How to adjust pickups?

[Kazz]

Ok....long story short...My Classic 30 amp has came back home for the time being....so I was testing it out...using my Greg Bennett Avion. A year or so ago I had the stock pups taken out and bought a set of Washburn EMG Selects off a forum member (either here or the W forum can't remember)

Had them installed and did not really pay alot of attention to them....now I notice that the Neck is alot thinner sounding than the bridge...big difference in volume too. Shouldnt these be fairly well balanced as far as volume wise?

The neck looks to be considerably lower than the bridge...would this cause what I am hearing?

Is there a standard distance from the strings that the tops of the pup covers should be?

I know this thing is never going to sound like the Gibson Standard Mahogany that I gas for...but it's what I have until I can afford the upgrade.

[tunghaichuan]

I'm assuming these are humbuckers? And they are passive?

I usually adjust passive pickups by depressing the strings down to the fingerboard by the last fret. They I adjust the pickup so that it is close to the string. Then I test the guitar to make sure that the pickup isn't too close. If they are too close, the magnetic field will disrupt the string vibration and cause weird overtones. It's a trade off between clarity, output strength, and lack of weird over tones.

If anything the neck pickup should be louder, the strings have more vibrational energy over the neck pickup. Try adjusting the neck pickup and see if that solves the problem.

The other thing it could be is that the pickups are reversed: the neck pickup is installed in the bridge and the bridge pickup is installed in the neck. This may be a long shot, though. I would guess that the Washburn pickups are exactly the same so it really wouldn't matter which one was in which position.


Ok....long story short...My Classic 30 amp has came back home for the time being....so I was testing it out...using my Greg Bennett Avion. A year or so ago I had the stock pups taken out and bought a set of Washburn EMG Selects off a forum member (either here or the W forum can't remember)

Had them installed and did not really pay alot of attention to them....now I notice that the Neck is alot thinner sounding than the bridge...big difference in volume too. Shouldnt these be fairly well balanced as far as volume wise?

The neck looks to be considerably lower than the bridge...would this cause what I am hearing?

Is there a standard distance from the strings that the tops of the pup covers should be?

I know this thing is never going to sound like the Gibson Standard Mahogany that I gas for...but it's what I have until I can afford the upgrade.

[Kazz]

Tung we are heading out the door for a Tastefully Simple party...when we get back and after I do my duties of manning the grill for our steak dinner I will check this out.

The pups were installed by someone who at least supposedly knew what he was doing....altho when he came back to me saying he was having trouble soldering....it made me wonder.....maybe while I am checking the clearances I should probably check the wiring job out too :-)

[tunghaichuan]

Just googled your guitar, nice looking LP-style guitar.

It should be easy enough to check the wiring, just remove the back plate covering the electronics.

If the wiring looks okay, it could be that your friend just likes the pickups lower. There is nothing wrong with adjusting the pickup to your likes.

BTW, I have one of those EMG Select humbuckers, but have not dropped into anything yet. How do you like the tone.

I had a set of the single coil EMG Selects in an Ibanez Roadstar when I first started out and they were the worst pickups I've ever heard. Ultra low output, no dymics, flat, uninspiring tone. But I've heard a couple guys playing the humbuckers in music stores and they sounded pretty good so I have high hopes for my EMG Select humbucker.

tung



Tung we are heading out the door for a Tastefully Simple party...when we get back and after I do my duties of manning the grill for our steak dinner I will check this out.

The pups were installed by someone who at least supposedly knew what he was doing....altho when he came back to me saying he was having trouble soldering....it made me wonder.....maybe while I am checking the clearances I should probably check the wiring job out too :-)

[Kazz]

Tung....they are not all I had hoped they would be :-) Nothing like the Active EMG's definitely nothing like the 81/85 set that Zakk uses. They were a nice upgrade to the stock pups that were in her when I bought her....but neither set had the Les Paul bite, growl and snarl that I love.

The Avion is a very nice looking Les Paul clone....set neck too I have the Sunburst model that looks very similar to an Ace Frehley model which is why we picked it originally. This was a valentines day present from the wife...so it is in the herd that I have to keep for all eternity LMAO....but that just means it is the first to get modded ha ha.

I am looking for a set of 490/498s to put in it one day with a good set of pots and caps to see what edge we can bring out of her.

I will say this...the bridge pup definitely pushes the Classic 30 pretty welll. It is just not as chunky as I would like....but then again the body of this is not a Gibson Mahogany either :-)