Pickup installation

[DalyTek]

I bought a set of Jackson J70 (I think) pickups to put into my Kelly to replace those horrible Kent Armstrongs. The install went well and the pickups both work good, but for some reason the neck pickup moves around...A LOT. The bridge pickup is pretty solid and only moves slightly and raises and lowers like it should. The neck pickup feels very loose and does not feel any better until I raise it to the point of almost pushing on the strings. It also seems to not sit centered in the ring.

Now, I did notice that the 2 pickups both have different springs. The ones in the bridge were more of a "cone-shape", while the neck springs were more straight, similar to the spring in a retractable ball-point pen. I don't know if that is what is causing the issue or not, but I'm guessing it is probably a factor.

I talked to the JCF member I bought the pups from (Alvin_Wilson--great guy, by the way!) and he said it is normal for the pups to be loose, and I checked some other guitars out and would agree with him. But not as loose as this pup is. It seriously feels like it's not held in there. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions I could try? I do like the pups, but I just want them to be in there right. Thanks for any help!

PS: This is my first pickup swap, so go easy on me if it was something I screwed up!

[spider murphy]

you could try new springs. if that doesn't work you may be able to stuff a piece of some sort of foam padding under the pickup to keep it from moving.

[Trussrod]

You could put some foam underneath the pup to keep it from moving around.

[DalyTek]

you could try new springs. if that doesn't work you may be able to stuff a piece of some sort of foam padding under the pickup to keep it from moving.

Where would I find new springs? The ones that were on the original pups were the "cone-shaped" ones (similar to the springs on the bridge pickup now) but the springs and the screws are shorter on them than the ones for the new pups.

Otherwise, I could try the foam thing, any particular type of foam to be used? Thanks for the replies, guys!

[spider murphy]

http://www.guitarjonesusa.com/catalog/store.php?crn=244
hope the link works.
as for the foam i think anything spongy would work.

[Gank]

Surgical or rubber tubing is supposed to work well in place of springs. I haven't tried it myself.

[DalyTek]

http://www.guitarjonesusa.com/catalog/store.php?crn=244
hope the link works.
as for the foam i think anything spongy would work.

Thanks for the link, spider murphy. Now I'm all confused though. The ones listed as "single-coil pickup spring" are the ones that were on the original humbuckers and in the current bridge humbucker (the one that is not loose) and the springs listed as "humbucker spring" are the ones in the loose neck humbucker. And what is rubber spring tubing used for? :think:

Edit: looks like that question what answered for me while I was replying...

[spider murphy]

for the price($1.50 for 10) you could get both types, and see which works best.

[DalyTek]

Just out of curiosity, could the pickup rings have anything to with it? The new ones did not come with rings, so I used the ones from the old pups. I put the thinner edge of each ring toward the neck, and am not sure if the two rings are different heights or not...

[spider murphy]

i don't think the rings would make much of a difference.

[DalyTek]

OK, maybe I will try swapping the current bridge and neck springs to see if that makes a difference to one/both of them. That seems like a logical way to see if the springs are the culprit....

(By the way, is that the correct orientation of the rings, with the thicker side facing the bridge, thinner side towards neck?)

[spider murphy]

(By the way, is that the correct orientation of the rings, with the thicker side facing the bridge, thinner side towards neck?)

yes.

[DalyTek]

Thanks for all your help, spider murphy (and everyone else too.)
I'm in the process of swapping springs now, and will post the results here when I get done.

[spider murphy]

no problem. good luck.

[DalyTek]

AHA! Found the problem! It was not the springs at all. The screws that hold the bottom bracket on the pickup were loose, so the pickup was anchored to the guitar just fine, but the pickup itself was not anchored to it's own base plate!