What are the odds of ruining a rail ceramic pickup by "leveling" the rails?

[diogoguitar]

I notice a slight volume drop between the strings while playing with my strat.. enough to bother me.

The bridge pickup is a rail hum cancelling pickup, single coil sized. I believe the rails have a 9.5" radius and the neck of my guitar has a 16" radius. I tried messing with different combinations of pickup height and I'm still not satisfied. I wonder if I sanded those ceramic magnets I would risk ruining the pickup? Maybe not?

my model is very similar to this one here:

 

[Alex_C]

I don't see a problem with filing the rails. If you take your time and mask the cover, it should come out fine.

 

[nickmsmith]

I personally wouldn’t modify a pickup unless it makes the difference between functioning or not. But you can probably do it, without damaging anything.

I really am not sure how much difference it will make, though. That isn’t too extreme of a stagger.

 

[El Gobernador]

If you think you can hear that...you're either a bat or looney.

 

[albala]

I'm with El Gober on this one, and I love Dimarzio rail pickups

Maybe it's more of a frequency issue than a distance-to-string issue?

 

[El Gobernador]

El Gober

Gobernador...anything else is an insult.

 

[Ebidis]

I wonder if I sanded those ceramic magnets I would risk ruining the pickup? Maybe not?



View attachment 564253

The rails are not ceramic magnets. There is a ceramic bar magnet on the bottom of the pickup, and those are steel rails.

So sand away if you feel you must.

 

[El Gobernador]

The problem with sanding them is the magnetic mess you'll make. It's a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

 

[Ebidis]

The problem with sanding them is the magnetic mess you'll make. It's a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

Sometimes ya gotta do it and find out for yourself. That's how I learned. By ruining a lot of guitars. Long before the internet. LOL

 

[3bolt79]

Listen to Fezz, this is a fools errand.

 

[dspellman]

I notice a slight volume drop between the strings while playing with my strat.. enough to bother me.

The bridge pickup is a rail hum cancelling pickup, single coil sized. I believe the rails have a 9.5" radius and the neck of my guitar has a 16" radius. I tried messing with different combinations of pickup height and I'm still not satisfied. I wonder if I sanded those ceramic magnets I would risk ruining the pickup? Maybe not?

my model is very similar to this one here:

View attachment 564253

Don't bother. Been there, tried that already with Hot Rails in my ute*.

Back when, Carvin offered 22-pole pickups (Allen screws on each one of them) and sold them with the admonition that you'd never have drop-offs when you bent the strings between pole pieces. They also mentioned that you could adjust them to accurately reflect the radius of your strings OR you coulda just them to emphasize whatever you liked.

Truth was, it didn't matter.

However, if you sand the rails down to a 16" radius and you don't like it, what's your plan then?


*ute = younger daze.

 

[Antigua]

They sell that style of pickup on Amazon for $12 a piece, maybe experiment with a cheap one before damaging something with a decent used value.

 

[Hal Nico]

I notice a slight volume drop between the strings while playing with my strat.. enough to bother me.

The bridge pickup is a rail hum cancelling pickup, single coil sized. I believe the rails have a 9.5" radius and the neck of my guitar has a 16" radius. I tried messing with different combinations of pickup height and I'm still not satisfied. I wonder if I sanded those ceramic magnets I would risk ruining the pickup? Maybe not?

my model is very similar to this one here:

Check your bridge saddles. Make sure both small adjustment screws are hitting the base plate securely and the saddle/s are not lop-sided. If they are off that can cause volume and lack of sustain issues.


HTH

 

[diogoguitar]

They sell that style of pickup on Amazon for $12 a piece, maybe experiment with a cheap one before damaging something with a decent used value.

Good point. I'll try that first. It might be a little time consuming to install a new pickup, filing that out, then repeat the process on the more expensive one... but dang, these little pastillas cost around $79 now.

 

[El Gobernador]

Set your string height radius to the pickup. See what changes.

I predict nothing will change, unless you want to hear a change.

 

[Guy Incognito]

Don't bother. Been there, tried that already with Hot Rails in my ute*.

Back when, Carvin offered 22-pole pickups (Allen screws on each one of them) and sold them with the admonition that you'd never have drop-offs when you bent the strings between pole pieces. They also mentioned that you could adjust them to accurately reflect the radius of your strings OR you coulda just them to emphasize whatever you liked.

Truth was, it didn't matter.

However, if you sand the rails down to a 16" radius and you don't like it, what's your plan then?


*ute = younger daze.

 

[mad axe man]

I'm with El Gober on this one, and I love Dimarzio rail pickups

Maybe it's more of a frequency issue than a distance-to-string issue?

El Gober ...lmao

 

[El Gobernador]

El Gober ...lmao

And you get parked. It's a banner day at the JWPL.

The SFBG section needs to be expanded.

 

[joebtone]

El Gober ...lmao

Just don't call him El goober.

 

[diogoguitar]

i love to see the entertaining answers
Dimarzio said it's risky because the blades have a teflon coating. They gave a safer option (read below): raise the pickup around high E string and lower on low E string. I tried it and my first reaction is it works much better than the standard height.


DiMarzio Tech <[email protected]> wrote:

I think it would be necessary to remove a fair amount of metal to flatten the blades. The blades have a Teflon coating, which filing will remove, and the exposed metal would then be subject to corrosion.

I cannot predict in advance how well this might work, but another option you might try is to adjust the pickups closer to the strings on the high E side than on the low E side. The overall balance will change in a way that might be more useable.

DiMarzio Inc.