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Topic: My "new" E Harp and long-term care |
Phillip Hermans
From:
Berkeley, California, USA
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Posted 1 May 2023 12:55 pm |
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I impulse bought this E Harp, and am really enjoying it!
It is my first steel with legs, and I have to say I enjoy that stability and being able to stand while I play. This helps me be a little more agile at gigs and also, the steel stays in one place! This has improved my intonation on bends and slides as I'm not chasing the steel around on my lap. 
I did learn a lesson the hard way:
- Test drive the instrument on an amp you know well!
The amp I went through at the guitar shop was basically a PA behind the counter, and I didn't notice how low output the pickup was.
Once I plugged it in at home I realized how low output the pickup is and how it can be quite noisy. (If I tilt it 90˚ forward the noise attenuates greatly)
Given this guitars age, I imagine the pickup may just need a rewind?
I did get my Gibson BR9's P-90 rewound and the difference was night and day... any have experience getting an E Harp pickup rewound?
My other question is around general care and use of the support legs.
I hope to gig with this guitar, which means screwing and unscrewing the legs. This is metal on metal, and it makes me cringe a bit.
Everything slots in rather nicely, but I am worried how much wear and tear will happen with this process over time. Would it make sense to oil or lubricate the threads of the legs? How about for the height adjustment? Better to leave it raw or treat it with something?
For now I am just enjoying all of the strings! I went with a C6 tuning as that is what I use for my main gigging band. I would love to experiment with the E Harp tunings one day... but I'd need an S10 or console 10 in order to justify retuning this one  |
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K Maul
From:
Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL
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Posted 1 May 2023 1:36 pm
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The pickup shouldn’t be low output. The legs have been screwed in and out since…what…1956 with no problem but putting a drop of lube on the threads wouldn’t hurt.
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KEVIN MAUL: Airline, Beard, Clinesmith, Danelectro, Evans, Fender, GFI, Gibson, Hilton, Ibanez, Justice, K+K, Live Strings, MOYO, National, Oahu, Peterson, Quilter, Rickenbacher, Sho~Bud, Supro, TC, Ultimate, VHT, Williams, X-otic, Yamaha, ZKing. |
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Bill McCloskey
From:
Nanuet, NY
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Posted 1 May 2023 1:45 pm
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I have one just like this (and a bunch of other ones). Yes I have had experience rewinding Eharp pickups. the original Epi Eharps can't be rewound (I learned the hard way) and you just need to replace them. If you want the name of my guitar tech, he was worked on all my eharps. I have all the original Alkire lessons for the eharp and have a youtube channel with eharp lessons, players, and examples.
Congrats.
_________________
Rose D13 tuning: Cabinet by J.R. Rose with mechanics engineered by Darvin Willhoite.
Williams D10 9x9.
Mullen Pre-RP D10 8x5. |
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Noah Miller
From:
Rocky Hill, CT
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Posted 1 May 2023 2:35 pm
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| Yup, that pickup should be plenty loud. If it's not, the first place I'd look is the wiring: dirty/worn pots, bad solder connections, maybe a short somewhere... It's a single-coil pickup so the noise will be different depending on position and orientation, but it will probably have better hum rejection than anything in a BR-9. |
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Samuel Phillippe
From:
Douglas Michigan, USA
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Posted 2 May 2023 12:40 pm
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I have a lap steel with legs that I am screwing on and off every week. I put vasaline on the threads every once in a while. Been doing this for over ten years without any problems. As far as the height adjustment......once I set it I haven't adjusted it since.
I do the same on my pedal steel.
Sam |
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Phillip Hermans
From:
Berkeley, California, USA
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Posted 11 May 2023 9:22 am
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| K Maul wrote: |
| The pickup shouldn’t be low output. The legs have been screwed in and out since…what…1956 with no problem but putting a drop of lube on the threads wouldn’t hurt. |
I wonder if the sockets have been re-milled at some point, I don't have enough experience to know, but the metal looks like it may have been worked on. If I remember, I will post a pic and see what y'all think.
I'm also curious how often the legs were taken on / off since 1956. It is plausible that this axe sat in a closet for a number of years / decades without being played. Or that someone just kept it set up at home. Certainly someone could have been gigging with this instrument regularly, but I would assume someone gigging that often would have a more "pro instrument" (no offense Eddie!  )
But I will ad some a dab of lubricant! thanks for responding
| Samuel Phillippe wrote: |
| I have a lap steel with legs that I am screwing on and off every week. I put vasaline on the threads every once in a while. Been doing this for over ten years without any problems. As far as the height adjustment......once I set it I haven't adjusted it since. |
Good idea on the vaseline! Unfortunately, the legs don't fit in the case if they are adjusted for me to stand, so I will either need to get a gold club bag or adjust them every-time. (Which I admit can be a bit awkward to set up at a gig... trying to get all 3 legs in and adjusted without dropping / banging into anything...)
| Noah Miller wrote: |
Yup, that pickup should be plenty loud. If it's not, the first place I'd look is the wiring: dirty/worn pots, bad solder connections, maybe a short somewhere... It's a single-coil pickup so the noise will be different depending on position and orientation, but it will probably have better hum rejection than anything in a BR-9. |
Thanks Noah, that is what I thought. I will carefully open this guy up and see if anything looks off.
| Bill McCloskey wrote: |
| I have one just like this (and a bunch of other ones). Yes I have had experience rewinding Eharp pickups. the original Epi Eharps can't be rewound (I learned the hard way) and you just need to replace them. If you want the name of my guitar tech, he was worked on all my eharps. I have all the original Alkire lessons for the eharp and have a youtube channel with eharp lessons, players, and examples. |
Thanks Bill, indeed I have found many of your threads about Eharps while searching around for more info! I'd love to try the Alkire tuning one day... I PM'd you about your guitar tech. Thanks!
Thanks for the responses everyone, I will investigate the electronics to see if I can home remedy... otherwise I will look into getting a new pickup.
Doing some recording with the band soon, and if the pickup gets sorted I will use this one. Otherwise I'll use my Melbertmaster... will share videos then! |
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Phillip Hermans
From:
Berkeley, California, USA
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Posted 20 May 2023 3:40 pm
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Took a look at the electronics, I am not a forensic scientist but it looks to me like that is the original cap, but the jacks and pots I think are replaced.
Still the original, very thin wires to the pickup on there as well, and the solder joints look acceptable.
So I am guessing its the pickup. I couldn't get a great look at it since there wasn't much slack in the wiring and I didn't take the strings all the way off.
Since this is a Valcro, I infer from Bill's comment that it can be rewound.
So I guess this is a job for Sentell? |
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Noah Miller
From:
Rocky Hill, CT
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Posted 20 May 2023 3:47 pm
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Since you know it's been monkeyed with, it's still more likely to be the wiring or pots than the pickup. Especially since you can't judge solder joints or components by visual inspection alone.
You can test this by wiring the pickup directly to the jack to see what happens. If you get a small increase in volume and brightness, then you aren't going to get anything more from the pickup. If you get a huge increase, there's something else amiss. |
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Phillip Hermans
From:
Berkeley, California, USA
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Posted 21 May 2023 11:24 am
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Thanks for keeping me honest Noah.
I wired the pickup directly to the amp and it was pretty much identical in volume + noise.
I have now taken the pickup out and it looks like it has been "monkeyed with" as well.
Gonna send to Sentell to see what Jerry can do. |
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