Another 330 question

wormdiet · Post by **wormdiet** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 6:40 am

I'll skip the preliminaries this time and get right to the heart of the matter. My g and b strings are noticeably louder than everything else. I'm not totally surprised at this b/c they aren;t wound. HOWever, my high "e" is extremely quiet. . . and needs to be fixed. This volume weakness on the high e occurs on any pickup setting.

Any suggestions? I spent a good deal of time searching the archive here and did not find many that concern guitars. Similar problems have cropped up among bass players, and i've notcied it on other ricks I;ve tried.

I think my first course of action will be to try a new gauge of strings, which I was going to do anyway. Then might be a pickup height adjustment. I'd love to raise the polepiece on the pickup but I understand that's a warranty no-no. I suppose a compressor might help, but that seems like overkill if another solution exists.

Apologies if the info is already here and I just can;t find it.

ojobob2 · Post by **ojobob2** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 8:32 am

try weaking the treble side truss rods a tiny bit. Just nudge it. Worked on my 4003 and 4001, and i hear its common on all ricks

wormdiet · Post by **wormdiet** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 9:28 am

Hrrm. . . . loosen to develop more bow? That definitely sounds like an option to try after the string upgrade. Thanks!

ojobob2 · Post by **ojobob2** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 10:19 am

nono! loosen the tinyest fraction - it wont alter the neck position. Sometimes unbalanced strings are cured by this - just one of those quirks. Its not just me saying this, there was a whole topic on it a while back

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 12:16 pm

Put the blame on those non-adjustable polepieces.
If your 330 was made in the 70s or 80s, leave the polepieces alone. If it was made in the 90s, go ahead and raise the high E string polepiece. Better still, remove and switch the high E and the G string polepieces - no harm will come to the pickup.

wormdiet · Post by **wormdiet** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 5:26 pm

After further experimentation (about 6 1/2 hours straight. I'm dedicated to scientific research here

) the string misbalance seems most pronounced when the PU selector is in the middle. Why? I have no clue. This is good, thought, as I play mostly on the neck PU soloed.

admin · Post by **admin** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 11:19 am

Sergio and John: Do you suppose that the bottom of the coil, after the buttons were inserted, was not ground completely flush on the bottom side. The double faced tape that holds the magnet to the steel buttons is an insulator. Add to that the possibility that the bobbin is not flush and there might then be a gap resulting in the quiet outside string. If this is the case, then simply turning the around will leave the the low E with the same problem. This would be a good way to test the theory.

Going with this line of thinking, creating a flat surface by sanding the bottom of the coil smooth should get rid of the gap.

Perhaps, if other more conservative attemps fail, try taking the bobbin out of the cover, remove the magnet, remove the double-sided tape, remove the leads, and sand bottom on a flat surface using a sheet of sand paper. Then reassemble.

This may not be the solution but I have heard of this before from luthiers and it may be worth a try. Although I am from Canada, I am not a big fan of tape (Red-Green forgive me). You may wish to use glue in place of the tape, although it is a bit of a bother should you need to take it apart again.

I would really be interested in your observations with regard to the surface of the bottom of the coil. Let the experiment begin.

wormdiet · Post by **wormdiet** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 6:01 am

I am gonna try a few less radical solutions before doing open-heart surgery on the new pickup. Peter, I have gotten some other advice along the same lines as your own. Looks like we have a few options to pursue here, so I'll start off with the least invasive.
Thanks for all the replies!