Dimarzio Crunchlab pickup height problem

[Oli]

Hey guys!

I've noticed lately that my bridge pickup, which is a crunchlab, won't go any lower, and it's currently at it's lowest. Weird thing is that there's like 1mm spacing between the strings and the pickup, so I'm kind of getting wolf tone and unbalanced definition when using different strings or playing full chords.

What I want to know is, is there any possibility to have it at a lower setting without touching the action or neck? I used to have a V8 in the bridge and the pickup itself is much smaller in height. They're both direct mount, and the mount system is the same height. Weirdness. I really want it lowered.

Any help would be appreciated!

Oli

 

[TheRileyOBrien]

I am assuming ibanez right? On some older ones there is a block of wood that needs to be routed out to allow for the pickup to be mounted deeper. If its even older yet the entire pocket may be too shallow and need to be routed.

Rather than dealing with a bunch of speculation on here you could just pull it out and asses the situation underneath and see what is keeping it from going lower.

 

[Oli]

I am assuming ibanez right? On some older ones there is a block of wood that needs to be routed out to allow for the pickup to be mounted deeper. If its even older yet the entire pocket may be too shallow and need to be routed.

Rather than dealing with a bunch of speculation on here you could just pull it out and asses the situation underneath and see what is keeping it from going lower.

What's keeping it from going lower is that the pickup itself is thick. Like I said previously, I've had other pickups in this guitar before and never encountered this problem

 

[TheRileyOBrien]

What's keeping it from going lower is that the pickup itself is thick. Like I said previously, I've had other pickups in this guitar before and never encountered this problem

Meh, The crunch lab is a bit taller than average but there are taller ones out there. If its too tall for the existing pockets then you will need to make them deeper to account for that or choose a different pickup.

 

[Oli]

Meh, The crunch lab is a bit taller than average but there are taller ones out there. If its too tall for the existing pockets then you will need to make them deeper to account for that or choose a different pickup.

Budget is a bit tight at the moment, so how would I go about shaving the bridge pocket?

 

[TheRileyOBrien]

Budget is a bit tight at the moment, so how would I go about shaving the bridge pocket?

It all depends on what the pocket looks like. I had a couple Ibanez guitars that had a block that I was able to just chisel out. If the bottom of the pocket is flat then you will probably need to route it. A cheap way to do that without an actual router would be to buy a forstner bit or two(preferably a small one for where the mounting tabs go and a larger one for main part of the pocket) and drill down a couple of mm and then use a chisel to clean up the triangles that are left over after using a round bit.

You can google image search "forstner bit guitar" and get a ton of examples

Basically this idea except you would just be making the existing pocket deeper.

 

[Oli]

It all depends on what the pocket looks like. I had a couple Ibanez guitars that had a block that I was able to just chisel out. If the bottom of the pocket is flat then you will probably need to route it. A cheap way to do that without an actual router would be to buy a forstner bit or two(preferably a small one for where the mounting tabs go and a larger one for main part of the pocket) and drill down a couple of mm and then use a chisel to clean up the triangles that are left over after using a round bit.

You can google image search "forstner bit guitar" and get a ton of examples

Basically this idea except you would just be making the existing pocket deeper.

Thank you.

 

[cardinal]

1: you might want to edit out the all caps from the title before a mod sees it and gets pissed

2: are you sure it's the pickup and not the lead/cable from the pickup causing problems? If had to rework Dimarzio baseplates to route the pickup wire in a way that lets the pickup mount flat to an Ibanez

 

[Oli]

1: you might want to edit out the all caps from the title before a mod sees it and gets pissed

2: are you sure it's the pickup and not the lead/cable from the pickup causing problems? If had to rework Dimarzio baseplates to route the pickup wire in a way that lets the pickup mount flat to an Ibanez

Yeah there's nothing under it.