540R HSH pick hitting single

satchmo72 · #1 02-03-2010, 03:37 PM

Wondering where you guys pick when you have a single coil in between the humbuckers. I just got a immaculate 90 540R LTD HSH and I have not been playing it due to the middle pickup being right where I pick. I tried dropping it down but since the 540 is thin anyway, there is no more room to drop in any farther.

I do not really want to modify the guitar and dont know if I want to change my picking style.

Anyone else have this problem with a mid single coil?

Jeff

Jack Secret · #2 02-03-2010, 05:31 PM

If it's a guitar I don't use the middle pickup on, I put the pickup as low in as to not impede my picking. On guitars I do use the middle pickup, I pretty much pick in between the middle and bridge. It's weird, I pick on different guitars in different styles, I guess. I don't think about it, I just adjust to whatever guitar I'm using subconsciously.

frankfalbo · #3 02-03-2010, 05:47 PM

You can always sell it to me cheap. I will deal with the "problem"

One thing I like to do when this happens is to switch to a "Rails style" pickup in the middle, like a Cool Rails. Even when your pick hits the pickup, it just glides over it, rather than catch on the pole pieces. Seymour Duncan chamfers the edge of all of our single coils, so if you put in a Vintage Flat the magnets would sit almost flush with the cover and you'd accomplish nearly the same thing.

TheLivingDead · #4 02-03-2010, 06:36 PM

Just play it anyways... You'll eventually get used to it and adapt a nice picking spot on the guitar. Same thing was happening to me but I just stuck it out and now I naturally go between the neck and middle.

littlephil · #5 02-03-2010, 08:06 PM

I dont have a single coil in my S540. I never use them, so it just an empty space. Looks a bit ghetto, but it works fine.

GuitarBizarre · #6 02-03-2010, 08:16 PM

Had the same problem when I bought my S2170. Just keep playing it. You'll get used to it.

It will actually make you a better player to be honest. If between each stroke of the pick its dropping down that far into the gap between the strings that it hits the pickup, then you're actually picking very inneficiently. Learning to minimise the pick drop between picked notes will improve your technique.

satchmo72 · #7 02-04-2010, 12:54 AM

Ok, well I did a bit of analyzing. I am hitting it on the big strumming strokes, not so much on precision picked stuff. I have been changing back and forth between standard size picks and the jazz III ultex's I had been using.

Lately, I have been writing less shred stuff and more chord work stuff and more bigger pick stuff hence why I am noticing the problem more and more.

I wholeheartedly agree that my picking stroke needs some work. Gonna have to break out the paul gilbert stuff again. I could see the inefficiency in it as the pick dropped down and hit the pickup.

Frank: Keep in touch, if I cant get past this with that mid pickup, it just may be on the block. I love my 540RHH (nio single, no problem, just not as nice as the JB). My first guitar was a 540R HSS. I remember hitting that mid pickup too!!! Thought about picking up a LP Studio for my rhythm stuff which would mean I would have to sell one of them.

Thanks guys, I'll keep trying.

Jeff

nuno · #8 02-04-2010, 07:41 AM

on one of my RGs i've put a DiMarzio SDS-1 in the middle, being a high output pickup i could set it flush to the pickguard though maintaining the same volume as the humbuckers.

sniperfrommars1 · #9 02-04-2010, 11:54 PM

That clear guard looks great nuno! Post some more pictures of that sometime. You have an eye for guitars my friend.

nuno · #10 02-05-2010, 04:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sniperfrommars1

That clear guard looks great nuno! ... You have an eye for guitars my friend.

thank you

Quote:

Originally Posted by sniperfrommars1

Post some more pictures of that sometime.

and... VOILA'! i was inspired by Skolnick's black RG with maple board and red IBZ/USA pickups, but i had a clear pickguard laying around, so...

TheLivingDead · #11 02-05-2010, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nuno

thank you

and... VOILA'! i was inspired by Skolnick's black RG with maple board and red IBZ/USA pickups, but i had a clear pickguard laying around, so...

That is one sexy guitar my friend! Very clean wiring too, I like that. Nice photography btw!

satchmo72 · #12 02-09-2010, 10:15 AM

Ok, Problem solved.

For some reason, most likely because I have been doing more strumming work, I started using a full size pick and had gone away from the Ultex Jazz III I had been using.

I switched back to the Jazz III on the 540 last night and everything was cool. Must not be used to having that much pick under my fingers.

Thanks for helping me keep her.

Jeff

muttznmongrelz · #13 02-09-2010, 10:19 AM

Those DiMarzio SDS-1 Single Coils are GREAT pickups! Got them in my '88 B.C. Rich Gunslinger/Assassin and my Stevie Ray Vai Project Guitar. Highly recommended!

nuno · #14 02-09-2010, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheLivingDead

That is one sexy guitar my friend! Very clean wiring too, I like that. Nice photography btw!

thanks, thanks and thanks

she's part of a series of three guitars (possibly increasing), named The Swatch Series, as they're full colors and clear plastic, just like the cheap swiss watches i loved so much in the '80s. requisites to be part of The Swatch Series are: RG only, maple fretboard, matching headstock and color pickups on clear pickguard

TheLivingDead · #15 02-09-2010, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nuno

thanks, thanks and thanks

she's part of a series of three guitars (possibly increasing), named The Swatch Series, as they're full colors and clear plastic, just like the cheap swiss watches i loved so much in the '80s. requisites to be part of The Swatch Series are: RG only, maple fretboard, matching headstock and color pickups on clear pickguard

Hahaha I dig it man, I dig it!