Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi Everyone. Been awhile. I have a modern 330 with the hi-gain pickups that have the adjustable pole pieces. I want to raise the pickups, but when I loosen the middle screw on each side of the pickup, nothing happens. It doesn't move. The screws just come out. Anyone else have this issue ? Or am I just that mechanically poor ? Hope everyone is well.

There is no spring mechanism to push them up when you loosen the screws. Only the foam pushes them away from the body. Maybe an extra foam ring to raise them up would help?

I can't even move them with my hands. Maybe they are stuck. Seems it came new with the pickups jammed all the way down, as low as the foam permitted.

See my post in your other identical thread.

Inexplicably, the foam appears to have glue on top that sticks to the pickup covers. This is baffling to me. In other words, they don't move, and I need to raise the pole pieces instead. SMH ...

How old is the guitar? Foam deteriorates over time and with environmental conditions which could be the "glue" you are encountering.

Less than three years. Bought brand new and it was new stock.

I even tried to raise them when I first got the guitar, and they wouldn't move.

The foam rings do have a bit of adhesive to keep them in place on the bottom of the pickup. If they've been heavily compressed, it's possible that new foam rings may be needed. But it's also worth noting that you sometimes need to give them some time to expand when raising the pickup. If you raise the screws and pull the pickup up, the foam will usually decompress and fill the gap after a little while.

If you have trouble raising the pickup by hand, it's probably because it's caught on the threads for the mounting screws. You can always remove those 2 screws completely and let the foam kind of reset itself for a little while, then screw the pickup back down. But a little trick is to use a screwdriver to wiggle the screw back and forth while you're pulling up on the pickup. That usually gets it moving up to meet the underside of the screw head.