HFN Phase Issue

[AeroUSA]

I remember someone mentioning that issue. I find I have to use a certain phase setting or I get a phasey ghost nite sound on the low G note.

Can anyone share their experience or a fix?

[GuitarLuva]

Originally Posted by AeroUSA

I remember someone mentioning that issue. I find I have to use a certain phase setting or I get a phasey ghost nite sound on the low G note.

Can anyone share their experience or a fix?

If my memory serves me correctly I believe that person was told by Les to not put any tape or putty on the middle foot and give it a try. I also remember another person saying they had a phasing issue and put tape on the outer feet and putty on the middle foot. There's been so many threads now it's hard to remember who did what.

Edit: one other thing that you might wanna test is just try it through headphones, as it could be your volume and positioning of whatever it is you're playing through. Headphones will let you know.

[AeroUSA]

Yes I remember something about putty on the middle foot

[TNO]

If the E strings sound thin Les recommends not attaching the middle foot to eliminate a phase issue between the feet. A couple of us tried it and it fixed the string balance issue but sounded very thin. Looking at the pickup base I noticed the middle foot is wider than the outer feet, which I figured might be part of the problem. I tried a small square of tape on the middle foot and it was more balanced. Then I tried just a little BB-sized ball of putty on the middle foot with tape on the outside feet. I didn't want to mash it around installing it so I made a jig like some use when installing K&K pickups. I only pressed down on the outer feet when attaching the pickup to the top. This worked out really well. The problem some of us had was the low E being quieter but what I noticed with this install was that the treble strings fattened up as well and almost all of the plastic-y piezo quality was gone.
TheKid! had his luthier install an HFN using my method and is happy with how it turned out. Others have had no issues with sticking it on the bridge plate randomly using either tape or putty. All it takes to make the jig is a piece of cardboard and a couple of golf tees.