Neck Pickup Question

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Thu Jan 02, 2003 11:16 am

Rob Fronckowiak posted the following in 'Ask a Rickenbacker Luthier':
"I've got a small problem that's been bugging me for a while. Sometimes, the A and D strings hit the polepieces on the neck high-gain on my '76 4001, causing a popping sound. Today, I tried adjusting the pickup downward only to find out that my pickguard might crack while doing so. The polepieces appear to be adjustable, but I couldn't get them to move. Any ideas?"

Well, Rob, you should be able to lower the pickup. Maybe it's stuck in the pickguard.
Do not attempt to adjust (= lower) the polepieces, this can not be done. Please see 'Making The 4001/4001 Neck Pickup Fully Height Adjustable' herebelow. I trust you'll find the answer to your problem there. Cheers.

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Thu Jan 02, 2003 4:15 pm

That phenomenon /sound is just normal. Solution? Just slam all your notes so they all pop and adjust your volume or EQ accordingly.

Whenever guitarists came to me complaining, back when I owned my MG 4003, I just told them I did it intentionally… drove them nuts!!

Garry

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Thu Jan 02, 2003 4:18 pm

I just remembered…

Installing a Toaster in the neck position will take care of this once and for all!

GP

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Thu Jan 02, 2003 5:50 pm

The '60's basses had a spring between the pickguard and the neck pickup ... the modern basses have a rubber grommet ... I have found that only adjusting the pickup closer to the strings causes stress and distress to the pickguard ....

Maybe you need to put in new rubber grommets or put in springs ... you might need to rout out a little wood under the neck pickup so it can go down .... I had to do this to one Rick bass

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 5:55 pm

I've found with most old 4001's that the rubber grommets are usually flattened out from being as high as they will go for 20 years, and are pretty much useless if you try to lower the pickup more than a fraction of an inch, they just flop in there. The new 4003's are fine though, but I wish there were still springs in there.

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 11:34 pm

Well then, do away with those pointless rubber grommets and fit two tiny springs instead which will enable you to accurately adjust the bass pickup in height. Using those grommets for that very purpose is a gross oversight, if you ask me.

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Mon Jul 21, 2003 10:02 am

From my point of view, the use of grommets was an attempt to limit the pickup's travel, i.e. the distance it could be raised or lowered, to a very short distance, as compared to what a spring could allow. Maybe this was due to the limitation of the depth of the routing under the pickup.

I bought a package of rubber grommets, nearly identical to the factory replacements, at Fry's Electronics for a really cheap price. They work just fine; I used them to replace the worn-out ones on the 1967 450 MG that I gave my grand-niece as well as on my 1981 460 BG that was missing one on its neck pickup.