Pickup mounting basics

Jim Rossen · From: Iowa, USA

I am planning to mount an Alumitone Bassbar pickup into a cavity that is 3 5/8 x 1 17/32 in cut into a wooden fretboard. The strings are 1 1/4 in from the bottom of the cavity. I'd like the pickup height to be adjustable.
My questions are:
Use self tapping screws or glue in receivers for machine screws?
Should I attach fasteners to the bottom of the cavity or use mounting blocks?
Should I use springs or surgical tubing or ? to suspend the pickup?
Would appreciate specifics regarding fastener sizes etc.
Pickup dimension are at-
http://www.lacemusic.com/pdf/BB_specs.pdf

Thanks
Jim

Robert Allen · From: Tennessee, USA

In the old days, many pickups used compression springs on the pickup mounting screws but now I find more and more pickups are arriving with surgical tubing instead of springs. My guess is that surgical tubing costs less. About a year ago I e-mailed Stew Mac and asked them if they had the soft surgical tubing for pickup mounting. They never answered so I guess they don't consider it a guitar part yet. They'll probably stock it when they run out of springs. In any case, I think the springs give better adjustment than surgical tubing although I've had to use surgical tubing when I couldn't find the correct size springs. Good hardware sources are superfastener.com and boltdepot.com Springs can be difficult to find on the internet unless you're buying a barrel.

George Piburn · From: The Land of Enchantment New Mexico

With an Alumitone Bass Bar , it mounts with 4 hold down screws directly into the wood.

Your easiest way is to make shims to go under the legs of the Bass Bar.

at 1.250 deep - .888 pickup height = .362 - .150 space under the strings = .212 thickness Shim

Alumitone are 30 percent hotter than typical single coils, and slightly greater distance from the strings will give a little more smooth and cleaner response.

Typical Distance tends to be .125 ----- so .150 to .170 is good too.

Hope this helps some --- GeorgeBoards has installed 50 + Alumitones last business year and we stand by their quality - Very Happy

Tom Pettingill · From: California, USA (deceased)

Lots of ways to skin that cat. I think that whatever method you chose, its going to be important to get your mount pattern accurately transferred to the cavity bottom and any pilot holes or mounts drilled strait. If not strait, the long screws will exaggerate any errors and will fight you when trying to mount / keep it square.
Because the bassbar has a large open frame underneath, you should be able to flip it upside down in the cavity and accurately mark your holes that way.

As for hardware / screws, I'd suggest stainless steel. Its non magnetic, strong, and can be polished to a high shine that lasts.
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Ron Simpson · From: Illinois, USA

I installed an Alumitone in a Rickenbacker recently. I wanted to keep the height adjustable as well, so I mounted the Alumitone to the old baseplate which is height adjustable. Hope this helps.

Ron Simpson · From: Illinois, USA

[img]

Here is a quick drawing of the insides of the Rickenbacker. No routing was required. Good luck with the project.[/img]

Jim Rossen · From: Iowa, USA

Thanks for the informative replies!

My guitar has the pickup mounted close to the bridge, though not quite as close as the pictured Rick.

Ron- what do you think of the Alumitone in the Rick?

All forum members- To what extent and how does a pickup position close to the bridge affect the choice of pickup?

Thanks
Jim

Ron Simpson · From: Illinois, USA

The Alumitone produces a nice clear sound all the way down to the 8th string. I think I got the drawing of the insides to post this time.

Tom Pettingill · From: California, USA (deceased)

Chris Lucker · From: Los Angeles, California USA

The use of surgical tubing has less to do with cost than it does convenience. You can push the tubing over the screw threads and it will stay there and not fall off and get lost inside the guitar somewhere.

And, Stew Mac has sold surgical tubing for as long as I can remember. But you have to look for it under the words "surgical tubing."
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Peter den Hartogh · From: Cape Town, South Africa

Sometimes springs vibrate and resonate with certain tones. The Alumitone will pick that up for sure.

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Telonics has switched to tubing for acoustical reasons...
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George Piburn · From: The Land of Enchantment New Mexico

There are a lot of great suggestions in this thread.

We just got in 3 new 3.5 Chrome Bars -- they arrived with dense rubber gasket for Shims + 4 -- 1 1/2" mounting screws.
If Jim decides to go the Shim route , these are about .300 thickness and compress down to .200 quite easily providing the adjustable he seeks with zero effort.
These little gaskets have a peel n stick to help as well.

Here is a photo for your reference.

Tom Pettingill · From: California, USA (deceased)

Those high density foam rubber pads are very handy and also commonly used for mounting P90's, P Bass, and J Bass pickups too. Much like many things re-purposed, in reality its primarily manufactured as a high quality high density closed cell weather type striping.
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Robert Allen · From: Tennessee, USA

Chris, I assumed Stew Mac didn't have the surgical tubing because they failed to answer my e-mail asking if they had it. I buy a lot from them, just got another can of shielding paint from them today, but their customer service seems to be somewhat lacking. If I can find it in the catalog their service is generally excellent but if I have a question, it's like nobody at Stew Mac is home. Many times entering a keyword in their Search function doesn't yield a result for an item they stock. I just went to Stewmac's site and they now list it as "pickup spring tubing".

Chris Lucker · From: Los Angeles, California USA

Or type in surgical tubing
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