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AVRI raised pu poles help!!

W

williamk

Apr 2, 2008
871
28
#1
I have a AVRI '57 p-bass which is a fantastic instrument except for one thing: string volume level/gut power.
At first i thought the E string was whimpier than the other strings, but later realised that it actually seems that the A string is louder/gutsier than the 3 other ones.
Now the PU's have raised poles under the A string, so i'm pretty sure that explains it; yet i had read that this was supposed to affect all strings, not just the A. Is that true?
What can i do to even out all strings? Can these PU's be "fixed" to normal or do i need to change them altogether?
Thanks!
 
#7
here's what it looks like now that I've played around with the PU height:

photo.jpg


...def not what it's supposed to look like if you ask me, but then again it does seem to sound a little better. The PU under the E string is now dangerously close to the string and if I dig in too much they touch...!
 
#10
OP, you're pretty close on your setup.
I'd lower the E side of the pickup, so that pickup sits roughly level with the pickguard surface.

Do you get this same issue with a different string set?

Some guys deal with the raised A poles by carefully pressing them down in the bobbin to match the other poles. Depending on the pickup in question, it can be done, but it can also break a winding(s).

The raised A is a holdover from the early days of the P; a design decision made by Leo to compensate for weak A string designs of the day. Still, this has never made sense to me, as the P pickup effectively has staggered poles built into the design (split height adjustability).
 
#11
Willicious said:
OP, you're pretty close on your setup.
I'd lower the E side of the pickup, so that pickup sits roughly level with the pickguard surface.

Do you get this same issue with a different string set?

Some guys deal with the raised A poles by carefully pressing them down in the bobbin to match the other poles. Depending on the pickup in question, it can be done, but it can also break a winding(s).

The raised A is a holdover from the early days of the P; a design decision made by Leo to compensate for weak A string designs of the day. Still, this has never made sense to me, as the P pickup effectively has staggered poles built into the design (split height adjustability).
Click to expand...

well right now the E strings sounds louder (yet still a bit less than the A) so I wish I didn't have to lower it again...
As for lowering the 2 A poles, I'd rather not toy with the PU's, I'll end up breaking something as I suck with this kind of stuff...
 
#15
As far as I can determine, all the '57RIs are like that. It's a pretty faithful reproduction of the original '57s. That comes with some of the design eccentricities of the originals - raised A-poles and heel adjust truss rod being the most noticeable to me.

The raised poles annoyed me enough that I decided to give lowering the poles a try - if it screwed up I'd get new pups. It did, and I did. Someday I may also send the broken pup out to be rewound.

Adjusting the truss rod pretty much requires removing the neck as well, if you haven't already noticed.

Fantastic basses though!
 
#16
Hawkbone said:
As far as I can determine, all the '57RIs are like that. It's a pretty faithful reproduction of the original '57s. That comes with some of the design eccentricities of the originals - raised A-poles and heel adjust truss rod being the most noticeable to me.

The raised poles annoyed me enough that I decided to give lowering the poles a try - if it screwed up I'd get new pups. It did, and I did. Someday I may also send the broken pup out to be rewound.

Adjusting the truss rod pretty much requires removing the neck as well, if you haven't already noticed.

Fantastic basses though!
Click to expand...

well yeah, def a great instrument if it wasn't for that stupid detail (an annoying one, mind you!).
which PU did you end up getting and how does this sound in the '57? did the problem disappear?
 
#17
Right now I have a Dimarzio in. Haven't tried the '62 or the Bill Lawrence, but the consensus seems to be that the '57 and '62 are the same pup, except the '62 does not have raised A-poles. The loud A is a direct result of the raised poles, so any pup without them will get rid of that problem.

I'd love to know why A-strings of the era were sonically weak enough to have needed such dramatic design compensation, or if that was even the reason for the raised poles.
 
#18
it may have been more about compensating for a dead spot than a weak string; in any case the idea was obviously a bust as leo fender quickly ditched it on later basses.

as for tweaking polepieces on vintage-type pickups, sometimes you can nudge the inner ones (still a risk), but never the outer ones, as the coil is wrapped directly against them.
 

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