Warmoth Strat Tilted Humbucker

[tropicjungler]

Hi, I'm a newbie who just finished his first Warmoth strat build.

I intend to make this strat as good as I can for my first time and one of the things that's bugging me, that I can't figure out, is that I can't lay the bridge humbucker flat. At first I thought it was the cables making a hump, then I thought the rubber screw sleaves weren't as good as springs, then I thought the screws were too long so I cut them smaller, but nothing really fixes this weird hump. Heck the strings buzz, it's high up.

Also when I loosen the screw to lower it, it just raises up from the pickguard and the humbucker doesn't lower down. Don't know what to do, It almost feels like I need to chisel the pocket to make it go lower.

 

[stratamania]

Have you tried measuring the depth of the pickup and the depth of the rout?

The humbucker may have a greater depth than standard and does not fit into the rout. What type of humbucker is it?

You will have to disassemble to a degree to see what is going on or to provide more photos etc for help with any troubleshooting.

 

[tropicjungler]

I took some pics with a ruler. The cavity seems to be 3/4th of an inch deep and the height of the pickup, with the cable underneath, seems 7/8th of an inch high. The humbucker is an Anderson H2+, I dunno how deep the cavity of an Anderson Strat is but I can't imagine its any deeper than any other. I'm also starting to think that my pickup screws could be the issue too because as I was trying to tighten the screw on the treble side it started slipping. I guess the screw is too small for the pickup.

 

[Spud]

The screws could be long and hitting the wood. The screws may be threaded wrong (amazon?) the legs could be touching the wood and creating angle. Good news all easy fixes. If you have to file away some wood for clearance, just go slow.

 

[Spud]

Where did you source the pick guard? It could be slightly off forcing the pickup against the route.

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

The Anderson humbuckers are a lot deeper than other makes. They have an extra thick base plate and an unusual strain relief attachment for the cable. However it looks like you mounted the humbucker quite far away from the strings. Are you trying to adjust the pickup height so the humbucker and single coils are the same volume?

 

[aarontunes]

You want to know something funny?

I literally just finished shooting a video called "Top 5 Little Things that Make Your Build Look Pro", and fixing a slanted humbucker was one of them. It's not going public until the 24th, but since this is Unofficial Warmoth and we do things like this for each other around these parts, here it is a few weeks early:

 

[tropicjungler]

The screws could be long and hitting the wood. The screws may be threaded wrong (amazon?) the legs could be touching the wood and creating angle. Good news all easy fixes. If you have to file away some wood for clearance, just go slow.

Way ahead of you man, I actually did file it like you said and it kept tilting up the same way. So get this, when I was measuring the height of the cavity and the pickup, the screw on the treble side of the pickup slipped off and couldn't grab on the backplate material. So I guess the issue was that the screw that it came with and the spare ones I bought a while ago were too small in diameter and must have kept slipping under tension of the spring.

Ironically I bought some amazon guitar screws that were girthy enough to hold onto the pickups. They seem to getting the job done. Now the only visible issue is that pole pieces don't align.

 

[tropicjungler]

Where did you source the pick guard? It could be slightly off forcing the pickup against the route.

Actually I got it from Warmoth when I ordered the body and neck. It could have been the treble side screw hole on the humbucker misaligning with the Pickguard's screw hole by a couple degrees??? But I think when I drilled it (the pickup's treble screw hole) to make clearance for the new screw it might have fixed it.

 

[tropicjungler]

You want to know something funny?

I literally just finished shooting a video called "Top 5 Little Things that Make Your Build Look Pro", and fixing a slanted humbucker was one of them. It's not going public until the 24th, but since this is Unofficial Warmoth and we do things like this for each other around these parts, here it is a few weeks early:

Eyyy, I appreciate it Aaron. Your videos are definitely one of the sources of information I referred to when I was building this guitar.

Right now it says it's unavailable to watch for me, but I don't mind waiting till it gets released. lol
Thankfully I have the luxury that this is a guitar I made for myself. I don't have a deadline or someone else's expectation set on this where I would feel too pressured with every error I've made.