The Steel Guitar Forum

Does this strike anyone else as strange or wrong? I just had the new Fishman pickup installed in my Beard. I haven't had the opportunity to plug into a PA yet, but did plug into my Blues Jr. - probably not the ideal test situation( ?). Pretty cool, but to my ears, with EQ set at middle for each control, the 1st string was pretty trebley. Some of the "images" minimized it a bit, so i just chalked it up to the amp and moved on. Soon, it developed a nasty buzz. My old screwdriver didn't fit in the tension screw like it once had. As I looked closer, what I saw just doesn't seem right to me. The inserts were much closer together than they once used to be and the inside of the inserts looked like they'd been trimmed with a circular saw. The piezo seemed to rest on the tension screw.
I suppose I'll let the pics explain:



And so I look deeper:






After taking the pics, I reassembled everything and still can't get that darn buzz out of there (I've been able to in the past). Anyone think this install could be causing my troubles with the buzz or 1st string? I believe I've read a post here that mentioned an improper install can cause problems with EQ...

The look of the cuts to the maple inserts does not inspire a lot of confidence in the Luthier that did the work.

I did one of these install jobs once and did not like the outcome. Your photos do not look good to me. I think you need to redo it. I had to "eat" my pickup, buy a new one and send it off to a good dobro technician - Bobby Wright, who did it correctly. Beard is probably the best place to have this done. That luthier did not do it correctly. If you are like me, you probably have lost faith in this person's ability to do this job. Good luck. I'd take it elsewhere, I'm afraid.

I had Kent Schoonover install mine in one of his spiders - best thing I could have done, it works a treat.

First off, you shouldn't have to cut out an area of the pickup for the screw. The pickups are designed to fit without that. This bad cutout did not help the pickup. You can buy a spider from Beard that has screws in it to hold the pickup in place. I installed the pickup in my Beard E and it fit tight without another spider. If you don't run the power cord to the pickup in the proper manner it can cause a buzz to happen or deaden the cone. If that doesn't help then you need to get a professional setup on it.