Epiphone Emperor Regent experience?

[jay42]

Customer has one where I can't balance the pickup. The B is too stong with the pole piece all the way down or removed. High E is set just below where the string would hit on the highest fret. The G is as high as it can go without falling out...and is not strong enough.

I've seen that it's common to replace the stock pickup with a Kent Armstrong, but does it give a balanced output?

[mr. beaumont]

What's it strung with?

[Al Mojo]

What year Epiphone? What pickup?

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Al Mojo

What year Epiphone? What pickup?

Since "pickup" is being used in the singular, I'm thinking it's one of the Korean-built '90s/early-2K's 17" Johnny Smith-style instruments - the postwar 18" New York originals (which used the name Emperor Zephyr Regent to denote their electric status) had three built-in pickups; I don't recall if the pickup on the MIK is glued or screwed to the pickguard, but if it's the latter it might be possible to insert spacers to lower the pickup in relation to the strings...

[jay42]

Ah...details: .052 to .013, 1996 production. The pickup is attached to the fretboard and the pots are on the pickguard. The imbalance is relatively slight acoustically, but that's not what the guitar is for.

The Kent Armstrong pickup is $114 from WD. A Lollar is $200.

[edit] Flatwound strings of no known provenance.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by jay42

...The imbalance is relatively slight acoustically, but that's not what the guitar is for...

Have you tried swapping an .012 and .016 for the top two strings, and adjusting the poles accordingly - might be a cheap fix...

[mr. beaumont]

Flatwound? Nickel? Monel? Bronze?