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Joined:
April 2010
Posts: 4
Location: NC | Okay, so I picked up a 2004 Ovation CK057 on Craigslist Saturday. Brought it home, plugged it into the amp, nothing short of amazing. Everything I expected it to be.
Except that the action was too high. At first I thought I'd just live with it, but then when I was reading the manual it mentioned that there were easily removable shims under the saddle and I thought "great!". Having sanded down the saddle on more than one acoustic guitar this sounded like a much better alternative.
Since the strings needed to be changed anyway I killed two birds with one stone; took the shim out and changed the strings. Except that now that I've put everything back together, the guitar is DEAD. No sound through the amp, nothing shows up on the (built in) tuner.
So I took it back apart and looked at it again. Looks like theres a small strip of copper thats supposed to sit right under the saddle, right? It's supposed to be flat, right? Well mines not, when I take the saddle off it sticks up at about a ten degree angle. If I grab my trusty metal screw driver and touch it while plugged into the amp; volia, a popping noise comes out. But I cant get the copper strip to lay down flat (which I assume would make the guitar start working again).
All that to say, anyone done this before? Am I just screwed? Is there an easy fix (read: inexpensive)? Don't make me take it to the repair shop! |
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Joined:
April 2010
Posts: 4
Location: NC | As a side note though: removing the shim did put the action where I wanted it. :) |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | First, Welcome.
Second, that copper thing is the pickup.
If it makes noise when you touch it it still works.
You want the saddle to make good contact with the pickup.
Does the saddle slide easily into the bridge slot? or is it a tight fit?
But you want the bottom of the saddle to be flat, and against the pickup.
But I had that happen with the original pick-up on my CK047 and I just replaced it with an Artec and a bone saddle.
But if you are hearing noise, the pickup works.
It should not be bent, but is should lay flat once the saddle is pushing against it.
You should be able to reach in the sound hole and push the pickup wire up, pushing the pickup out.
The slot for the saddle should be clean & level, and the saddle bottom is clean & flat.
Smarter people might have better advice! :p
If the action is still very high, you may need a neck reset.
Or some creative woodwork to the bridge and guitar top. |
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Joined:
April 2010
Posts: 32
Location: Okinawa Japan | I am not sure of the Pickup and Saddle on yours, but with my iDea I tried to take out the shim....and apparently what I took out was not the shim at all. Under the thin brass piece was a piece of plastic about an 1/8 inch thick. I took this out thinking it was a shim. Well this plastic piece had 6 pieces of metal in it. I ASSUME they are a very important part of the pickup. Because mine didn't work plugged in. I put this piece back in, and works fine again. So I am not saying this is what you did, but this is what I did literally 3 days ago lol. |
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Joined:
August 2007
Posts: 1008
Location: Tuscany, Italy | Did you check the battery ? :D
BTW Welcome ......!!! |
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Joined:
October 2008
Posts: 639
Location: NW of Philadelphia | Check all of your connections inside. Make sure you didn't pull out the plug for the pickup, or maybe the plug for the jack came out.
Battery check is a good one too. |
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Joined:
April 2010
Posts: 4
Location: NC | Ha ha, yes, I did check the battery. No, the shim that I took out was the actual shim, not the brass plated thing.
Its good to know both that the brass plate is removable and that I can pickup a replacement pickup if needed. What model ARTEC did you use?
Thanks for all your help! |
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Joined:
May 2010
Posts: 7
Location: Mid-Mo | Did you get it fixed, Unkemptwolf?
I've got a couple questions:
1. Was there only 1 shim capable of being removed?
2. Do they make a shorter saddle replacement?
3. Does the copper pickup run the entire legth of the saddle? |
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Joined:
May 2010
Posts: 46
Location: Michigan | I did the same thing on my acoustic (japanese Alvarez).
I lowered the saddle by making a new, shorter bone one and made an ebony filler piece to replace the cheesy chrome saddle holder. When I put it all back together, the pickup (a fishman I believe) didn't work. I suspected I had broken the wire lead somewhere and just left it out. I'd still like to get it working, but short of somehow putting new wire on it, haven't found the problem. |
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Joined:
April 2010
Posts: 4
Location: NC | Did you get it fixed, Unkemptwolf? Yes, I replaced it with an Artec 607 after ones of the posters above mentioned it.
1. Was there only 1 shim capable of being removed? Yes, the manual said there were two, but mine only had one. I guess the other had already been removed.
2. Do they make a shorter saddle replacement? Not to my knowledge, but you can always file down the saddle that's there.
3. Does the copper pickup run the entire length of the saddle? No, the piezo was only about ~68mm long. If you're looking to buy one you want one that's labeled as a "55mm" because that's the string width on an Ovation. |
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Sooo... did I just break my new Ovation?
