I want that body in basswood. I can hear a night and day difference when your mount is installed. Definition, tone, sustain. Sheesh. Your decades of knowledge is a gift to us all.
Installed these on my 2021 Charvel San Dimas today while I was doing some copper foil shielding... holy cow did they upgrade the sound! I already had the Floyd updated with brass and titanium everything... figured I'd give these a try. Added even more sustain and focus to the sound, gave the JB more growl and definition. Besides the single coil sound now not having a buzz, the clarity and chime is unbelievable. I'm completely blown away with what these did to my guitars sound... AGAIN! 5 stars! (Install note: after removing the original foam under the pickups, the PMS fit perfectly on the San Dimas without the center support screws. 59 and JB have the short legs if that helps anyone. \,,/
So question... why the threaded height adjustment screw in the middle? Why not use the pickup springs between the feet and PMS? You want to adjust pickup height with every setup. Seems like it would be easier if you didn't have to pull the pickup out every time. Also... Am I the only one who noticed that you put new strings on the guitar after installing the PMS? Of course the guitar sounds brighter.
i haven't found many comparisons of direct mounts (where are they??). so this is cool. but can't say i hear a difference. if i were doing a comparison it would mostly be clean tones. some dynamics on single notes and sustained chords. 2 very consistent performances of same material. and put them right next to each other in 20 second chunks. idea on this design. what does that bottom spacer screw contact? i'd prefer to get some hard wood spacers. maybe a 3,2, and 1mm. that way can space to 6 mm in 1mm increments. don't know what the actual range would be. figure you'd get better coupling of pickup to body with more contact.
I bought a Futone pro that has the PMS and tried to adjust the pickup night the traditional way like I do on my Charvels and Suhr moderns. Great system but..... it looks like if I decide to adjust the pickup height later, it’s seems to be quite an ordeal....removing strings and pickup, adjusting lift screw etc. Would springs and foam work also so I can adjust height without having to do the above or would I be entirely missing the advantage of the PMS aka tone?
What would happen if you had large rectangular shims under the pickup instead of the screw? Seems like having that small contact with the screw would not transfer as much tone as if you had the whole pickup somehow touching the brass...
Went back to rings from similar mounting method, why? Because the guitar which had that implemented had crazy feedback in loud conditions and the noise from my interactions with the guitar body was noticeable. Rigid pickup mounting is good for home/studio conditions, but for gigs and rehearsals it's better to sacrifice a bit of your tone then your and other people ears. May be the problem is not that severe for pickups without metal covers, but in my case it was a deal breaker.
It got worse, IMO. I noticed it immediately on the first play through and didn't believe it until I listed a few more times. It lost chug on the E string. Now it's all tinny sounding. BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD.
@sparky… you are absolutely right…. He completely ruined the sound of that guitar. Thank you for your links to show how obvious it was. Saves me a bit of money 😁.
If it's as expensive as pickups, anyone with some basic garage skills could make a version of these I'd think. But I also used to build parts for high-speed postage machines for mail centers. Maybe it just seems easy to me. But looks like it might be a good idea other than how hard it is to adjust pickup height.
@@DJMerck It's literally a brass bar with five holes; two mounting holes, a threaded hole for height adjustment screws, and two threaded holes to mount the pickup to it. If you build machine parts, it's probably pretty easy with a few measurments.
@@paintitmatt LOL I was already thinking that same thing my friend. I don't have many options for working metal here but doesn't look like it has to be spun on a lathe. So might not be too bad
@@paintitmatt LOL, by the the time you buy the equipment to make your own brass mount, you will have spend a whole lot more than it's worth compared to just buying them.
So I'm installing this right now, and I trick I did to make sure it was dead center, was put the ring back on, use the original seymour duncan long screws, and it centers it quite well, enough to put the pilot hole through, and screw in, then remove the legs screws and remove trim and install pickup. Also, what size bit do you use for the pilot hole?
Everything looks great except dealing with the height adjustment screw back n forth...kinda annoying. Here's what I noticed on Scotti Hills yamaha pacifica that's equipped with the pms. drill a hole thru the body where the adjustment screw is with the Alen wrench slot pointing down so you can stick the wrench thru the bottom of the guitar for QUICK and easy height adjustment. Only downside is the hole in the spring cavity so if you have an expensive guitar you might want to put back to stock for resale this may not be for you...but in the other hand, if you're putting this in your guitar, you have to drill holes for mounting screws in the pickup cavity anyway and if Scotti Hill can do this in his USA custom shop yamaha...then what the hell...
Adam, Would it be possible to install those in a guitar that has a pickguard? I hate the fact that when I play on my Charvel So-Cal, the pickups move around a little bit and I assume that with the PMS, they won't move and they will get a better tone also. Greetings from Mexico.
YES! The way I do it on a guitar with a pickguard is to remove the pickup - put the pickguard in place - use a thin tool or punch and put it through the height adjustment screw holes and mark the wood in the pickup cavity. The marks will show you where to line up the outside holes on the PMS and mount it to the wood. (Don'f forget to measure the height of the pickup before you take it all apart. (Measure the hight that it comes up out of the pickguard)
can this be used on a guitar with a pickguard/scratchplate . i have a charvel so cal pro mod i want to improve the tone of . ive realized i have the tone of a guitar unless direct mounted after buying it . cheers darren
I wish I could find a better shot of the supplied parts. I am trying to understand how you can thread a screw through both the pickup and the brass block...
I wonder if these work for single coil sized pickups. I have a SL4 soloist with the triple hot rails, and the pickup cavities are very tight. I prefer my pickups close to flush with the body, so the wires underneath make it tough to fit.
Adam, I'm installing a PMS on a Jackson PC1. Since the pickup cavity is not that deep, the mounted bar raises the pickup s quarter of an inch or so even without any spacer screw. This will cause the pickup to sit higher than the strings come from the recessed Floyd. It looks like the DiMarizo is taller than say a Seymour humbucker. I assume you've installed these on other PC1s....any ideas?
If the lowest setting is too high, I would route a small channel across the bottom of the cavity. I have not run into this issue on PC1's. If you need to sink the PMS an 1/8" into the cavity, it is a very minor adjustment.
There's not a lot of wood to work with in the cavity. I'd be afraid routing it would leave almost nothing for the mounting screws to even grab. I think I ether need to install a different humbucker, figure out a way to flatten the DiMarizo pickup mounting plate's feet, or leave it stock. Damn, I have two PC1s I'm modifing today. Already did the Big Block, claw and trem stop on both. Oh well, I can fit the PMSs into some other guitars. It worked great in the Charvel I did a few months ago. Thanks.
I had a bad experience cutting into a Tom Anderson (installing an L Block, ironically). I'll save the two PMSs for some other guitar mods. The first PC1 is back together and intonated now. Sounds great with the L Block. Thanks.
Hello, is there a way to use this P.M.S. system for a strat? I have humbucking single coil sized pickups I would like to mount this way. I have a strat that I couldn't find proper mounts. The screws don't do much.
I just bought the yellow Pro.. and not because of the PMS system.. lm no electrical engineer but as far as l know they still have not developed magnets that can transmit wood resonance. sounds good in theory but l am gonna have to take the strings off and knock on the body to see just how much is going through, lm betting little to none. I think it's a very slick clean system and l believe it's the same system on my 2018 Gibson SG HPll, it is a love or hate thing with pickup rings it seems but l like both. The guitar is incredible either way!
Got a warmoth guitar I'm building, and I want to put these in it. The pickup routs are flat across the bottom. Would i have to rout out a bit for the legs?
Hmmm...kinda resembles a humbucker baseplate, narrowed down, and made thicker.. Great idea..was already thinking on it..your product just confirmed, it would be a perfect alternative. And you can still make use of the springs..just shorten them. Lose that center screw and they'll be easily adjustable.
@@purimuadmuang2259 - The point is to have everything where you want it to start. Once you have that, you will not have to readjust the pickup height ever. if the neck moves then, move it back.
but does it also, in addition, act like the baseplate on the bottom of a tele bridge pickup? the latter increases the inductance of the pickup due to its affect on the magnetic field.
you should do a version made out of steel or another magnetic metal, rather brass, so that it is does also affect the inductance output of the pickup. that would be great for single coils pickups especially.
Hi Adam! Have purchased some big blocks and other parts from you in the past, love your products! Could you give some advice? I have an Ibanez RG that have direct mounted stock pickups, that I'd like to change, the new SD pickups I got, have their adjustment screws sticking out quite far on the back, and there is almost no space left in the pickup cavivties, I think a PMS system would raise the pickups enought, that the screws don't hit the bottom anymore, but I'm afraid a higher position would rouine the tone? What do you think? Otherwise I have to re-route the pickup cavities, which seems quite scary to me. Regards
you are an idiot if you want one.. HAHAHA.. that wont change the sound nor the sustain of your guitar. it will only add more weight. The pickup does not listen to the wood, it listens to your strings.. Wood is non magnetic.
@@therealjackfisher dumb fuck,,, pay attention, if the wood vibrates, which it does, and the strings vibrate, which they do, and.. the pickup vibrates out of phase between the two, you are going to get a LOSS because they are working against each other. This is simply removing that loss. If the string didn't move at all, but the guitar pickup AND body vibrate together at 440 hearts, you would hear that note. If they were fight each other a little bit, you would lose some of what could be there. Hope that helps your ignorance on why it does work.
@@realtruenorth So to clarify, this makes the pickup and the body vibrate in phase with each other? My guitar tech is all about PMS, but I don't fully understand it yet.
@@JawedKarim763 first off,, i have done this to several of my guitars.. i did not use PMS, I made my own setup.. but im sure PMS works just as well if not better that what i did.. as for why it changes anything?.. i think there is a couple things going on with pickups that are mounted to pickguards or even rings.. but I suspect with pickguards it is more of an issue. If the pickups can vibrate independently of body and strings,, it is going to introduce some difference in what it 'picks up'. You dont want the pickup to move independently from the body,, but rather as one with the body,, like its part of it.. The string generates a current in the magnetic field when it vibrates creating a signal in the magnet. The body also vibrate when you pluck the strings,, the pickup vibrates if the body does. They should be a loop of sound from the strings to the nut, through the neck then body (with pickup vibrating as one with the body), then through the bridge and back to the strings. A loop vibrating,,contributing to the overall sound. Next time you strum all 6 strings ,, put your hand on the guitar body and feel how much vibration is going on in the wood. If the pickup can move separately from the body,, its not moving as one with the body,, therefore moving slightly separately. This can cancel out what the magnet will get through the strings,, since the pickup might be moving in a way that gets closer to matching the string/body difference. Imagine if the string and pickup were both moving perfectly together in phase at 500 vibrations per second. You would hear nothing from the guitar amp,, because the magnetic field was not disturbed since they have no movement relative to each other. It is the clean difference between the two that disturbed the magnetic field creating a signal that goes to your amp. But ,, you want it clean,, not sloppy. Thats what direct mounting does,, keep the pickup tight with the body,, getting rid of the 'slop' in that difference. The pickup and string will not lose signal from that 'slop'. It may not be a string difference that you can notice easy. But a good guitar has many things that improve tone/sustain in a small way that collectively, add up to a large audible difference. Everything i am talking about, I have tried and proved to myself.
I discovered this upgrade right after I ordered and received another brass block, springs and craw for a build I'm doing. In fact, it was the PMS card in the packaging that got me here (how's that for feedback on your smart advertising). Question, any installation concerns with pickguard routed bodies....is the installation basically the same ? Are you excluding the screw springs?
Thanks!!!! I was hoping those cards helped... Yes - just line up the PMS under the pick guard first. (tape it in place to see if it lines up before you screws it down).
I just finished a refurbishment/modification of a single humbucker Charvel w/ pickguard. I installed a 37mm brass L Block, 3 Heavy Duty Noiseless Springs (red), a brass tremolo stop, a brass Spring Claw and the brass PMS. First impressions - enormous sustain improvement, fuller tone and much improved tuning stability (even without the 3 nut clamps screwed down). Couple notes - I replaced the Spring Claw stainless steel mounting screws with brass screws of the same length, just to keep the brass on brass to wood vibration signal path. Mounting the PMS in the body cavity of a pickguard style body is a little tricky - if you center the PMS bar directly on the cavity wood and mount the pickup, it may not line-up with the pickguard, pickup cut-out. You have to adjust where the bar sits in the cavity to line-up with the pickguard cut-out. The issue is you cant determine where to drill the mounting holes in the cavity because when joined together, the pickup is covering the screw holes on the PMS bar. Instead of screwing the bar down, I started in the center of the pickup area and taped it to the wood just to secure it temporally, installed the pickup onto the bar and placed the pickguard over the cavity. I repeated the process making small adjustments left to right, front to back, until the pickup was centered within the pickguard cut-out. Once I was sure I had the pickup w/ bar centered correctly for the pickguard, I then removed the pickup from the bar and drilled the screw holes. It was a little tedious but it worked. This is the suggestion/method Adam mentioned earlier in this post but I just wanted to provide a little detail on my experience with the PMS mounting procedure. I have big blocks installed in all my Floyd Rose equipped guitars and highly recommend the modification. Hearing how much the PMS added to the sustain, I'm going to upgrade the rest of the fleet. Fortunately, the rest of my guitars are Soloist style....without pickguards ;)
Has anyone successfully tried this EMGs? I have an ESP M-II, and was told by a luthier I’ve hired for various upgrades that it won’t work with my EMGs because of the connector tabs on the bottom on the pickups. He made it seem like the cavity wasn’t deep enough, but I don’t know if he was just sparing himself the headache of setting it up or not. Frustrating.
This looks like it would change the magnetic field like a Tele bridge pickup plate does and change the sound of the pickup. Have you tested the magnetic field to see if it affects it? The only real difference between a Tele bridge pickup and a strat bridge pickup is the plate under the Tele pickup which reshapes the magnetic field producing more mid frequencies. It's a serious question.
@@FloydUpgrades i have to disagree, it is a known fact that brass pickup frames affect the tone of the pickup as opposed to nickel silver frames. this is due to eddy currents less highs....more mids.
I don't see the reason for this mounting bracket. In the standard way the pickups are mounted to the guitar body. In this way it is done the same, but there is a middle part in between. So what? Actually a wood screw is a much more firm fit in the wood (that's why it can only be screwed in with a screwdriver), then a metric metal screw, which can be turned by hand. There is a working gap between the thread and the hole sides! Is that good for transferring the resonances? No! So is it better then the normal hard mount pickup fixing? No.
It's kinda hard to tell if it's an objective test if you're swapping strings between before and after... Should've kept the stock strings for a more fair comparison.
Thanks Robert. In most cases there is enough room. In the event that you need to go lower, routing a small channel for the PMS in the bottom of the cavity is pretty simple. In my opinion, it is a small trade off for a huge tonal gain!
Just mounted a humbucker on a new warmoth Strat body a few days ago and I was gonna direct mount it to the body but ultimately went with foam block underneath and the traditional pickup ring for adjustment purposes. The only reasons I was going to DM it were for cosmetic and physics purposes, as you mention how DM sounds a tad better because the pickup doesn’t vibrate. It also looks cool with no PU ring on there. That’s mainly what I wanted to say, the FU direct mount system looks very cool, and I would think that cosmetically a lot of modern guitar players seem to prefer direct mount with no ring. Personally after I saw my new body with and without the ring, it looked better with it on.
Anyone planning on buying for PRS, beware, Mr Smith screwed us on the pickup shelf to screw depths,,, not compatible with PMS unfortunately I found out the hard way. The ears on his pickups are very deep.
you're gonna need more mass for that. Try velcro-tying some 2oz disc-shaped lead fishing weights to the bottom of your strap, I use up to 16oz for my ironbirds which are very neck heavy and it helps a lot.
While I hate the look of direct mounted humbuckers (they just look naked without the mounting rings), if you could still use the rings, this would be a cool mod.
FU - TONE I get so much noise in my house I am extra aware of noise issues. But that makes sense as the pickup would be grounded and in turn the P.M.S.
LOL...I love your stuff Adam but come on, there's not that much of a difference between spring / ring mounted and direct mounted. The idea is that you don't want the pickup to be floating or moving around while you're playing, which is understandable...but if you're playing sitting down in a studio there's no way any kind of meaningful movement is going to be happening. If you're running around on stage, that's pretty much the only time, but even then...the amount of difference is so negligible...I highly doubt anyone could tell the difference, even with audiophile quality headphones listening to an isolated guitar A/B.
Hey Nick - I appreciate the feedback and you taking the time to listen. All I can say is: try it. See for yourself. Also - Don't take it from me (I am the guy selling the stuff) - read some customer reviews from the guys who bought them. FU-Tone Reviews Here: www.fu-tone.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=reviews
Sorry but I see absolutely no advantage to doing this but you have managed to eliminate the adjustability you had to begin with with absolutely no change in appearance. I liken it to removing your shoelaces every time you take your shoes off and putting them back every time you put them back on again. I may be retired but I don't have that kind of time just to chase my tail...
