Okay so I have an HSS Strat build that I put together a while ago that's had a few lingering small issues I'm looking to finally address. This one probably isn't a huge deal, but it's driving me crazy.
Totally assembled, I've noticed a hump or warping in the center of the pickguard, specifically between the pickups. When I raise the middle pickup, I can see the whole middle area of the pickup rising with it.
Has anyone run into this? Any suggestions?
Some info that could be helpful:
Thanks for any ideas or guidance!
Totally assembled, I've noticed a hump or warping in the center of the pickguard, specifically between the pickups. When I raise the middle pickup, I can see the whole middle area of the pickup rising with it.
Has anyone run into this? Any suggestions?
Some info that could be helpful:
- This is a modern Warmonth Strat body with HSS routing. I measure the pickup route depth at 3/4" in line with Warmoth spec. The "single coils" are Mojotone Quiet Coil noiseless pups, and are fairly tall. However, neither the wire running under the middle pickup nor the height adjustment screw appear to be bottoming out.
- I noticed the height adjustment tubing was getting really, really compressed when raising the pup to the right height. I tried cutting down the height of the tubing with an X-Acto, but that had no impact either way. I haven't cut down the neck pickup tubing, and you can see the difference in one of the photos I attached.
- Lowering the pickup more or less flattens out the pickguard, but there's still a bit of a hump there. I wonder if that's just because the pickguard has been warped that way over time. This has been this way for a long while.
- The pickguard is pretty snug around the edges of the pup covers. I haven't yet tried filing out the pickup openings a bit to give the covers a bit more space. That may be the next thing I try barring other suggestions, but not sure if that will do anything
- Taking the neck off, unscrewing the pickguard, or pulling the pickguard off the guitar doesn't change anything. I thought perhaps the neck was pushing on the pickguard or that my screw holes were positioned poorly, but I ruled out those issues with some experimentation.
Thanks for any ideas or guidance!