Pop's and exposed pole pieces

[BassoP]

So yesterday, I thought I had melted down my my amp or the pre in my bass, but have narrowed it down to the neck pickup. What was happening was when you slap the A string, there was nothing but a pop that was essentially tapping all the headroom (for a couple seconds). Monkeyed with it tonight, and realized that somehow the pole pieces had migrated upwards from where they had been, so I was constantly banging into them. The question is, what is the best way to fix this? They are J pickups. Can I put something inside the cover to act as more of a spacer, or might it be more useful just to cover the pole pieces with something non conductive on top?

[ksandvik]

Transparent tape. Or lower the pickups in case you don't mind lower signal. Or do both. Reminds me to fix my Ibanez SX, that's one of the negative design ideas I hope they will fix in future, does not make sense to show the magnets, not even if it looks cool, just causes problems if the string hits the magnet.

[BassoP]

Originally Posted by ksandvik

Transparent tape. Or lower the pickups in case you don't mind lower signal. Or do both. Reminds me to fix my Ibanez SX, that's one of the negative design ideas I hope they will fix in future, does not make sense to show the magnets, not even if it looks cool, just causes problems if the string hits the magnet.

Thanks. Bass sounds killer as is, so covering would be preferable I guess.

[MysticMichael]

If you still want to cover or coat the pole pieces, I've heard that clear nail polish works really well. Provides a nice transparent, hard, non-conductive coat that protects them from contact with the string...

MM

[warnergt]

I had a similar problem on my P bass. The height of the magnet poles was about 0.5 mm above the surrounding black plastic. Sometimes, when playing fast and hard, my hanging thumb would push a string into the pole and I'd get a loud pop out of the speaker. Furthermore, the protruding poles sometimes irritated my fingers.

By accident, I just discovered that you press the pole down into the plastic such that it is flush. Some were easier to press in than others but I was able to get them all flush.

Now my pickups are smooth and flat. I can't detect any change in tone.

Perform this procedure at your own risk but it doesn't seem too unreasonable to me. It appears that the poles are just press fitted into the plastic. I don't believe they were glued or attached in any other way.

[danomite64]

I just take the covers off the pickups, take a sandwich baggie, cut a piece of plastic out of it in the shape of the pickup, lay it on top, and put the cover back on. It worked on my Jazz basses and Musicman Sabre, so it should work for you.