Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

[stef89]

Am I hearing this right?

If I raise the pickup and lower the polepieces to where they go inside the pickup it tames the highs but keeps the fatness? Same thing other way around. Lower the pickup way down and raise the polepieces way up u get a clear sound with wery little bottom/bass?

Just tried this after reading around online... (And yes I dont trust my ears) :18:

 

[AlexR]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

I have found that you gain thickness/signal with raising the pickups.....or more of everything. Lowering the poles reduces the field of that coil, which means that it will pick up a bit less signal. It can be quite complicated, and not every pickup responds the same. It all depends on the wind, magnet and where exactly in the field the pickup is initially sitting.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

The effect of raising or lowering the poles is fairly minor. It doesnt effect the over all EQ as much as it helps you tune the response of a given string. There is a larger tonal difference if you combine moving the pole pieces with raising or lowering the entire pup. Actually IMO raising and lowering the pup a few mm's has a stronger effect on the overall eq of a given pup. Some have real sweet spots where others shift tonality as they go up and down.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

Am I hearing this right?

If I raise the pickup and lower the polepieces to where they go inside the pickup it tames the highs but keeps the fatness? Same thing other way around. Lower the pickup way down and raise the polepieces way up u get a clear sound with wery little bottom/bass?

Just tried this after reading around online... (And yes I dont trust my ears) :18:

That's Larry Carlton's #2. That's your starting point of how to set-up your polepieces in both the neck and the bridge.

Distance from the cover to the string on the bridge p'up: 2.4mm. Adjust the neck p'up by ear.

HTH,

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

Lowering pickup and raising screws is pretty much like just lowering one coil. This will sound brighter, more chimey, vintage. Reverse means thicker.

 

[DreX]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

People often talk about raising and lowering the pickup to get more or less of an EQ response, but I think that's an oversimplification, because it really changes everything, most especially the responsiveness and the overall output of the pickup. I prefer to put mine rather high for the sake of the responsiveness and output, and then I'll tweak the EQ through other means. The only caveat is that whole it's mostly a matter of preference, I've found that often times the D and G string are overly prominent in the mix when the pickups are really close to the strings, so I end up close, but not as close as possible. The bummer is that lowered pickups seem to look nicer, casually recessed rather than sticking way out of the guitar, but then the tone takes a hit IMO.

Related; in my own testing, where I analyzed sound samples with a humbucker covered and uncovered, screws raised and screws lowered, I found that raising and lowering the screws for accounted for all the difference people claim to hear between covered and uncovered humbuckers. When you add a cover, you have to raise the screw a couple millimeters or so in order to make them look flush, and that's what accounted for the true difference in the frequency response differences, while the cover itself made very difference.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

^ Except that putting a cover on tends to do the opposite EQ-wise to simply raising screws.

 

[stef89]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

Lowering pickup and raising screws is pretty much like just lowering one coil. This will sound brighter, more chimey, vintage. Reverse means thicker.

That was what I heard to!

 

[DreX]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

^ Except that putting a cover on tends to do the opposite EQ-wise to simply raising screws.

That's far from a definitive statement. There's not much consensus on the difference having a cover versus no cover makes. A Seymour Duncan employee said it was purely cosmetic and made no difference at all. Most who claim to hear any difference say they hear only a slight difference, and I'm instantly skeptical anytime anyone hears any kind of 'slight' difference, in any context. When people add or remove the cover, they likely raise or lower the entire pickup at the same time, which confounds the comparison in multiple ways. When I tested it, I was sure the keep the bobbins at a fixed distance from the strings.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

Most who claim to hear any difference say they hear only a slight difference, and I'm instantly skeptical anytime anyone hears any kind of 'slight' difference, in any context.

DreX, make no mistake; there's a difference, and the lower the DC reading, the bigger the audible difference is, even with the most tone-transparent covers you can find.

In my case, I've used'em w/o covers for many years... until one day (thanks to Rick, aka blueman335) I decided to put covers on my # 1





and suddenly I got closer to the sound I had in my head. Nowadays, almost all my HB p'ups have covers on.

YMMV.

HTH,

 

[Dark Order Lord]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

I think that says it all...

 

[Dark Order Lord]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

Also this is very on this topic

 

[TRex]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

I always heard the reason covers sound a tad different is the screw poles are now a tad higher that the slugs who are on the underside of the cover. This causes a slightly brighter tone.

Other than that, I think it's purely cosmetic. I personally only would put them on ES335 style guitars and other more "classy" looking guitars.

ES335 with a bigsby tremolo snd covered pickups ooze class in my opinion

 

[AlexR]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

^ But the cover tends to remove a bit of bite not add it. So you are doing an action that would typically add bite, but getting less of it with the cover on there.

As to whose opinions in this thread to trust, Lt Kojak and the BKP tutorial are streets ahead.

 

[DreX]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

I think that says it all...

You can clearly see that the screw heights have been adjusted between covered and uncovered. They would either be sticking out, or recessed enough to cast a shadow if they had been left alone. What else is he omitting? Is the pickup set the the same height, end to end?

Here's a covered humbucker with the screw lowered flush with the bobbin

Now the screws are raised to look flush with the shiny cover

Now the cover is removed

 

[DreX]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

FYI, I measured the amount of change in inductance with and without a cover. The pickup is an EJ Custom, and the cover is an "official" DiMarzio cover. Of course these values would differ depending on the metal alloy used to make the particular cover.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

See how important Eddy Currents are, Drex?

 

[DreX]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

They're there. How important they are is dependent on the circumstances.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

So, for the umpteenth time in this thread I will say - the resultant screw height change required for adding a cover would typically add bite and treble. However humbuckers covered tend to be rounder toned in general. Thus there is a double effect in there

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Adjusting polepieces on humbuckers

I think adjusting the pole pieces is part of dialing in a pickup–I think they are general descriptions about screw height and covers, definitely make a difference to my ears. I never adjusted them until I saw a post (when I first joined on here) about adjusting the pole pieces to the radius of your neck (easier on a Straight neck than a Compound Radius.)

I say go with your ears and adjust to what sounds/responds best