Pickup Height (or Robert, Please Don't Hurt Me)

[marnold***]

Well, since I wouldn't be able to do anything about my pickups until at least my birthday, I decided to play around with the pickup heights some more. What's a little experimentation, right? Well, I lowered my single coils as far as I could. I can't get them flush with the pickguard--they're both about 1/16" above. I also lowered the humbucker a bit.

Well, umm, I don't know how to say this. I kind of like it. Combined with the tweaking of my amp settings, I think it sounds pretty good. I really like the middle pickup now. There's even some nice bridge-middle quack, which surprised me. The neck-middle quack still leaves something to be desired, but it is a useful tone nonetheless.

The differences that I heard between my pups and the various ones I tried (various MIM and MIA Strat, G&L) was relatively minor through an AD30VT. This seems to have been enough of a tweak to add some missing clarity. I guess I never realized that pickup height could make such a difference. I'm not saying that they are the best sounding pups ever, but it does call into question my need to spend between $150-$250 to replace them. Mayhaps getting a Celestion for my AD30VT would be a better investment.

I'm now going to put on my stabbing-proof lederhosen because I think I see Robert coming at me with a machete.

[oldguy]

That won't work....at least not for long....once your hearing is acclimated to the change you won't notice the difference, or it will sound worse..... you will have to change the pickups to fix it..... I like EMG's......Robert doesn't.....you will have to choose...........









Just kidding, Matt.

Congrats, LOTS of people notice a direct correlation between magnetic pull of the pole pieces on the strings, and the sound they get when raising/ lowering pickups.

[Plank_Spanker]

Pickup height can make a big difference in sound, and a lot of players never give it a thought.

[Robert****]

Grrr... where's that big blade again...hmmm.... can't find it.... well looky here, I found a whip!

Haha! Seriously, I would recommend having the pickups fairly low. That's what I do and I like how this works. With pickups higher, I've had tuning problems and problems with picking up too much rattle from the frets when I play the strings really hard.

[wingsdad]

Since we're talking basically about a Strat's pickup config setup, I'd found & saved this tidbit on the issue several years ago. So I've pasted it here:

The Strat is notoriously temperamental with regard to pickup height settings. If set too far from the strings, the sound will be weak and the buzz intolerably loud. If set too close to the strings, the magnetic pole-pieces will interfere with the vibration of higher notes, causing a distortion of pitch. In addition, many people underestimate the influence which pickup height and balance has on your tone. The following is a procedure for the correct adjustment of Strat pickup heights (this is intended for traditional alnico magnet pickups-other types can usually be set closer to the strings)
1.Set the bridge pickup 3 to 2.5 mm's from the pole piece to the bottom of the string on BOTH the bass and treble sides of the pickup. (Some people like to slant the pickup so that the treble side is much closer to the strings, but if you want your head to remain ON your shoulders, I advise against it) Now play some chords across all six strings on various places on the neck. Listen carefully to the balance between the bass and treble strings. If the bass strings are noticably louder than the treble or vice-versa, raise or lower the appropriate side until a nice balance between high and low strings is acheived.
2.Now that the bridge pickup is set, its time to deal with the middle pickup. Compare the output of the middle pickup with that of the bridge and raise or lower it until the output is the same. Again adjust the pickup until a balance between the high and low strings is achieved.
3.Now the neck pickup. Much the same as points 1 and 2-get the output the same as the middle pickup, than adjust for correct string balance.

Hopefully you will now have all the expected Strat sounds at your disposal.

Also, if you want to increase the 'quackiness' of the in-between tones AND/OR you rarely use the middle pickup, screw it down low and you will achieve the desired effect.

Personally, I'm a quack-o-holic, and I'd learned about that last little trick long ago, when I got my 1st Strat and the dealer set it up for me. Point is, set the middle pup lower than the other 2, whatever height you like them at.

[t_ross33]

Hey Robert,

What kind of tuning issues would you attribute to pickup height? I always seem to be plagued by a G string that won't intonate and have tried all kinds of neck and saddle adjustments, but it always seems to get "pitchy" on me - doesn't matter what guitar either, they all seem to do this. Maybe I should back off on the p'ups you think?

Or maybe I'm just hypersensitive to the "G" frequency

Trev

[wingsdad]

Trev,
You might try a lighter gauge G-string ... on your guitar, that is.

Seriously, I had that same problem. It came down to just naturally pressing the G too hard, so it needed to respond to lighter pressure. I finally got tired of swapping 17's for 16's (in a typical 10-46 set like D'ad EXL110's). Or it could be sticking in the nut slot. Look carefully at how the strings are sitting in the slots. Is it higher or lower than the others? If higher, try a lighter gauge string, or some graphite or vaseline in the slot, or carefully file out the G slot a hair at a time. If you don't have nut files, try using a wound string, light gauge, as a file.
If one string is lower : , try a heavier gauge on it, or call your nearest psychiatrist.

[Robert****]

Trev, the "magnetic field pull" has caused tuning stability problems for me on some guitars. Certain strings would be seem to sound out of tune a lot. Also the tone of certain strings have sounded "wrong"; I presume because the pickup would register the string vibration in a slightly different way.

[Tone2TheBone]

I subscribe to the low single coil pickup height mag and club. Wood needs to express itself. Get a really good amp and you'll know. Vintage wound and pickup low. Hit the strings with conviction and the tones will come...oh yes...they will come.

:

ps - That Vox AD will do the job buddy I'm talking to the other people out in webland. :

[SuperSwede]

I subscribe to the low single coil pickup height mag and club. Wood needs to express itself. Get a really good amp and you'll know. Vintage wound and pickup low. Hit the strings with conviction and the tones will come...oh yes...they will come.

:

ps - That Vox AD will do the job buddy I'm talking to the other people out in webland. :

+1

Aint no stratitis gonna rob the tone of your surf green beauty Rob !
Slam em down low into the pickguard :

Rob (a.k.a T2tb) brings up perhaps the most important thing in getting a good guitar tone: Conviction!
Strike that note true and clear, and turn up that master volume. BOOM! Sweet notes will POUR out of that amp

(Search google for Stratitis if you dont know what that is)

[markb]

Here's "the horse's mouth" on strat setup. I tend to back the pickups on my strat off a bit from this guide, but it's a good starting point.

http://www.fender.com/support/stratocaster.php

Trev, it's always the G, isn't it? It's usually been the angle of the nut slot for me. A pro setup has usually got rid of it. I admit defeat when it comes to cutting nuts accurately and tend to get plastic nuts replaced with bone or one of the better composites.

[Vihar]

I hear ya on the G! That problem is because if you use a plain G, that will have the least tension and the biggest stiffness to flexibility ratio (and will produce the greatest output voltage) out of the 6 strings. In other words, it's just too slack when tuned to that G note; quicker decay, unstable frequency. Although it feels slack under the fingers that way, this material - spring steel or "music wire" (a high-carbon steel alloy) - behaves more like a steel rod instead of a wire, when it's not under enough tension. For steel string guitars played in standard tuning, the "correct" G string would be always wound, to keep it tense enough on the G note and flexible enough to be sonically stable at the same time. There's also the above mentioned output problem, that's amplified even more when it comes to staggered strat pickups (or other designs, like the Charlie Christian pickup), where the G string's pole piece is the highest one - designed for the lowest output wound G's. So no matter how good your setup is, the unwound G will be the less stable out of the six, and will produce the least sustain (even my plain .019 proves it, lol). We gotta live with it, or try the wound G's - sacrificing some bending ability for stability.

Back on topic, on my Fat Tele, I have my bridge pu about 1.5 mm away from the strings on the treble side, and about 2 mm on the bass side. The neck humbucker is almost flush with the pickguard, and I set the pole pieces to follow the fretboard radius, except I screw the one for the B string fairly low, and the G string's one is flush with the top of the humbucker.

[marnold***]

I subscribe to the low single coil pickup height mag and club. Wood needs to express itself. Get a really good amp and you'll know. Vintage wound and pickup low. Hit the strings with conviction and the tones will come...oh yes...they will come.

:

ps - That Vox AD will do the job buddy I'm talking to the other people out in webland. :

I didn't really have Stratitis (that I noticed anyway--although I seem to be having somewhat less problem with fret buzz now). I noticed that if I really pick with a serious amount of violence, the pups sound better. As I've played it more with the adjusted pups, I'm still noticing a lack of clarity especially when playing full chords. Chords with lots of open strings sound good, but barre chords lose a lot.

I'm more used to humbuckers and lots of gain which can do a lot of the violent work for you--although you are still free to add violence as you see fit.

[Plank_Spanker]

With my Strats, I adjust the pickup heights to get a good balance between them, and overall sound. I've never noticed a pickup causing tuning issues from being too close. I have experienced the "wolf tone" from having a pickup way too close. It's all a matter of the player's ear.................

[marnold***]

Ya know, the more I play it (and the louder I play it--although my wife doesn't like that part) the more I like it. I would venture to say now that I like these pups every bit as much as the standard single coils I heard on the MIAs and MIMs, if not more. Seems like there will be a Celestion in my future. If that can clear up some of the Vox's "fartiness" with distortion, I'll be loving it.