Pickup help!

spacecadet

So I was just fitting a new pickup in my strat. All I have done is move the neck pickup to the bridge position and move the one wire that needed moving. It's now all microphonic and shit. Any ideas?

spacecadet

Anyone?

OilCityPickups

Moving one wire (not on the pickup itself) won't make a pickup go microphonic.
Either in some way you have accidentally reversed the phase of the pickup and are confusing the nasty 'cocked wah' sound you will get with being microphonic ... not really very likely. Or, more likely, is that the  pickup in question has some issues that disturbing it (by removing the scratchlate, has brought to light.
Unlikely to be a loose cover on a Strat .... but anyway you can always try the pickup without the cover and see.
If the pickup is an old one then loose magnets can cause handling noise and squeal. I've encountered a few from hand winders that have had rather loose outer coils that can cause this too.

It would help to know the pickup make and age ....

spacecadet

Cheers for the reply buddy. It's definitely microphonic. It squeals with high gain but is tamed when the volume is rolled down a couple of notches.
It's a Dimarzio Virtual Vintage. Got it ages ago but it's never been a problem. Moved it from the neck to the bridge position and it's all messed up.

ICBM

Sounds like you may have disturbed something in the pickup when you moved it.

The only other possibility is that by being in the bridge position it's now directly over the tremolo spring cavity, which could be making it more sensitive to an existing microphonic problem that you didn't notice before. If so, you could try putting some soft foam rubber in the pickup cavity and see if it helps.

spacecadet

@ICBM that could be it. I put it back to how it was and there is no squeal in the neck position. I'll try the foam idea.

Cheers

ICBM

I just had a thought which has never occurred to me before...

Can a Strat bridge pickup actually pick up the *springs* vibrating? They're steel, they're right under the bottom of the pickup, and although they're further away than the strings are, they're much more massive. The wood in the way makes no difference magnetically either.

If so and damping the pickup with foam doesn't stop it, try damping the springs instead! Also with foam and just under the claw end, you don't want to add friction near the bridge end or it won't return in tune. This is sometimes necessary to stop annoying mechanical resonances anyway.

spacecadet

Sorted it! No microphonics after all thank God. The foam thing worked a treat. Someone else said wrap insulation tape around the coils. Some of that, some foam and it's good to go. Thanks for all the help.


:-bd

Andyjr1515

ICBM said:

I just had a thought which has never occurred to me before...

Can a Strat bridge pickup actually pick up the *springs* vibrating? They're steel, they're right under the bottom of the pickup, and although they're further away than the strings are, they're much more massive. The wood in the way makes no difference magnetically either.

If so and damping the pickup with foam doesn't stop it, try damping the springs instead! Also with foam and just under the claw end, you don't want to add friction near the bridge end or it won't return in tune. This is sometimes necessary to stop annoying mechanical resonances anyway.

Glad you're sorted, @spacecadet

Interesting thought @ICBM - although, with the bridge being so much hotter than the neck, you would have thought it would happen more often anyway.  Nevertheless, it has to be at least a possibility that the springs could be picked up...