Pole Piece Misalignment (serious) on Apex II

webmaestro · #1 11-20-2012, 07:39 PM

Just received a used Apex II a few hours ago. Took a few knocks in shipping, but nothing serious that some readjustment couldn't fix. Plugged it in and it sounds great.

However, just now, I went to adjust the pickup height and noticed that the pole pieces... especially the neck pup... are WAY OFF on the treble side. Here's a pic:

Now, I know perfect alignment isn't necessary yadda yadda. I can live with the bridge pickup... but DAT NECK PUP. I've never seen one (much less owned one) that's THIS far off.

Cause for concern? Maybe I can correct it when I do a pickup swap in the near future?

LonePhantom · #2 11-20-2012, 08:32 PM

Is it a cause for concern? Is the volume on the high e substantially lower than the rest of the strings? If not, then no it's not a cause for concern.

These are typically cosmetic issues, not practical issues. I've got a Standard spaced JB in a Strat with 2-1/8" spacing. The poles are no where near the middle of the pole-pieces on all strings, and there are no volume issues anywhere. I wouldn't worry about it.

GuitarBizarre · #3 11-20-2012, 08:36 PM

The bass strings are aligned perfectly. The problem is not with the build of the guitar. Additionally, the bridge you have there is F-Spaced, therefore the wider of the spacings, and the pickups themselves are wider than that, meaning they're also f spaced and there is no issue there either.

jb4674 · #4 11-20-2012, 09:07 PM

It's a placebo effect.

Jimmy

webmaestro · #5 11-20-2012, 09:27 PM

Everything about this guitar is fine... including the sound, so I'm not terribly worried. However, when I have the pups swapped, I'm going to point this out to the thech, and have have them redrill the mounting screws accordingly.

It bugs me.

webmaestro · #6 11-21-2012, 10:44 AM

Eff it. This is bugging me enough (aesthetically) that I'm just going to fix it myself. When I have some free time, I'll simply fill the old holes and redrill new ones. It's simple enough (though apparently too much to ask of the factory in Indonesia).

Looks like I have 2-3mm of space to move the pups toward the bass side, which should be fine. The factory just drilled the holes too far toward the treble side.

Will post my handiwork when finished.

The Euphor · #7 11-21-2012, 10:47 AM

Won't the off-center placement of the pickup in the routing bother you if you move it?

Philboski · #8 11-21-2012, 12:53 PM

Just from looking at the pics, I'd check the neck alignment before starting to drill. It can move around, especially if it "took a few knocks in shipping" as you said.

webmaestro · #9 11-21-2012, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Euphor

Won't the off-center placement of the pickup in the routing bother you if you move it?

The pups are CURRENTLY off-center in the routes. You can't tell from the photos, but both pups are mounted way toward the treble side in each route. So, I'm just going to move them back the other way a bit, so they're centered properly (or, if necessary, skewed toward the bass side--I don't mind that as long as they're aligned a little better under the strings).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philboski

Just from looking at the pics, I'd check the neck alignment before starting to drill. It can move around, especially if it "took a few knocks in shipping" as you said.

The neck was the first (obvious) thing I noticed after I unpacked it. It was indeed misaligned, but these pics were taken AFTER I realigned the neck... believe it or not.

andrewgosline · #10 11-21-2012, 04:17 PM

can you measure the pole piece spacing and let us know? It looks as if, should you replace the pickups, you can use regular gibson spacing. I think the difference b/w f-spaced and original spaced is of order 2mm, which could help perfectly especially if you re-drill.

have fun drillin!

A

webmaestro · #11 11-21-2012, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrewgosline

can you measure the pole piece spacing and let us know? It looks as if, should you replace the pickups, you can use regular gibson spacing. I think the difference b/w f-spaced and original spaced is of order 2mm, which could help perfectly especially if you re-drill.

have fun drillin!

A

Sure, I can measure when I get back home (at the relative's house for the holiday).

The replacement p/u's I have are UK... a Bare Knuckle Aftermath set. I don't know what the spacing difference is, but I held them up and they should align perfectly under the strings. I'll use THOSE to judge where the new mounting holes should go.

RGTFanatic · #12 11-22-2012, 12:31 PM

I suspect that you'll find another set of mounting holes in the body when you remove the pickups. This happens all the time on direct-mount routed guitars. I'm sure a previous owner took is apart for some reason and either stripped the original mount holes, needing to move the pup to a new location, or just simply missed on the first attempt. Either way, you'll have plenty of room to realign them when you pull the pups out.........

My diagnosis.......... no cause for worry.

webmaestro · #13 11-25-2012, 05:37 PM

As requested, here are close-ups of the current DiMarzios and the soon-to-be Bare Knuckle's that will replace them. I don't see a major difference in pole piece spacing between the two. Both appear to be about 11mm from center to center. Judge for yourself...

Current DiMarzio neck pickup...

And it's replacement, the Bare Knuckle neck pickup...

Since I have the strings off at the moment, I'm going to go ahead and unscrew the pups and see what's under there. We'll see if, as RGT said, I find some other holes that the previous owner drilled and/or stripped. Stripped holes are easily fixed with some CY/CA glue and dryer lint.

Also, the dang neck seems to have gone back out of alignment, so this time I'm going to take it off as well and see if there's anything more drastic I need to do to get it to stay put.

webmaestro · #14 11-25-2012, 05:53 PM

Nope, looks like the original holes were just poorly drilled at the factory.

I'm so glad the corporate bean counters at Ibanez decided to ship some production over to Indonesia. This is my first experience with an Indonesian Ibby, and I'm not impressed. However, I've heard the Premium line is quite good

I'll just fill these guys in and pretend they never happened.

webmaestro · #15 11-25-2012, 06:18 PM

Okay, just removed the neck to inspect for reasons why it seems to be perma-misaligned.

Yowza... check out the size of this chunk of wood that came out of one of the screw holes:

Despite removing this rather large, tubular-shaped piece of wood, the hole does not appear to be stripped. Screw seems to be nice and tight in there. Putting the neck back on now. Hopefully, that was the cause of the neck misalignment, but I'm doubtful.

I'd like to meet the guy/gal who put that "Inspected" stamp on there and have a word with them.