Quiet neck pickups

phlemmy · Post by **phlemmy** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:55 am

On my 79 4001 and 80 4003, the neck pups are much more quiet than the bridge pups. If I switch over to use them I have to crank the amp up to get a decent sound. Blending the pups isn't bad and the bridge pups are still pretty hot on their own. Should I look into having them rewound or replaced? Could it be something in the wiring? I do believe both have had some sort of capacitor bypass or something, I don't know. I'm admittedly ignorant on such issues.

Thanks.

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 3:46 am

Yes, bypassing or removing the treble-pass capacitor results in more output from the treble pickup. Assuming you don't wish to put that cap back in, you have two choices: either lower the treble pu and raise the bass one as far as it will go (don't crack the pickguard in the process, by the way...) or fit a stronger bar magnet to the bass pickup.

ajish4 · Post by **ajish4** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 4:02 am

Sean,

I was thinking about this VERY SAME thing yesterday.

My toaster neck pickups are DEAD QUIET. My 2006 Monty does the very same thing. I was wondering if the toaster covering possibly shielded the pickup where the bridge pickup isn't?

I put copper tape on the inside of the bridge pickup cover and it did cut down the noise A LITTLE. I don't have the gumption to try shielding the entire cavity.

billy_sacco · Post by **billy_sacco** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 4:09 am

Will shielding the cavity in Ricks affect the sound at all? I was going to try to shield the bass with copper tape to reduce the noise but didn't know if this would affect the classic rick sound or not.

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:21 am

Hmmm... Er... uh... I'm 100% sure that by "much more quiet" Sean meant "having noticeably less output". Right, Sean?

phlemmy · Post by **phlemmy** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 11:18 am

That's correct, Sérgio.

ajish4 · Post by **ajish4** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:38 pm

Sorry,

MY BAD.

But I do get a 60cycle hummmmmmmmmm from my bridge Pup, but NOT my toaster...

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:05 pm

Hehe... Seriously: indeed - the fact that the treble pickup, unlike the bass one, is not "snugly" surrounded by metal goes some way towards making it noisier.

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 3:03 pm

If it hums, teach it the tune!

Better yet, ohm it out and make sure the ground is intact and low impedance. And don't be afraid to fully shield the cavity, or all of the electronics area and also the bottom of the pickguard where it meets the cavity shielding overlap. BT, DT, and it's really quiet.