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My Kingpin plays very nice, but I've always thought it could a bit play nicer -- I've just been too lazy to do the proper song and dance. The action is quite high, so tonight I decided to lower it and see how she feels.
After checking the nut and relief, I proceeded onward to lowering the saddle. I knew that the bridge pickup was comically high, but I hadn't realised quite how comically high it was. I'm only able to dial the 12th fret action down to about 3.1mm (8/64ths") for the low E and 2.4 (3/32nds) for the high E before it starts... well, not fretting out I guess... PUing out? That doesn't sound right.
Anyway, has anyone else had experience with this? Next string change I might do some surgery on that pickup ring. The pickup height can't be adjusted, just the poles.
(Alternatively, this thread could just devolve into a series of "Your bridge pickup is so high that..." jokes. I'd be fine with that direction as well.)
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07-10-2014 05:10 AM
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Try these...
Shims for Dog Ear P-90 Pickups
Build up to what you need, saves farting about!
Right,
'Your pickup ring is sooo high',
'No maan, your pickup ring is sooo high!'
'Yeah, my Godin will be well baked maan'
'Awesome dude'
'Righteous bro'.
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Wouldn't shims just make the pup even higher, instead of lower?
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One for the fantastic toolkit: Negative shims. Put them on, material disappears. The nice thing is when you want to return it to the original height, you just remove the negative shim. Useful for everything from pickup height to house foundations being uplifted by tree roots. Too tall to fit into that new Lotus? Get the negative shim seat pad. Don't want your petite date to feel awkward about your height difference, get the negative shims insoles.
Got to get to the patent office fast here.
David
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There seems to be a rather thick shim under that PU already. The trick is to replace it with a thinner one.
Originally Posted by jasaco
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To shim or not to shim: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous string action,
Wot Oldane said
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Maybe if you contact Godin and include these pics, they'll send you a lower pick-up assembly. This forum is the "Official Godin Kingpin Love Central", so they might take care of it for you.
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Could you post a picture of the gyitar from the front? Just the body, whole guitar is unecessary...I have a hunch...but I need a pic to prove it.
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No problemo:
Ordering shims is an idea, but I'm guessing the cost of shipping to NZ will probably be far more than they are worth. I do like the idea of getting in touch with Godin. It may be in their best interest to comp a new assembly rather than having a bunch of their guitars floating around out there with (probably often badly done) DIY surgery on them due to a design flaw.
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Here's a thing if you're DIY handy...
and this...
And...
Damn, your pickup is sooo high it's floating....
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Take off the pickup shim and sand off the required amount from the top of the shim. Originally Posted by Jehu
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Thanks, jazzbow... That second vid seems like the way to go. I think I will try getting in touch with Godin first and see if they will do anything for me.
What's the hypothesis, Mr. B?
My pickup is so high I caught it staring at a juice carton because it said "concentrate"!
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Why is you bridge angled so much? A good setup is what you need. Originally Posted by Jehu
No problemo:
Ordering shims is an idea, but I'm guessing the cost of shipping to NZ will probably be far more than they are worth. I do like the idea of getting in touch with Godin. It may be in their best interest to comp a new assembly rather than having a bunch of their guitars floating around out there with (probably often badly done) DIY surgery on them due to a design flaw.
That's a compensated bridge...should be relatively straight when intonated properly. Try straightening it and start by lining up tge middle of the base with the inside nook of the F hole.
With the bridge back just a little further, the arch is just a little higher, clearance problem solved, and I'm guessing you'll be more in tune up the neck to boot.
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That's just where things ended up when I set the intonation (it's now within a couple of cents). Moving the bridge back doesn't give me more clearance, as the apex of the arch is actually forward (toward the neck) of the bridge, and I believe this is usually the case.
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Am I right in thinking the Kingpin has a bolt on neck? It looks like a dovetail when actually it's a bolt fixing like Taylor. If that's the case it might need a reset and shim?? Warranty issue then!
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Interesting... I've never considered that it might be a bolt-on, I just assumed it was a dovetail. I don't have a mirror small enough to look inside to check...
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Its a bolt on, but I've never fiddled with one before.
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Well I emailed Godin about it, and threw in the question of a neck reset just for the hell of it. Here's the reply I got in its entirety:
"The 5th aveunue's neck cannot be reset, but the neck porobably doen't have to be reset. You can slightly file down the ring on which the pickup is mounted."
So there you go. I guess they expect their customers to deal with this themselves. (Odd that the neck cannot be reset...)
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You can't reset what isn't set.
Still think its weird...on my kingpin the highest point of the arch is pretty much right between those two F holes...and thats a compensated bridge...it really shouldn't have to be angled so much to intonate...
How about a photo down the neck from the nut? Would you problem have been on bass side strings or trebles? If that neck's twisted, maybe you can convince Godin to do a little better...
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Hmm, this is exactly what I recommended Originally Posted by Jehu
If you don't want to do it yourself, take it to a decent guitar tech. It should be a trivial job.
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
Maybe the bridge is so compensated because his action is a lot higher than yours. It does seem when tuning that the low strings change pitch a lot quicker as you turn the tuning peg. Maybe the high action affects the low strings intonation more than the high strings.
Disappointing response from Godin.
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Chicken or egg frank?
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Here are a couple of shots down the neck, and it does appear that there is a slight twist:
DG -- Yeah, that was my first inclination, and I have no problem doing it myself... My issue is that I shouldn't have to do DIY home improvements due to what appears to be a design flaw.
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Ok.. so may I drunkenly interjack ?
1) KP5s have been out a few years and as much as I would love to like them.. I don't... but I still follow them closely.. this is one of the few times I have heard the complaint about a high pickup.
2) There are design flaws.. and then there is a good setup. Back in the day .. when I was a pup .. Yamaha guitars had HORRIBLE setups for their nuts and saddles. The rep told me one day "Of course.. you set one up nice and hang it on th e wall .. the rest you setup when you sell the guitar" Having the nut/saddle/shim too high gives you room to play (unlike when the nut/shim/saddle is too low)
A competent repair shop could f̶i̶x tweak the pickup in under 15 min (or minimal bench charge). How is that different from tweaking the nut (or the saddle on an acoustic).
The bottle openers are calling... there are Heinekens to be slayed...
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Dude, download "snapseed" and use the straighten function to make the binding on the top of the guitar horizontal.
Definitely a twist. They gotta make good on this.
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