Pick Up gaurds, cleaning under them?

[Cup]

I've done the searches on "maintainance" and "Pick Up gaurds" and nothing came up.

 

I've had my Ric about 5 months now and tho' I've tried cleaning under the pup gaurds with thin pieces of cloth. I think the only way to go is by taking the gaurd off. I'm not the best in the world with a screw driver so I'm not looking forward to this.

 

When I do take them off I want to really get all the fluff out. Is there any BEST way to give the whole area a really good spring cleaning? Is there any products I should use, or any little devices that make this whole process easier. I really don't wanna cause any damage, so any advice would be appreciated.

 

Once this topic has been covered, it'll be another one in the archives (so to speak) and others can call it up on the search.

 

Win Win situation! I get my pick up's clean and the forum extracts more juicy info from it's members collective mind(s).

 

Cheers, thanx in advance.

 

CupMcMali...this monkey's gone to heaven

[patrick_dont_fret]

I never clean my 4string fretless. It gives it a nice old and used (and abused for that matter) look. I think I'd do a Ric the same way. But that's just me.

 

To really get under the pup cover, get that little can of air that you can buy at any computer store. It really is a small can of compressed air, with a little straw-like thing you stick on the end of it (like WD-40) and it will blow air out in a controlled fashion. There you have it. No destruction necessary, just blowing a little air.

 

Now to find my comb.

[Cup]

Cheers Patrick, I never even thought of that method. I can't see any harm that could be done by air. About the non cleaning ethic, my last bass never seen a cleaning cloth...I liked the beat up, abused look...with the Ric it's cost too much and looks so fine I always clean it....so much that after I've gave it a good hour of elbow grease I don't like to play it...IT GETS DIRTY AGAIN

 

Pathetic I know It's just a piece of wood with strings.....but I love it

[patrick_dont_fret]

Eh, anything for my Irish brethren. Actually, I didn't think of it til I wrote it...some things just pop in yer head. But fer real, I enjoy keeping my new bass clean, as it has a shiny finish on it, and shows fingerprints and the such easily. But my old bass just has a few coats of polyurethane on it, over natural wood, so no prints there.

 

Anyway, hope that helps. And I know you can find this stuff in Belfast, definitely.

[cornbread_medhotmail.com]

If you have some gunk build-up and the air-in-a-can method doesn't work, try a little rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball. This works well for forgotten about beer spills, too.

[jeremy c]

How did you get gunk under the pickguard?

You must play in some pretty rowdy pubs!

 

Take the whole thing off is my suggestion.

[cornbread_medhotmail.com]

The sweat and smoke over the years adds up. That stuff gets everywhere. It was on my P copy with a not-quite-tight pickguard. Not too terribly long ago, I played a gig on a stage with a fence around it. Apparantly it was customary to have beer bottles thrown at a band if the crowd liked them. I saw that and left my Stingray in the case that night. It was quite fun. Getting a beer bath was quite invigorating. We used the house gear that night.

[fig]

I wouldn't be too scared of the screwdriver (or a socket wrench, if you need to remove the volume/tone control nuts). In fact, once you get used to it on your bass, there's gonna be alot of tweakin' and peakin' you can do for setting up your own bass, instead of a service tech, who isn't familiar with your style of playing.

 

I'm not familiar with how a Ric is physically constructed in the pickup area, but assuming you've got the screws out, and the control nuts off, and pickup adjusting screws removed (again, I'm not sure how a Ric is constructed), clean it with a dampened cloth, or any guitar finish cleaner (I use Dr. Ducks Axe Wax). If it's really really gunked on stuff that a guitar cleaner won't remove, on MOST (not all) finishes, you can use cigarette lighter fluid (Naptha) or alcohol. It hasn't hurt any of the basses I own on the rare occasions I've used it.

 

Once you put everything back together, there are a number of ways to adjust the pickup heights again. What I do is adjust until the neck and bridge pickups are the same volume, which generally means the bridge pickup will be set closer to the strings than the neck pickup. Good to go, though you may already have this figured out, or should listen to others who have Ric experience.

 

I am curious, what specifically are you afraid of messing up by taking this area apart? Maybe I, or some others could help ya thru it.

 

Hope this is helpful.

[Cup]

Cheers to all! There's not a massive build up of anything really worrying under the gaurd. I'm a smoker and sometimes play with a ciggie in my hand. I think some ash has fallen in or it's just a lot of dust/fluff build up.

 

Fig, thanx for the advice, my biggest fear would be on what chemicals to use. I don't intend to play about with pick up heights as the bass sounds fantastic already.

 

Thanx. CupMcMali...

[fig]

If it's just the chemicals that's your concern, and what you're dealing with is moderately loose fluff n' old ciggie ashes, then probably any guitar surface cleaner should probably do perfectly. Finger Ease, Axe Wax, Martins Guitar Polish, etc. I would think just loosen the screws, use some of that stuff on a guitar cloth or old T-shirt.