Pickup stuck

[happychicken]

Hi I recently got a "new to me" bass and noticed the pickups don't move when screws are turned. I took screws out and pickup won't move. I think it is jammed into the route.
Does anyone know how to remove this safely without breaking the pup or damaging the bass?
I measured the pickups at 4" wide and 1 3/8 in height I believe they are ken Armstrong. In case this goes south anyone know a pickup that will fit? Maybe slightly smaller then these pups

 

[JimmyM]

Remove the screws entirely and pull till it comes out. That's really all you can do that I know of. Maybe you could find a spot to jam a flat piece of metal in there and wedge them out, but I'd be worried about breaking the pickups doing that.

 

[MovingPitchers]

I kinda like it having it stuck because I know it won't move at all when I play.

 

[happychicken]

Yeah I know but the pick up is very low on one side and too far from strings. If it was in a good position I wouldn't care really.

 

[JimmyM]

Yeah I know but the pick up is very low on one side and too far from strings. If it was in a good position I wouldn't care really.

Try to pull from the low side first, or try to get the high side down more even with the low side and pull it out evenly. It likely got jammed because of the ridiculous angle.

 

[happychicken]

Ill give that a shot! It does actually look pushed into the wood on the low side. That angle may be the problem!

 

[mikeswals]

Well if it were my bass on my bench, I would put masking tape on the edges of the pickup and use my channel lock pliers to carefully grip where the tape is and wiggle forward and back til it came up (or out).

 

[GlennW]

Try two things:
1) Patience
2) Blow dryer

 

[MovingPitchers]

Try two things:
1) Patience
2) Blow dryer

How does a blowdryer work into this.

 

[GlennW]

Expansion and contraction.

 

[happychicken]

Heat would cause expantion of the wood and plastic but how would that get it unstuck? Wouldn't that just get it more stuck? Hmmm... Maybe heat then cool off a few times with some wiggling?
Just want to say thanks to everyone for responses!

 

[JustForSport]

As 'JimmyM' said, try to get it level/even first, then maybe a butterknife with cloth on both sides alongside (if enough space) to wiggle a bit- being very careful with the finish at the edge of the cutout.
Or, a long screw that fits snugly in the low side screw hole to help lift it/wiggle it out.

 

[gearhead1972]

See if you can get some long screws that are a little bigger than the ones holding the pickup in. Try to screw them in to the ears just enough to get a grip, then use them to pull on the pickup.

 

[Precision101]

Is had a problem similar to this were the screw was stripped and I couldn't turn it. So I turned it into a flathead

 

[happychicken]

Well the screws are stripping but I have been turning then with a pair of needle nose pliers. Longer screws huh.... Hmm il give that a shot

 

[Precision101]

Well the screws are stripping but I have been turning then with a pair of needle nose pliers. Longer screws huh.... Hmm il give that a shot

Yeah get longer screws. I didn't have any screws long enough at the time so I had to improvise.

 

[rojo412]

You can try to use the screw threads to "hook" the inside edge of the hole and pull the pickup out, using the screws.
Or, make a small hook of some sort to get the same result.

Typically, you can just rock them out by hand. I've seen plenty of stuck pickups, but never had one that was immoveable.

 

[happychicken]

Yeah this is the first time for me dealing with this also. They are both stuck in there good. Any idea who would sell these longer screws? Just go to hardware store?

 

[Yames]

Just re-activating a zombie thread for someone that may find themselves in a jam (literally) as I was recently. The Kent Armstrong Soapbars on a Bass Mods K7 seven string bass were too low on the bass side and I wanted to raise them. Loosened the bass side screws, no motion AT All!

I tried taping everything (pickup, guitar, Channel-lock pliers) with painters tape and gave a careful tug. Pliers slipped off and slightly marred the pickup cover.
They were stuck in there GOOD!

I looked up Kent Armstrong and sent an email to them, heard back from David at WD Music Products (their distributor?) the next morning. Very responsive. His recommendation matched JimmyM's above.
"LOOSEN ALL THE SCREWS!"

I'm reasonably mechanically inclined, but failed to realize that soapbars (and maybe other) pickups can get crooked enough in the route to lock up completely. One end high, one end low and that thing was not going to move.

I had already removed the bass-side screws to fashion a hook from a heavy paper clip to drag upward on the pickup. When I loosened the treble screws as David advised, the whole pickup nearly lept out of the bass! WHEW!

Good shout-out to David at Kent Armstrong/WD Music Products for attentive support! Now the Bass Mods seven string sounds fantastic. Raising the pickups brought out a strong piano-like "bonnggg..." that captures the lively resonance of the bass itself.
It's my first Korean bass and I'm quite impressed, it's very playable and it sounds great. I'm going to stay with the Kent Armstrong pickups, they are making all the sounds I was looking for.

Good luck to anyone in this predicament, I'm quite relieved mine ended this well.

 

[RobbieK]

Yep, all screws have to come out in this situation. I've removed very stuck pickups by using a single wrap of gaffer tape and sticking the high tape sides together. This leaves a vertical flap you can pinch with thumb and fore fingers of both hands while resting your palms on the top of the body. This way you get good control and can gently work the pickup up and out. For me, pliers would be an absolute last resort. In fact I don't recall ever needing to go there...