I’m thinking of getting a peche a la mouche pickup but after reading some related posts, I’m concerned that I may have string balance issues due to the high string height off the body. I play a dupont nomade with a number 4 bridge (their highest) which gives me just under 3mm action at the 12th fret. So the strings are pretty high off the body although the action is fine.
I read somewhere on this forum that peche owners were shimming the pickup to solve any balance problems? Has anyone any advice on how this is done?
Comments
playing same guitar and wondering same thing about same pickup. Anybody have any experience with a Peche a la Mouche pickup on an oval hole Dupont Nomade? Thank you as always for the help.
Still us using the same guitar and pickup. Turned out I was worrying unnecessarily. I hadn't really got any problems and the string balance issue was normal as I confirmed for myself by trying my pickup on other guitars. If anything the pickup performed better on my Nomade. The clip is a tight fit on the Nomade isn't it due to the wooden "guide" they build under the top to help the wrench find the truss rod hole (I think that is what the piece of wood is for). Again, not really an issue.
The neck angle was too steep on my Nomade so I've had it shimmed to raise the action.
What did you shim on your Nomade?
I shimmed the neck. I already had a number 4 bridge and wasn’t happy shimming the bridge cos the strings were already extremely high off the body. I took the guitar to a reputable selmac maker who agreed the neck angle was too deep, like an archtop, and shimmed it. He built me a new bridge to take into account changes to intonation. I was a little concerned the guitar might lose some of it’s mojo but I needn’t have worried. It does feel and sound a bit different. There seems to be a little more tension in the strings, which I like. The balance is more even and It seems to sustain for longer. It’s all subtle though.
If your action is too low and you’re already using a 3 or 4 bridge, I’d consider doing what I’ve done.