Hey, you're supposed to go into this with an optimist's attitude.really appreciate...
I've also got a GFS hot rail pickup in my cart for when this doesn't work out.
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is it ok to grind down the rails on a pickup?
- Thread starter EpicSoundtracks
- Start date
I'm going to go against the common wisdom that everyone else is giving you. Mainly because I have a bass that I did the same thing with a strat sized dual rail pickup. The A and D strings were MUCH closer to the rails than the E and G strings --- and I didn't want to use a bridge adjustment to fix the string balance, I prefer to set the bridge saddle height to get the action perfect and to file down the rails to get the string to string balance I wanted. I used a file and reshaped the high arc of the rails to a nearly flat profile (just a bit of radius) and it worked perfectly for me.
Just mask the pickup off with tape so filings can't work their way into the pickup and then use more tape (the sticky side) to remove all the filings that are sticking from the magnetism.
And BTW - I've got high end basses with expensive, well respected bass pickups in them ... the bass with the little dual rail strat pickup I filed down is one of the best sounding basses I have.
Just mask the pickup off with tape so filings can't work their way into the pickup and then use more tape (the sticky side) to remove all the filings that are sticking from the magnetism.
And BTW - I've got high end basses with expensive, well respected bass pickups in them ... the bass with the little dual rail strat pickup I filed down is one of the best sounding basses I have.
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heck yeah! thanks, neighbor! (i'm just over the High Street bridge, waving westward)
If you want to hear my bass with the dual rail strat pickup, you're welcome to drive on over the bridge 
If you want to hear my bass with the dual rail strat pickup, you're welcome to drive on over the bridge
That's very kind of you, Andy, thanks. This is my third Bronco rehab, but my first with a generic eBay pickup. I used the GFS Li'L Killer in my other builds, with excellent results. This is my penance for cheaping out. Is your rail bass a Bronco, or something else?
If anyone's interested, here's the bass in question: Post your modded Squier Broncos!
Unfortunately none of the photos really give you a sense of how dramatically radiused the blades are.
My bass is a complete frankenbeast that I picked up. It has a P pickup in the P spot and had an empty strat sized route in the bridge position. Just for fun I bought the cheapest generic dual rail strat on Amazon (I think it was less that $10) and the rails had an extreme radius - combined with not being quite wide enough to fully cover the E string made the A and D way too hot compared to the E.
My bass came to me like this, definitely not a bronco - haha:
that is... really something! 
I wonder if we bought the exact same pickup, because what you've described sound just like mine.
I wonder if we bought the exact same pickup, because what you've described sound just like mine.
haha ... that's putting it nicely. It looks better now but it's still pretty ratty. I wanted to find and strangle whoever did those pickup routes.
I wasn't expecting much with the pickup, I just wanted to experiment - but I am blown away with how good it sounds. Not sure how it would work in the neck position but in the bridge position it is fantastic. (I have the same pickup in a Cuban Tres and it sounds great there too)
I wasn't expecting much with the pickup, I just wanted to experiment - but I am blown away with how good it sounds. Not sure how it would work in the neck position but in the bridge position it is fantastic. (I have the same pickup in a Cuban Tres and it sounds great there too)
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Why didn't you glue it to the body?If you like to rest your thumb on the pickup, you'll find it's too narrow (too close to the E string) .. so I cut a small cube out of wine cork and glued to the side of the pickup. It's the most comfortable thumb rest ever
The strat pickup has ears for the height adjustment screw so the body is mostly "a hole" where the cork would go. I drilled a small hole thru the cork cube (so a skinny screwdriver can adjust the pickup height still) and the thumb rest is exactly the size/shape of the edge of a Jazz Bass pickup now (but softer because it's cork) and it goes up and down with the pickup if you adjust the height just like the thumb rest edge of a Jazz Bass pickup would.
And the wood is a tung oil finish - glue doesn't stick well to it.
EDIT: if I'd been quicker thinking I would have answered your question that I didn't want to mess up the finish - haha.
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Here's a link to the pickup I used if it's the same as yours. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CE20FC0/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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I got mine from "Miaoyin" on eBay, but i'd bet it's the same product.
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There is well established precedent for this methodology as a means to balance string volume. Earliest I know of is Charlie Christian:
Hofner has made a similar pickup, and of course there are lots of strat pickups where the B string pole piece is considerably lower. So long as you don't hurt yourself with the tools, feel free to hack away.
Hofner has made a similar pickup, and of course there are lots of strat pickups where the B string pole piece is considerably lower. So long as you don't hurt yourself with the tools, feel free to hack away.
Mask it totally off, then trim with an xacto knife the parts you want to file. If you try to file through the tape, glue and tape residue will load your file up and then you rub the blade down. Is the blade chrome plated?
Hmm, interesting. I'm not sure there's a way to mask off part of the rail, but maybe? I'll give it a try.
I believe they are chrome plated, but wouldn't swear to it.
On mine, the chrome plating was very thin - no problem at all filing the rails down. They are very soft metal.
Just lay some masking tape over the top of the pickup, covering both rails and both bobbins. Then wrap tape around the sides of the bobbins and underneath to cover the magnet on the bottom. All the tape should overlap so the pickup is completely encased in tape. Then run a sharp blade along the edges of the rails and peel the tape off the top of the rails and press the edges of the tape down. You should have a masked off pickup with only the two rails exposed. Now file them down and use sticky side of some tape to pick up the filings. Be sure to get all the filings off before you remove the masking tape from the pickup.
Just lay some masking tape over the top of the pickup, covering both rails and both bobbins. Then wrap tape around the sides of the bobbins and underneath to cover the magnet on the bottom. All the tape should overlap so the pickup is completely encased in tape. Then run a sharp blade along the edges of the rails and peel the tape off the top of the rails and press the edges of the tape down. You should have a masked off pickup with only the two rails exposed. Now file them down and use sticky side of some tape to pick up the filings. Be sure to get all the filings off before you remove the masking tape from the pickup.
Because the blades are the magnetic core for one big overall coil, removing material any place on the blades will reduce the overall inductance of the coil. Depending how much material is removed, it may not noticeably affect the overall tone, but it will indeed make a change.
