboard baseplate rather than the conventional stamped metal item. e.g. Some examples of the Tex-Mex humbucker.

nonesuch said:

will the bobbins be screwed onto the base cover from the back? Are there two screws either side?

Yes. In the photograph, you should see eight holes through the baseplate per bobbin. Holes two and seven are for the bobbin fastening screws.



@TheGuitarWeasel Everything looks neat and tidy in the photograph with the long smooth bar magnet. How would you adapt the spacers to cope with an uneven sand cast magnet?

OilCityPickups

Funkfingers said:

nonesuch said:

Presumably there'll be a cover over the base of the pickup

No. No need. 

EDIT: Actually, some Fender in-house humbuckers, intended to fit into a Stratocaster, use a flat fibreboard baseplate rather than the conventional stamped metal item. e.g. Some examples of the Tex-Mex humbucker.

nonesuch said:

will the bobbins be screwed onto the base cover from the back? Are there two screws either side?

Yes. In the photograph, you should see eight holes through the baseplate per bobbin. Holes two and seven are for the bobbin fastening screws.



@TheGuitarWeasel Everything looks neat and tidy in the photograph with the long smooth bar magnet. How would you adapt the spacers to cope with an uneven sand cast magnet?

Sand cast magnets are only pitted ... not actually uneven in thickness.
Flat fibre baseplates use shims too ... I use flat fibre for quite a few of my HBs ... especially 7 string ones ... and they get the same spacers/shims as metal baseplates :-)

Funkfingers

TheGuitarWeasel said:

Flat fibre baseplates

I only mentioned these in case the OP's Fender humbucker has one.

Your photograph of a conventional stamped metal humbucker baseplate might not match what nonesuch can see on a Fender MIM humbucker.

nonesuch

TheGuitarWeasel said:

What you see is the baseplate ... the bottom of the pickup viewed from above/the top ... before the bobbins are put on.
Yep there are two screws on each side ... easy to over tighten them and strip out the inside of the holes in the bobbins. The lean on your bobbins is very extreme, so it looks like they may have left out the shim completely! 

Yes I think I got a bit mixed up! I kind of knew what I meant...

Thanks for everyone's advice - basically I need to have a look under the scratchplate and see what's going on. My next daft question is could the baseplate be unscrewed enough to fit a shim under, or does it need to be completely taken apart?