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Hello All,

I recently had a professional neck reset done on my 1958 Harmony H62 hollow body. When I got it back, I noticed a much bigger space than before between the strings and the pickups. (see photos) This increased space is causing weaker pickup volume, even after adjusting the pickups to the maximum (closer to the strings) position. The measurements from the pickup pole to the bottom of the low E string is: neck pup 13/64, bridge pup 16/64.

The action is much improved after the neck reset, here are the measurements:
low e string 1st fret 1/64-
low e string 12th fret 5/64
high e string 1st fret 1/64+
high e string 12th fret 4/64

I'd like to get recommendations as to what would be the correct course to take in this situation. Thanks in advance for your consideration.

regards

rossman

Hi Rossman,
Welcome to the forum.
I'm not an archtop guy so take my thoughts with a grain of salt.
A couple of questions come to mind looking at your pictures. How high are the strings over the top at the bridge and what's with the two tone lower portion of the bridge?
What I'm getting at is perhaps the neck was over set giving excessive string height over the top. Does it matter? Maybe, maybe not. As the guitar ages further the neck angle will change causing the lowering of the bridge to maintain proper action.
You need to get the pickup about an 1/8" below the strings without the porcupine pole piece effect. The pole pieces are only adjusted to fine tune the output levels between the strings. I would remove the pickup and see if there are springs between it and the trim rings that could be removed allowing the pickups to be adjusted higher. Perhaps installing a shorter spring to still maintain some adjustability of the pickup height.

Steve

hi steve,

thanks for your response. You asked; "How high are the strings over the top at the bridge and what's with the two tone lower portion of the bridge", I'm not sure exactly what you're asking here, but I think what you're asking is, what is the distance from the guitar top at the top bridge? If that's correct, then measuring from the guitar top to the top of the center of the bridge including the string, it's 1". The second question regarding "two tone lower portion of the bridge" I have no idea what your asking here, so please clarify, if you can. I don't believe a 1/8" space between p-ups and strings is possible on a 1950's or earlier full hollowbody archtop, even with the bridge adjusted to the lowest position. See the attached photos, they all seem to have a huge space between the strings and the p-ups. Now, if your talking about a full hollowbody archtop made in the last 30 years, that would be easy to attain. As, the manufacturers from the 1980s on, used large spacers under the p-ups to get them right up close to the strings. I don't want to modify the guitar in any way, so putting spacers under the p-ups is not something I would do.

rossman

I was wondering if your neck was overset causing the shop excessive string height over the pickups. With the strings at 1" above the top that doesn't seem to be the case. If the pickups can't be raised any higher the only thing you can do is make sure they are operating within spec. Magnets can lose power with age. You'll need to take the guitar to a shop that can measure the strength of the magnets and re magnetized them if needed.

StevenWheeler thanks again for your response. That's just it, the pickups aren't operating within specs, but prior to the neck reset they were. Just to summarize, this is everything in a nut shell and I am totally baffled.

prior to reset, pickups to strings distance 7/64- 8/64, pup output excellent, string action and acoustic resonance was bad.

post reset, pickups to string distance 13/64-16/64 (with pups adjusted out, to the maximum). pup output poor, string action and acoustic resonance excellent

height on top of bridge, barely 1"

Like you stated, You would think, based on the initial information that this is a clear case on a neck being overset. That is until you realize the bridge height is only 1".

Here are a couple questions I have.

What would redoing the neck reset accomplish at this point?

During the recent reset, when the fret board is lined up with the bride to set the correct angle, what is the ideal adjustment position is the bridge? i.e. bridge adjusted to lowest height, bridge adjusted to the max height, or somewhere in the middle?

Thank you, for your generous assistance with this matter.

rossman

Redoing the neck reset would accomplish two things. You would lower the strings to be within adjustment range of the pickup mountings and shorten the amount of time until the instrument needs a neck reset again. I don't think that would be a worthwhile endeavor. Again, I'm not an archtop guy, but if I was to reset the neck on one I would shoot for an angle that placed the bridge at about 80% of it's maximum height to stave off the need for another reset as long as possible.

This leaves you with the need to raise the pickups to a height that gives a reasonable output signal. You are against using spacers under the pickups to raise them as you don't want to modify your vintage guitar and I can respect that. I will say however that a pair of well made spacers will not detract visually from the instrument and would actually make it usable for your purposes. Done properly, the "modification" would be completely reversible and once the neck angle drops far enough you can remove the spacers and go back to the original flawed design that didn't work with a proper neck set. The first step I would take is my suggestion of pulling the pickups and see if you can gain height by swapping out the springs between the pick ups and their trim rings.

Steven,

Your answer to; what is the best bridge position when setting the angle on a reset, (80% of maximum height) seems to be what my luthier was shooting for. I will try replacing or removing the pickup springs to see if that allows for a higher pickup adjustment. I'll let you know how it works out.

thanks much for assistance

rossman