TV Classics not fitting in 5120 cavities
Hey folks, Spent Sunday installing some TV Classics (EM2 mount) in my Gretsch 5120. Got it wired up properly (at least I hope so!), but hit a snag: The TV Classics won't drop into the cavity - the "legs" that attach the screws/springs to the mounts are a bit wider than the pickup cavity. What's the best way to fix this? File the wood at the edges of the two "notched" areas at the top and bottom of the cavities? Or is it an option to bend the legs of the pup inward a tad? It's my first time doing a pickup installation, so I don't want to go blundering ahead and do something regrettable. Also, it looks like the holes in the mounting rings don't quite line up with the holes from the old pups. Guess I'll need to drill new holes on one side? Or will I need to drill 4 new holes for each pickup? Thanks for any advice.

Oh my; Bummer indeed. I just read your comments over at the GDP. I wonder if there has been a change in the size of the rout here lately? My Classics should arrive here pretty soon so I'm just a little anxious to see if I'll have the same problem with my 07/12 5120. I ordered the plastic spacers with the pups; so I'll be checking for the height measurements before I do the wiring. With any luck I may not have to remove as much wood in the vertical if the spacers plus the adjustment keep the tabs closer to the surface. On the other hand; I may not need the spacers. If I have the same problem I'll probably try to work both angles: Take a little off of the tabs while the pups are wrapped and sealed as much as possible to keep any shavings outta the works and work slowly to keep vibration to a minimum. And if woodwork is required I'll likely start by determining just how much wood will have to be relieved and do some careful scribing through the finish sos's not to let it chip. At any rate; thanks for the Heads-Up. Much better to expect a potential problem than to be blind-sided by it! And posting here is good too since it alerts Tom to the situation. Good luck! Rich.

Hi -j! Interesting topic; huh? Surprising too! Lotsa Folks seem to have this problem. Anyway; what I meant by "scribing the finish" was just taking something sharp like an X-acto knife and carefully cutting down through the Poly to the wood so that when the actual removal of wood takes place the Poly won't be as likely to chip outside of the area that you're working in. ....sometimes it helps. Rich. And...Aw Phooie; I bought my 5120 in Feb 08. Guess I better round up some tools! EDIT: Aw, Double Phooie; the Wife said to unstick my nose from the front window glass. The pup funds are back in the bank. :(

Erase the "Double Phooie"! The pups have been shipped! YIPPEE!! Got the Golden E-mail on 7/11!. How lucky is that!? Maybe I won't need so many tools after all! :P

Good stuff Rich. I got mine finished last night. I ended up bending the legs of the pups inward, but then backed off on that because it seemed they might be interfering with the travel of the screws that adjust the height. So I got the file out and filed the cavity edges until the pups fit in with some wiggle room. For each pup, 2 of the holes on one side lined up correctly, so I had to drill two new holes for each (after filling the other 2 with toothpicks&glue method). And they're done! Good luck with yours.

Thanx for the good wishes -j! I'm really getting excited now, and after reading about how much better your sounds over at the GDP with the Classics; I'm really really looking forward to getting mine installed! After 35 years I'll finally have a real Gretsch again! Rich.

Well; my Classics came in, and they are in! And they were well worth the wait! While the Gretschbuckers sounded good on a couple of amp and guitar settings, these Classics sound good on almost all settings! Installation was a lot easier than I'd expected; just an easy snip and sanding of the tabs and just a small amount of sanding in just one small spot of wood and they slipped right in! I was able to get both pups up high enough without having to use any of the spacers by snipping off one coil of one set of springs. The other was OK as is. The spacers are well made and would have looked nice if I'd have needed to use them, but even though the adjustment was maxed out on one pup; it was still in spec. ....I'm keeping the spacers in a safe place though so if I ever need them I'll know where I hid them. Shucks; I may just go ahead and add a spacer under each Gretsch ring just to make it look a little more substantial and maybe add a bit of contrast and flash under the stock ring! Oh; and Nickel finish looks great with the gold surrounds on an Orange 5120! Another very happy customer indeed!

Good stuff! I may try that spring-snipping trick. Rock on.

So... I just finished my installation of Classics as well. They sound sweet but I'm having an issue with pickup height in my 5120 The recommended height is 5/32" for the bridge (string to pickup cover). I can only get about 7/32" before maxing out the spring tension. I see two options: 1) Use the Gretsch stock pickup springs....they look thinner and are shaped like a little tornado which would allow them to compress more. 2) Snip the spring by say 25% to allow more compression....is this a good idea? **I posted in the GDP....but I bought ring risers but I don't see them helping here...from what I understand the ring risers are purely cosmetic. They will rise the rings around the pickup (hence the name). ALSO....I not sure if everyone elses 5120 is like mine, but my neck pickup is on a slight angle...hard to get the top of the pickup to stay parallel with the strings. It's prolly on a 5-10 degree slope, sloping toward the bridge. So the pickup poles closer to the neck on the neck pickup are a little higher than the pickup poles closer to the bridge...not sure that makes any sense.

I didn't think of using the G'Bucker springs when I installed my Classics, or I'da tried that first! I ended up of course snipping a spring to get the proper height. I also have the same slight lack of parallelism between the strings and the top of the pup, but the pup is perpendicular to the soundboard, so it appears that the pups and their mounts are working and adjusting just fine, but that the guitar itself may not be exactly square to the strings. ...if it were the pole pieces farther from the neck that were the higher set, I'd maybe be concerned, but it's the neck set that's closest, so that's cool in my book. 8)

Oh yeah. Totally. It's not the TV Jones pickups which are causing the non-parallelismness ...my Gretschbuckers were the same. I was just wondering if other's 5120's were like that. Yeah...we'll see how the Gretschbucker springs are, but I may try adding another riser...some peeps over on the GDP pages say it'll help.