Cracked Pickup Mounts

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pubdoggy

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Oct 10, 2005
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Location
London
Hi.

I've had my LS65 for 2 years and within the past month I've noticed cracks appearing in my Pickup Mounts (neck + bridge). These cracks are forcing the mounts up so they are nearly touching the strings. Has anybody had a similar experience? Can anybody recommend what to do or why this has happened?

Pics attached

tokai1.jpg


tokai2.jpg


Thanks for any advice

S
 
Was the Guitar new? The strings look awfly close to the p'up surrounds anyway...could have been replaced with an inferior ones at some time. The only time I have ever seen that was on my Columbus Les Paul copy in 1976!
They are cheap enough to replace, a couple of quid should do it
 
Holy cow Blue Haze! You have a Columbus? My very first guitar was a Columbus Les Paul copy. I still have it! It has a bolt on neck, and the crappiest, most microphonic pickeups ever known to man. I LOVE the way the neck plays on that guitar though. I thought about replacing the electronics and tuners and getting it up to playing standards again but after examining the cost, I bought a brand new tele instead.

My Columbus has seen better days. I accidentally left it overnight in my car in -40 degree weather and the finish cracked vertically all along the body. It looks kinda cool actually, almost like Paul Stanley's Mirror Iceman, but I was horrified at the time.

Do you have any idea on how to determine the age of a Columbus? Mine was bought in England and brought back to Canada and I've never seen another one or heard of anyone who had one before now.

Sorry for the threadjack Pubdoggy.
 
ta. guitar was brand new when I bought in '03. Interesting you should notice the action is so low - that raises a whole new question about set-up...
 
Spleen...No I dont have it anymore! It was a copy of a Black Custom and the neck was very good! The pickup's were single coils stuffed into a double coil sized covers and could pick up radio Luxembourg. It was my first electric Guitar and I loved it anyway, sniff!

pubdoggy, a microscopic action hieght may sound cool , but an action that low causes serious problems with the playability of the Guitar! Those pickups are big magnets...they pull the strings towards them if they are too close to them and kill the sustain! Also I see the pickups are cranked way back into the body...perhaps the back screw tension is pushing the surrounds out causing them to warp and split?
I would always recommend finding a Guitar shop with a tech who does set ups. It can drastically improve your instrument. Its the best 'upgrade' you can give your guitar
 
Blue - thanks for the advice - I've literally not touched the setup since I bought it - it came like this off the shelf.

Can you explain what you mean by back screw tension?

Also - if you can recommend a good guitar tech in London...

Cheers
 
Blue Haze said:
Spleen...No I dont have it anymore! It was a copy of a Black Custom and the neck was very good! The pickup's were single coils stuffed into a double coil sized covers and could pick up radio Luxembourg. It was my first electric Guitar and I loved it anyway, sniff!
Wow. That is an exact description of my guitar as well!
 
pubdoggy said:
Blue - thanks for the advice - I've literally not touched the setup since I bought it - it came like this off the shelf.

Can you explain what you mean by back screw tension?

Also - if you can recommend a good guitar tech in London...

Cheers

I Live near Newcastle in geordieland so I dont know anyone in London who's good and reasonable cost wise, I'll ask some sothern geezers on another forum see what they say.

About the Back tension, if the pups were so far in the body they were hitting the back and pushing the plastic outwards...I dunno...just guessing really from the pictures


teengit.jpg
 
I had that crack problem in my LS70 neck pickup ring and I live in a permanently wet enviroment.I glued it with contact cement glue(Superglue).
 
the nervous person in me would like to point out that, anyone who plans on gluing the pickup bezels on your guitar with superglue, PLEASE take them off your guitar first 8)
 
luis said:
I had that crack problem in my LS70 neck pickup ring and I live in a permanently wet enviroment.I glued it with contact cement glue(Superglue).

Mine has a small hairline on top (neck pickup ring) and i got constant temp, and that has happened within 40days of playing.
 
Not all the country has the same enviroment.Where I live is prety similar to Ireland altough a little warmer....Humidity is between 70-90 % most of the time.
 
Well as i said i just noticed a very small surface line on the top of my neck pickup ring. I hope it is not the begining of a crack, but maybe its the fact that i pick very close to that position.

I wouldntl think that plastic would crack from environmental changes, wood yes but not plastic. I might be wrong.
 
Thermoplastics, such as vacuum formed or Injection moulded items (like Pickup surrounds) can split or crack due to impurities in the extruded sheet or pellet mixture, or even as the result of over rapid cooling during manufacture. But this would happen over a relatively short time. Under normal conditions cracking could happen as a result of ageing , after about 20 years. Moulded items are not designed to resist stress where they are not requires to do so. Stress from one or two screw holes can appear between the two, or where the material is weakest. PVC and Polypropelene typically behave like this.

(Nerd mode cancel!)
 
Ok so maybe the line i see in the middle (top) of my neck pickup ring might be nothing? I know its not a big deal to change the ring (5$) but i would hate to do it on a 40day guitar.
 
The reason the rings crack like that is a result of the carved top on the guitar. The rings are made flat with no radius to fit the carved top. The best fix is new rings with the bottoms radiused to fit the guitar. This has happened to every one of my gibsons! Hope this helps..
 
fewmm said:
The reason the rings crack like that is a result of the carved top on the guitar. The rings are made flat with no radius to fit the carved top. The best fix is new rings with the bottoms radiused to fit the guitar. This has happened to every one of my gibsons! Hope this helps..

i never understood why manufacturers dont make surrounds that are radiused to fit the guitar... it would save things like what this guy is experiencing with his new guitar... i cant say that i have experienced anything like this on any of the les pauls that i have owned though...
 
fewmm said:
The reason the rings crack like that is a result of the carved top on the guitar. The rings are made flat with no radius to fit the carved top. The best fix is new rings with the bottoms radiused to fit the guitar. This has happened to every one of my gibsons! Hope this helps..

Thanks for all of your replies Guys & Gals - most helpful
 

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