Microphonics on my G&L

[betourrutia]

Hey there!

I´ve just got a beautyful asat classic tribute on a wallnut finish, it sounds amazing for the price but it only has one problem:

The bridge pickup screams like hell when i play it whit drive and in a large stage (cause i play it louder)

I read a lot of this issues and did the wax potting, and...didn´t worked! i am really afraid of doind anything else like super glue the plate to the body etc etc and many other crazy recomendations.

Mi theory is that it insn´t a pickup problem, i believe it is a plate issue because of the magnetics.

I will really apreciate you help.

p.d (sorry for my english i am from El Salvador)

[patricks]

I've heard that replacing the pickup height adjustment springs with surgical tubing can help to cure microphonics. Haven't tried it myself, but hopefully someone that has can chime in

[Craig]

Look in the G&L Tech Tips sub-forum of the G&L Knowledgebase. You should find several posts related to your issue.

If you bought the guitar new from a G&L dealer, you might want to contact the dealer and have it taken care of under warranty.

Hope this helps.

[louis cyfer]

you don't need to super glue anything. it's likely that you didn't do the potting right. putting 2 small screws on the front edge of th4 plate will also help. like the callaham saddles.
to out rule the plate issue, it is simple, just put a different bridge pup in.

[helle-man]

Sometimes it's just luck of the draw getting a microphonic PU.

I once had G&L send me a small box of Z coils so I could replace any microphonic Z's I found on my signature models.

There are various levels of microphonic. If it's not real bad, I would let it go. If you keep overdriving a signal with distortion pedals, eventually it will make any PU start squealing if you're facing the amp and your gain is high enough.

Like Louis said, perhaps you didn't re-pot it well.

The way I tell if a PU is microphonic is like this: I take a 45 watt Rivera combo, put the amp in a loud clean setting on about 3 or 4, and start facing the amp with the guitar from about 6 feet away. Then I slowly approach the amp and see how close I can get to the amp before a PU squeals. I'll try the neck PU, then the bridge, then the middle.

The interesting thing about microphonic PU's is this: Sometimes the best sounding PU's have a small amount of microphonics going on - not too much, but just enough to give it "personality". Weird!

My 2¢.
Will

[Boogie Bill]

I agree with Will, a slightly microphonic pickup can be a good thing. I have some Duncan Antiquity and Seth Lover humbuckers that are unpotted. They will feedback, but the feedback is always harmonious, musical and controllable. Likewise the z-coils on my Comanches...one of my favorite tricks with these guitars is inducing feedback and then actually tuning the harmonic with the guitar's PTB controls.

I had an ASAT Classic SH with a squealing, shreiking, uncontrollable bridge pickup. Potting fixed it. Moreover, the potting cleaned up the tone of the pickup, adding clarity and fatness. The pickup sounded "smeared", reminding me of the days of vinyl records. A poorly isolated turntable in a stereo speakers' soundfield would cause vibrations in the tonearm and cartridge, resulting in a loss of fidelity and smearing of the stereo image. This pickup responded the same way, and the fix was the same...isolating and lowering the resonant frequency of the tuntable and the pickup.

I don't know why G&L has so many problems with the ASAT Classic's bridge pickup, but it is a problem the factory should pro-actively address. It ruins an otherwise fine guitar. Try to get it fixed under the warranty if you can...otherwise try re-potting.

Good luck!

Bill