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Help with a UKII

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jfk64
Posted 2017-06-16 5:07 AM (#535540)
Subject: Help with a UKII
Joined:
June 2017
Posts: 4

Hello,
I was gifted a late 1980s (bowtie inlay) black UKII by the parents of a deceased friend 10 years ago, but never really did much with it. I recently pulled it out of its case, set it up the action, adjusted the neck tension to take out some bow (warp as Kaman referred to it), adjusted the PUP height. Put on a set of of Ernie Ball nickel-wound Super Slinky 9-42's to match the stock 2E set it came with, intonated it, and now it plays pretty well.

A few questions...

1. Tuners seem difficulty to hold pitch, any tips? I often play dropped tunings, and this guitar does not seem to do well with that as well. Also, when bending on higher frets (say 12+) it seems to drop volume pretty quick. I've been thinking of going up a size in strings to 10s, and readjusting the setup to allow drop tunings to work a bit better and maybe help with the sustain issue. Any setup advice from UKII players?

The UK seems very sensitive to PUP height. I have been a strat player all my life and haven't much problem dealing with pickup height issues in that world. This UKII can sound real bad real quick and I haven't seemed to find the sweet spot yet, but I am close. Any advice? I know there has to be one, I just just finished watching Steve Perry working on a UKII and his tone and sustain sounded incredible.

3. The rear pickup SPS switch kills the bridge PUP if it is set to the rear (the parallel setting). Obviously something is shorting out with the SPS switch in this position. Is this a known or common problem? Anybody deal with this and can offer a solution? Not a big deal as I can just leave it in the series position and its fine...but it would be nice to fix it.

Hopefully this post finds its way to the right forum as this one is the only one I am allowed to post in. Thanks in advance for any help.

Jon
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Mr. Ovation
Posted 2017-06-16 2:25 PM (#535544 - in reply to #535540)
Subject: Re: Help with a UKII


Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7209

Location: The Great Pacific Northwest
Hi and Welcome..
1. schaller tuners are pretty accurate, especially from that time frame I would check to ensure they are tight, make sure only a couple of winds of strings around them at the most.

2. As far as pickup height, maybe Damon can chime in on that, but I never found the UKII pickups that picky.. and they are rails, so that makes it even less picky.. that's been my experience.

3. The SPS switch just might need cleaning. It's just a slide switch. I would shoot some tuner cleaner in there and work it. If it's genuinely broken, it's replaceable.. but likely just schmootzed. Yeah.. that's a words.. schmootzed.
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jfk64
Posted 2017-06-16 4:37 PM (#535545 - in reply to #535540)
Subject: Re: Help with a UKII
Joined:
June 2017
Posts: 4

Thank you Mr. O., I'll try the suggestions. Tuner cleaner? is that a specific product or WD-40?
Jon
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Mr. Ovation
Posted 2017-06-16 4:44 PM (#535546 - in reply to #535540)
Subject: Re: Help with a UKII


Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7209

Location: The Great Pacific Northwest
Definitely NOT WD-40.. Specific for cleaning electronics. No residue cleaner.
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Damon67
Posted 2017-06-16 8:54 PM (#535553 - in reply to #535540)
Subject: Re: Help with a UKII



Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6992

Location: Jet City
Welcome JFK.

I will echo Mr Ovation. I've found that a precise wind on even a cheap tuner will typically stay in tune, and the UKII has Schallers, a great quality product.

Try cleaning that switch, but I suspect an issue with your bridge pickup. One of the things that sets the UKII apart from nearly every other guitar I've played is the pickups. They're hot and have a load of sustain. One of the reasons for the sustain in my opinion is that there is very little magnetic pull from the pickup. Go ahead, see for yourself. Put something that sticks to one of your strat pickups (like a guitar string) across the top of the UKII pickup and you'll see what I'm talking about. Because of this, you can really put the pickups as close as you want to the strings as long as they're not touching when you're fingering up the fretboard or from the plucking on the string. It very well could be you're not used to putting a pickup so close? Hard to tell without seeing it.

Good luck. I've had a lot of electric guitars in my day, the UKII is my favorite. I doubt Neal woulda played one for the better part of a show if it couldn't stack up against his usual LP. Ross Valory loved the Magnum bass too. He may have had some influence on Neal playing the UKII on that tour.
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jfk64
Posted 2017-06-17 4:55 AM (#535555 - in reply to #535540)
Subject: Re: Help with a UKII
Joined:
June 2017
Posts: 4

yeah right NEAL SCHON! Steve Perry...at least I had someone in the same band. I lowered the PUPS this evening and it seemed to help with the sustain, thanks for the tip. I think I am going to try a set of 10s after all. As you know, the UK has a smaller scale neck 24.75" compared to my Strat 25.5" and hence comparatively less string tension with my usual 9-42 strings. That should help in King's X style drop tunings I would think.

i am going to leave the bridge PUP for now. It plays fine and sounds good in the series position, so no big issue at the moment. I'll run down some cleaner and see if that helps the switch.

Thanks for the help!

Jon
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jfk64
Posted 2017-06-20 2:38 AM (#535578 - in reply to #535540)
Subject: Re: Help with a UKII
Joined:
June 2017
Posts: 4

Yes 10-46 strings are the ticket. Way better for me.
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