Adjusting pup height for different sound

[escape21]

I own a stock highway tele. In my opinion it sounds too bright (harsh) in the bridge position. I dont know if the pickups are A3 or A5...
Im plan to change the pup some day for a Hot For Tele set.

But as long as i dont have the new pickups, what would happen if I rase the pickups so that they are closer to the strings? Would I get a less harsh sound?? Would it give me more output? What would be the sound characteristic?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Adjusting pup height for different sound

It'll be more harsh closer to the strings. If you want to temper the brightness, lower you pickup. And use the tone control and experiment with amp settings.

Does your amp have presence and treble? Turn down the presence and the treble and see what happens. But, you may already be doing that.

 

[Adam]

Re: Adjusting pup height for different sound

I've messed around with my pickups on my Stratocaster before. It takes time and alot of fine tuning before you actually kind of get it to where you want it. I'm still messing around with mine. But like he said just look at your amp settings and things like that 1st.

Seems everytime I get my pickups where I want them, about a week later I want a different sound.

 

[escape21]

Re: Adjusting pup height for different sound

Thanks so far!

Yes, I already use the tone control and "cut" the treble in my amp...

Maybe I will try lowering the bridge pickup a little.
Thanks for the info!

 

[fretburner]

Re: Adjusting pup height for different sound

im gonna lower my mid pup coz it's getting in the way of my picking.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Adjusting pup height for different sound

raising the pup will get you more output but probably wont help the harsh high end much. lowering the pup will smooth out the harshness a little but youll lose output.
the hw1 teles have alnico 5 magnet pups. try rolling back the tone control on the guitar just a little

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Adjusting pup height for different sound

Teles are inherantly bright and twangy beasts! Probably has a lot to do with the lead pickup being mounted directly to the bridge.

Moving the pickup closer usually makes a pickup sound brighter and louder. However, if you move a Tele single coil to close to the strings the guitar will start to sound out of tune because the magnets are the polepieces in Tele single coils and they'll start to pull on the wound strings and pull them out of tune.

Switching to an alnico 2 pickup like the Jerry Donahue or Antiquity I is a good move if you want more mids, more output and to eliminate some of the sharp, edgey treble of most alnico 3 and alnico 5 Tele pickups. I am a fan of alnico 2 and 5 but not alnico 3. Like Jeremy said, your pickup is probably alnico 5...the newer Nocaster pickups are alnico 3, and they can be a little brittle, IMO. In my Fender Nocaster, I switched mine to alnico 2 Duncan Antiquity I pickups...much nicer! Lew

 

[heem6]

Re: Adjusting pup height for different sound

You may not be able to find the sound you want without changing pickups, but it definitelly makes a difference. One pickup manufacturer says "(the pickup height screw) is your ultimate tone control." Keep a small screwdriver beside you while you practice and try different heights and see what you like. One thing that makes the Telecaster a bright and twangy beast is that it is a string-through design, making the total string length almost 2" longer. The longer the string, the "tighter" you have to wind it to compensate for the "sagging" effect, like the way electric line wires sag hanging from the poles on the street. That has the effect of making it brighter and twangier. Just like a Les Paul, with a smaller nut to bridge length of 24.75, sounds "chunkier" than a Strat with a 25.5" length.