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Post by seismicforce on Nov 14, 2022 14:27:55 GMT
Have you tried adjusting your pickup’s pole piece screws for better string tone balance and clarity? All of the adjustable pole pieces on my TE-20 HH SBK dual pickups are all sticking up rather high almost 3/32nd inch. It came that way as shipped. Normally adjustable pole pieces are flush with the bobbin until user adjustment or if factory adjusted some will be staggered.
Anyway I was wondering if any owners have manually adjusted the stock HH pickups that come with the TE-20HH and were you able to improve the tone much? I know most people get this cheap HB's to mod and upgrade. Me too as I've already added locking tuners and currently evaluating what HH pickup set to purchase and install. But if the stock OEM humbuckers can be improved enough with adjustments I'd like to know your experience and results.
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frank432
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
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Post by frank432 on Nov 14, 2022 15:00:02 GMT
I have no experience with the T style models, as I own a ST 62. I personally believe that certain HB pickups are ok and when coupled with decent electronics they will work fairly well, depending on your ears and expectations of course.
In my ST 62 the sound from the pickups was quite horrendous with an unbearable hiss. I changed everything, the whole pickguard with Fender custom shop pickups, now the guitar rocks. Still rather than the pickups I'd rather blame the electronics and the spaghetti wires assembly than the pickups.
Anyway, if you find a sensible way to tweak your pickups, it may be worth it, try and take a look on youtube, there's nothing new under the sun.
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47 posts
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Post by barnsleyboy on Nov 14, 2022 18:48:44 GMT
Have you tried adjusting your pickup’s pole piece screws for better string tone balance and clarity? All of the adjustable pole pieces on my TE-20 HH SBK dual pickups are all sticking up rather high almost 3/32nd inch. It came that way as shipped. Normally adjustable pole pieces are flush with the bobbin until user adjustment or if factory adjusted some will be staggered. Anyway I was wondering if any owners have manually adjusted the stock HH pickups that come with the TE-20HH and were you able to improve the tone much? I know most people get this cheap HB's to mod and upgrade. Me too as I've already added locking tuners and currently evaluating what HH pickup set to purchase and install. But if the stock OEM humbuckers can be improved enough with adjustments I'd like to know your experience and results. You should be able to get them down, but as they don't have a thread (or at least mine didn't) raising them would involve taking them out and pushing the pole pieces up from the base plate. I'm seriously thinking of replacing mine with an Irongear set (Dirty Torque/ Blues Engine). I'll most likely get the uncovered ones and get some better quality black covers- maybe with no holes. After the grief that I had last time, I'm not sure I want to faff around with replacing the screws with black ones!
BTW I have a set of Blues Engines in my Epi LP 60's Standard - they really are the business!!!
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47 posts
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Post by barnsleyboy on Nov 14, 2022 18:52:21 GMT
A PS to that last post, just checked on the Irongear Website and they do them with black covers! Happy days!!!
.... nope, scrap that, the black is the uncovered version
Sad Days now
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Post by seismicforce on Nov 14, 2022 21:02:57 GMT
Seriously, the poles are not threaded? No one is going to adjust them from underneath requiring them to be removed just to tweak things over and over.
FYI if you get covers the humbuckers may be to large to fit into at least the bridge plate without filing the opening larger. Stick with regular black humbuckers. Look in the HB guitars topic area. Someone there went through a major modification just to add covers.
I'm looking at some Fleor humbucker sets on Amazon. They get good reviews and seem to be a knock off of $200 Seymour Duncan sets. Here is a summary 2 pickup sets depending if you want it with a high output bridge or vintage output set:
FLEOR Alnico 5 Guitar Pickup Black Neck and Bridge Humbucker Pickups Set ($36.62) Resistance: Neck pick is 7-8K, bridge pickup is 15-16K. Pickup Pole Spacing: Neck-50mm, Bridge-52mm. Fully Wax Potted and Sealed.
FLEOR High Output Alnico 5 Guitar Pickup Double Coil Humbucker Pickups Neck and Bridge Set Black ($36.62) Resistance: Neck pick is 7-8K, bridge pickup is 8-9K. Pickup Pole Spacing: Neck-50mm, Bridge-52mm. Fully Wax Potted and Sealed.
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47 posts
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Post by barnsleyboy on Nov 14, 2022 23:27:34 GMT
Seriously, the poles are not threaded? No one is going to adjust them from underneath requiring them to be removed just to tweak things over and over. FYI if you get covers the humbuckers may be to large to fit into at least the bridge plate without filing the opening larger. Stick with regular black humbuckers. Look in the HB guitars topic area. Someone there went through a major modification just to add covers. Yep - that was me
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Post by seismicforce on Nov 14, 2022 23:38:00 GMT
Heh that's right!
Gonna change them to something else anyway but feel like a fool being faked out by appearance.
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47 posts
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Post by barnsleyboy on Nov 15, 2022 9:11:55 GMT
It's an £88 guitar. Back in the mid-eighties when I bought my first electric guitar, a Yamaha SE200, it was a piece of junk. It probably cost me about the same as the TE-20, although a pound in those days was a lot harder to earn! The main thing with these HB's is that they are so cheap, that if you get a good one that plays well and doesn't have any silly QC issues then they are a great starting point to mod. They have to cut corners somewhere, and it's always the electrics that suffer. That said, if you are happy with the sound of the pickups then stick with them. Look at the journey that the instrument has been on, materials costs, labour, shipping, profit for each member of the supply chain etc. it's amazing that they can churn these out at the price that they do!
My only complaint with Thomann is that they allude to checking the guitars before they dispatch them. I'd rather they were upfront and honest and say that they arrive from the far east, sit in the Thomann warehouse, then get put into a bigger box to be shipped out when a customer buys online.
Good tip about the Fleor pickups, for the price they are worth a punt. Looks like the Amazon man/ lady/ non-binary person could be making a call very soon. Don't be sore about the pickups, it's still a great little guitar. I have my eye on a JA-60CC at the moment which looks epic for the money.
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Post by seismicforce on Nov 15, 2022 13:13:47 GMT
I agree with you. Just think it would have been better to put cheap OEM pickups without fake adjustment screws. On a Facebook group another TE-20HH owner confirmed they just spin around and don't do any thing. I was hoping to squeeze a little more out of them but now it's settled and replacements will be coming maybe from Fleor, Wilkinson, or other places like Dragonfire (they have haters) who do have an interesting non-adjustable pole humbucker set (ironic) called Shadow Buckers with dark poles and matt black, and with black screws! That would match the color aesthetics of the TE-20HH.
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