Microphonic Bridge Pickup - What Next?

[bplavelle]

I thought the original pickup in my 1960 Telecaster was the most microphonic little sucker that ever existed. I took it to my local luthier (John Thurston in Baltimore, HIGHLY RECOMMEND) and he agreed. He called Lindy Fralin and sent the pickup off to be potted. It came back with only slight improvement.

I've started reading some of the forums and am wondering if the problem may be the bridge. One thread even mentioned that Danny Gatton had a fifth screw on his bridge that held it tight in the front half. I really don't want to do any permanent damage to the old blonde so does anybody have any thought on the matter?

No need for the "it's a Tele, that's what they sound like" threads - I've had a bunch of different Teles with different pickups over the years. This one almost qualifies as a percusion intrument as you can hear every little tap or rap when in the bridge (and to a lesser degree) and middle positions.

Thanks!

[chickenpicker]

Hi and welcome.

Can you experiment - put your pickup in another tele; put a pickup from a non-microphonic tele in yours; swap bridges etc?

[cacibi]

There was a thread about this recently I think. Could be that the baseplate has separated from the bottom of the pickup slightly, in which case you can reheat the baseplate with a soldering iron and re-attach it - since they are held together by wax anyway.

[bplavelle]

It doesn't appear to be the pickup, I've tried several and get the same problem. I guess I'm feeling it's some combination of the bridge and body - but really don't know where to start.

Any thoughts on limiting the microphonics that might be brought about by the bridge, or how the bridge it set, or any other possible sources?

[Buckshot]

One possible solution is to melt some parafin wax onto the area of the body that contacts the bridge and swiftly press down the bridge, thus filling the voids & dampening the bridge's sympathetic vibrations. I'd do it by loosening the bridge screws enough to lift the bridge up, but leaving the screws attached to the body so they can guide the bridge back into position. I'd also mask off the body outside of the bridge to ease the cleanup of excess wax. Oh yeah, I'd probably remove the strings & pickup first, but you might be able to pull the job off without that step.
It's cheap & requires no permanent mods.

[Mark Davis]

Its the bridge this happens all the time and people blame the pickups.

1. The bridge isnt completly flat against the body. This causes a harmonic feedback. The fix is remove the bridge put some 400 grit sandpaper on a flat surface and sand till no high spots are visible. YOu can also add 2 small screws at the top corners of the bridge to help hold it flat.

2. The baseplate has come loose. In your case this cant be true cause you just had your pickup repotted.

3. Another thing to try is stuff some foam into the bridge pickup cavity. The stuff that comes with Duncan pickups works perfect.

[bplavelle]

thanks for all the input fellas! buckshot, wouldn't i need to leave the pickup in, as the wax will peel off when i pull the bridge plate to remount the pickup?