Tape around nailbomb?

[ACHIEVE PERFECTION]

Hi guys,

i am about to buy a used bridge nailbomb (in the evening, so a run short of time!). It doesn't have a cover. The owner told me that the tape around the bobin is somewhat loose, that it has lost its adhesive properties pretty much and he didn't try to glue it or something so that it doesn't look tampered. I searched the internet but couldn't find an easy solution.

Can you guys help? Is it an easy fix, like dropping some glue to the tape or something? Thanks a lot!

[Antag]

BKPs come with a lifetime warranty, so I imagine that you could send it back to get it fixed.

***DISCLAIMER: I don't work for BKP, so call Tim & ask to be sure

[ACHIEVE PERFECTION]

Yeah these were my first thoughts. But on the other hand i live in Greece, so i would like to avoid the shipping costs. It is not worth it because then the price of the pickup + shipping back and forth would be close enough to buying a new one, making today's purchase meaningless :). So, any ideas?

[gingataff]

BKPs come with a lifetime warranty, so I imagine that you could send it back to get it fixed.

***DISCLAIMER: I don't work for BKP, so call Tim & ask to be sure

I'm not sure if the warranty is transferable to a second owner, but I'm sure they put new tape on for you and I can't imagine it would cost too much.

As Antag says, give them a call.

[gingataff]

Yeah these were my first thoughts. But on the other hand i live in Greece, so i would like to avoid the shipping costs. It is not worth it because then the price of the pickup + shipping back and forth would be close enough to buying a new one, making today's purchase meaningless :). So, any ideas?

You can buy tape from some suppliers (Stewmac, etc) I don't know if BKP will sell you some but it's worth a try.

[ACHIEVE PERFECTION]

Thanks for the answers guys. So i guess it is not something to worry about. I mean, i even if the tape comes off, i guess the windings won't loosen or something? sorry for the stupid question

[Afghan Dave]

My advice is once you get hold of the pickup...

Get some quality black fabric duct tape.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duct_tape

Cut a neat small strip and put to one side.

Find the end of the loose BKP tape and gently pull the tape tight over itself. 

Put the duct tape strip over the BKP tape to add some extra reinforcement to the slipping join and keep the original tape tight over the coils.

Install the pickup and play/test for any issues such as microphonics which would mean the pickup would benefit from being sent back and re-potted.

This will at best solve the problem or at least buy you time to play and understand the new pickup in place and if it just needs new tape or re-potting.

Don't install or play with loose tape as you risk nicking or breaking the coil/wire and needing a re-wind.

Hope this helps and if ANY of the other wise heads on this board think this advice sucks -- SHOUT!  :D

[ACHIEVE PERFECTION]

Well, i got the pup and it wasn't actually too loose. The thing is, when i tightened it, it slowly slipped and became loose again. So i took some black duct tape and put it over the joint. The duct tape isn't too strong, so i had to use a strip about 5 cm long. For the time being, it keeps it together but unfortunately not too tight.

Also, the tape seems to be disfigured since on the upper edge it can't get completely straight no matter how i tighten it. As for the sound, after installing it i tested it on very low volume (since it is 12 here) on a randall warhead x2 (which is ss) and what surprised me even at such volumes was the ability to clean up with the volume. It was a nice, natural od/dist with the volume low that i hadn't experienced from the x2 before (since it is usually quite harsh and 'hard' distortion due to being ss). So, the first impression is very good. I can't wait to test it through the tubes tomorrow. Also, no microphonics (that's good)

By the way, the nailbomb replaced a jb in a jackson dk2s. While the jb wasn't a bad pup, i really really hated its cleans and sometimes found the bottom lacking. Well, the nb has infinitely better cleans and from the little i heard it seems better overall. The dynamics are great.

I hope nothing happened to the pup when i asked force on the tape to keep it together. If every bkp sounds just as good, i should start saving for christmas..  :D