Toaster cover on a high gain help!

[fazeka]

Hi guys,

Need your help!

Got a '15 4003S. Trying to put a toaster cover on the neck high gain.

Thought I read somewhere to use 3/8" (actually, someone said to grind down 1/2" to 0.4") 8-32 headless set screws to replace the button heads of the high gain in prep for the toaster cover.

Bought some 8-32 x 3/8" and swapped them out before taking off the 'guard.

Then, while taking off the 'guard, noticed on the bottom of the pickup what looks like the magnet with 4 holes that I think the screws are supposed to screw into? But the replacement set screws are too short?!? So the magnet is "floating" for lack of a better word... unattached to the pickup itself. Assuming the original screws were holding it to the pickup? There is some black glue looking stuff near each hole... FWIW...

I think I misunderstood something somewhere in my research...?!?

Do I need longer screws? The original factory button head screws measure approx. 0.60" long (not measuring the button head itself).

Attached pic.

Help!

Chris

[fazeka]

With the (too short?!?) set screws installed.

[prowla]

Well, from your description, the shaft of the screws should be the same on both, with just the head being a different depth?

An alternative would be long grub screws (ie. which have no head at all).

[collin]

Easiest solution in the world:


Unscrew the original pole pieces. Flip the pickup over, screw the same polepieces in from the backside. Put the cover on. Go drink a beer. Enjoy.

[prowla]

Easiest solution in the world:


Unscrew the original pole pieces. Flip the pickup over, screw the same polepieces in from the backside. Put the cover on. Go drink a beer. Enjoy.

I think you win a prize there!

[fazeka]

OK, yeah, I get that...

So if I am understanding correctly... will the pickup still be able to sit in the body cavity with the button heads on the bottom of the pickup?

And, why have I never seen that mentioned as a solution? Why would people bother with cutting off the screw heads or search for set screws?

Going based off this here thread and these posts:

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=406695#p768326

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=379251&start=30#p797654

and

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=406695&start=15#p768358

Only thing I can surmise is that the 3/8" to 0.40" is used when using flat-head screws (not headless set screws) and drilling the countersinks into the pickup. I don't want to do that.

So it's now either cut the button heads off or look for 5/8" set screws...

Thanks!

[aceonbass]

The reason you've never seen this solution mentioned before is that it won't work. If you screw the poles in from the bottom, the heads will prevent the magnet from sitting flush on the bottom of the bobbin. Whatever you use for screws needs to also be a very high iron content material. Anything that's not magnetic won't work. While the pickup will actually work without any poles at all, you need the poles to focus the magnetic field closer to the strings. Toasters do this without visible poles because the poles are magnets themselves. "Unbuttoning" hi gains seems to work well on a guitar, but not as well on a bass because you can get the pickup closer to the strings on a guitar than a bass before playing them causes the strings to hit the pickup cover.

[collin]

Ok, I've done this conversion successfully many times. No issues whatsoever.

That said (and I understand this is the bass subpage) but I'm not a bass guy and have only done this with guitars. Worked fine though, no clearance issues and it sounded the same.

[chefothefuture]

I've done it simply by removing the button head screws, installing allen set screws of similar length to the bobbin depth, and finally installing the toaster cover.
Never had to remove the magnet.

As Dane pointed out, you will want to use screws with a high iron content or they won't won't well or at all.

[aceonbass]

Sonically, doing this will have the same effect as lowering the pickup 1/8" or so, unless you raise the pickup by the height of the removed buttons when you're done....which you can't do with a bass pickup due to the fact it's beneath the guard. Why not just get a Toaster pickup?

[collin]

Sonically, doing this will have the same effect as lowering the pickup 1/8" or so, unless you raise the pickup by the height of the removed buttons when you're done....which you can't do with a bass pickup due to the fact it's beneath the guard. Why not just get a Toaster pickup?

Curious, given that hi gain pickups are high-output (12-14K in some cases), does lowering the pickup this much affect the tone similar to creating a less "hot" hi gain?

Guitar-wise, I'm used to using 60's-era toasters, so when I've done the hi-gain toaster conversion, the tone seems closer to a lower-output toaster. Might just be to my ears though.

[fazeka]

I've heard that the four corner screws on the pickup cover could be removed to gain some height and that the height screws will still hold the pickup together. Or one could wrap some fine wire through the holes to hold it all together.