Pickup heights

[tot_Ou_tard]

I had never adjusted the pickups on my guitars before & thought that I'd give it a try. It makes a big change. I was wondering what were the preferences of the other fretters.

This is for my Godin radiator which is a chambered rock maple guitar with two Godin designed low noise single coils. The word is that the pups were designed to be like Rickenbacker toaster pups. Anyway, I am looking for a warm jazz sound from the neck & a twangy tele sound from the bridge. Suggestions? Should the two pickups be the same distance from the strings? Should I angle the pups towards the high strings? I'm looking around on the net for suggestions & in the meantime just twiddling to my hearts delight, but it would be nice to get fretters opinions on this.

BTW, the Radiator doesn't have a selecter, rather it has independent volume knobs for each pup so that you can mix the two pups in infinitey many ways.

Thanks!

[Spudman***]

For me it is a "how does it sound" sort of adjustment.

Humbuckers and Lace Sensors I like to run close to the strings. There isn't a ton of magnetic pull from the pickup. Single coil pups have a lot of magnetic pull on the strings and will pull the note out of tune and make really strange sounds if they are too close to the strings. Stratitis is a common term for this.

Lately I've been backing most of my pickups down with good results. I get more tone and I can turn the amp up louder and make it work more. There is better articulation of notes when I've come down. I use tube amps so turning them up works for me.

Fender has a standard suggestion for their guitar pup heights. It can be found on their online set up guide at their web site. Personally I don't think there is a correct height across the board and rely on what sounds best.

[tot_Ou_tard]

For me it is a "how does it sound" sort of adjustment.

Humbuckers and Lace Sensors I like to run close to the strings. There isn't a ton of magnetic pull from the pickup. Single coil pups have a lot of magnetic pull on the strings and will pull the note out of tune and make really strange sounds if they are too close to the strings. Stratitis is a common term for this.

Lately I've been backing most of my pickups down with good results. I get more tone and I can turn the amp up louder and make it work more. There is better articulation of notes when I've come down. I use tube amps so turning them up works for me.

Fender has a standard suggestion for their guitar pup heights. It can be found on their online set up guide at their web site. Personally I don't think there is a correct height across the board and rely on what sounds best.

Hey, bleemster thanks for the info. That helps a lot. I was moving the neck pickup up because I thought it sounded richer, but then I got weird out of tune sounds. In the meantime I started messing with the action & so now everything is in flux, but I think by listening I am starting to understand what kinds of sounds this guitar is capable of & what I like. It helps to have some guiding principles too.

[Tim]

There is an old mechanic saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

[tot_Ou_tard]

There is an old mechanic saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

Too late for that Tim & I'm all about breaking things open to see how they tick (or used to tick before I got my flippin' hands on it). Basically, I don't want to be afraid of the mechanics of a guitar, I want to understand them.

[tot_Ou_tard]

Thanks again Spudman, googling on Stratitis gave me lots of info.

[tot_Ou_tard]

Wow! That made a HUGE difference. I am much more satisfied now. The Radiator can really twang, but it also has a hollow deep end because of the chambers. Before I keep twiddling the knobs trying to find the right mix between an almost painful brightness from the bridge & a soft but boomy neck pup. Now I've got everything sounding sweet. The bridge is no longer out of balance, it twangs like dickens, but still has some smooth bottom. The neck is softer & warmer, but the lows don't wolf & boom & get mushy & now there is some additional twang there as well. The two pups are more balanced with respect to each other.

I am loving every shade from 100 % bridge to 100 % neck. Recall that there are seperate volumes knobs for each.

I'm damned glad I broke it!

I like the chambered thang & was thinking about getting either a Schecter CSH-1 or a Cort M800 or M900 so as to have a semihollow with splittable humbuckers.

After all these pickup height changes, I can see why pup changes would have a huge impact.

As for changes that make a huge difference. I'd list speakers, strings & pups as a mighty triumvirate. Who's who? I dunno. Maybe pups are Ceasar, speaker is Pompey, & strings are the mostly forgotten Crassus.

Look'em up! Gitfiddles ain't the only things in life, jes the the sweetest.

Et tu Bigbear?

[ZoSo65]

...but then I got weird out of tune sounds.

That happened because your pickup was too close to the strings, and the strings where getting pulled by the magnet(s)

,,incase you where wondering

[tot_Ou_tard]

That happened because your pickup was too close to the strings, and the strings where getting pulled by the magnet(s)

,,incase you where wondering

Yup, Spudman told me. I backed'em off a bit & they sound sweet now.