borisbrain Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 Help me out here basspeeps, and forgive me if I'm being spectacularly dumb. I'm trying to adjust the pickup height on a CIJ 62 reissue P Bass, which is too over-angled (or just plain underpowered) for my taste. I want to raise the pups to be a little closer to the E and G strings, but whenever I turn the adjustment screws, this only affects the height of the covers, not the pickups themselves. Neither the pickups nor the covers seem sprung in any way, so any pressure from a thumb resting on the cover just pushes it all back down. With the covers removed, the pickup itself sits on a thin foam pad, all of which rests on a copper plate. Can I use something as a wedge? Any suggestions? Should this be placed above or below the copper plate? I've never had to tinker with this sort of thing before, so I don't want to bugger anything up. And once again, forgive me if I'm being dumb here... Many thanks, BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 (edited) It should be a fairly thick foam pad. Sounds like your foam is compressed and needs replacing. You can buy foam specifically for the purpose: [url="https://www.kleinpickups.com/p-223-p-bass-pickup-foam.aspx"]https://www.kleinpic...ickup-foam.aspx[/url] But you can use anything springy, really. Some people recommend cutting up a mouse mat and using that. You could also put the pickup screws through appropriately-sized springs. AFAIK it's copper plate, foam, pickups. HTH Edited October 3, 2013 by discreet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 Those RI pups come as a complete "unit". Foam sandwiched between the pups and the copper plate. Which is kinda cool and a bit retro. However it's all a bit unnecessary as (in theory) you don't need the copper plate in a P bass because the pups are wired up as a humbucker unit and should therefore be hum free. If it were me I might go for the mouse mat (or some such) as previously mentioned above and for simplicity I'd put it under the pup/foam/copper unit and screw it down. If you wanted to separate the layers and install thicker foam in between then that's fine too... just be careful not to jerk the wires in the process as they are quite delicately fixed under the bobbin part. Using springs might end up being problematic as they could get stuck on the tip of copper plate (which by then is no longer resting on the bottom of the rout) and you'd tear it off or buckle it or whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borisbrain Posted October 3, 2013 Author Share Posted October 3, 2013 Many thanks Discreet, Ou7shined. On closer inspection it appears that not only was the foam ultra-compressed, it had also stuck to the copper plate, thus anchoring it firmly in its lowest position, regardless of what the covers were doing. I've just cut some nice friendly 5 mm foam rectangles from a defunct pedal case, whacked them in there and Bob's yer bass-playing uncle. Job done. Thanks again chaps. Gotta love this forum. BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 Youuuuurrrrr'ee welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassman Sam Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 This is why I love this forum. Nice one guys, I've learned something new and useful today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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