Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

[ImmortalSix]

So I have a 1996 American Standard Strat, and I have a Squier '51 and the Squier sounds way better, pretty much across the board (plugged in.)

I should be getting better tone out of this American instrument!

Any tried-and-true or just your own methods of determining what pickup heights work best without doing "guess-n-check" all morning?

Thanks in advance!

Cliffs: Where do I put my pickups to get better blues tone

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

Try setting them low and make the treble side a little higher than the bass side. Use a rubber band to hold the strings down at the last fret and adjust the pickup height in accordance to the strings. It will give you a good place to start. Adjust the pups one at a time to find the sweet spot.

I set my pups very low on my strat to avoid excessive string pull and to aid in note clarity.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

I start with the recommended heights for the pickups and then adjust from there. Luckily for me, the suggested height for my Texas Specials is perfect. I did bring the bridge up a little extra though.

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

I always take the neck pickup as high as I can without the magnetic field affecting the string vibration. You can hear the warbling when it's happening, usually on the G string first. Then I adjust the middle pickup from there, to create the quack balance I'm looking for. Finally I put the bridge almpst as high as I can, since the magnetic field won't really hurt sustain back there near the bridge. The vibrational pattern back there is pretty small and tight.

Edit: On some "blues only" guitars of mine, I don't mind some dirty warble on the strings. It sort of adds to the overall randomness and grittiness of it all, and I like the feeling of stretching the string off the magnetic field during bends. The bends sound more like you're fighting the string because the note dies a little when it's off axis.

 

[Brewtone]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

From the dimarzio site:
For single-coil pickups and all hum canceling single-coil replacements with Alnico 5 rod magnets, we’ve found the following formula works very well: at the highest fret (usually the 21st or 22nd), the closest recommended distances from the top of the magnet to the bottom of the string are:
Neck and middle pickups
low E 1/8” (3.2mm)
high E 3/32” (2.4mm)
Bridge pickup
low E 3/32” (2.4mm)
high E 1/16” (1.6mm)

I always start with these and then move (lower) them until I get the tones I'm looking for

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

Simple: I crank 'em as high as I can without getting much "Strat-itis". From there I tweak the middle pu until it quacks just right with the other two.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

Thanks bros, keep it coming!

 

[kjrocks]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

Your Start and Squier are going to sound very different by nature especially in the bridge and even more if the strat has the stock pick up in the bridge. But keep tweeking , you may find some tones you really dig. Let them be different

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

Your Start and Squier are going to sound very different by nature especially in the bridge and even more if the strat has the stock pick up in the bridge. But keep tweeking , you may find some tones you really dig. Let them be different

The thing is, I'm looking for "Strat tone" and the '51's got it and the Strat don't :laugh2:

My Stratocaster sounds really "dead" and muffled, I'm trying to remedy that problem mostly

 

[kjrocks]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

Dang , that sucks when your tele has the strat tone and not your strat. Is it muffled with all 3 pups in general, what are the pups, has any other work been done to it electrically? Maybe there is answer in there.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

It's bone stock, just as it left the showroom floor in 1996.

The Squier blows it away with plugged-in tone.

It does sound muffled on all three pickups. The bridge of course sounds thin (and muffled...that's a little hard to grasp...) but the middle and neck sound so lifeless. I can get some really round plunky "Little Wing" type tones out of my '51 but my Strat sounds "cheap" with no plunk, no punch, and no attack - oxymoronic, I know!

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

I found a picture that kind of shows where the pickups sit.

Hope that helps you help me!

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

Maybe it needs new strings?

 

[ErikH]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

Lower that middle one down some. It's WAY too close from what I can tell. the neck looks a little off too. Fender has a setup guide on their site. Start with that and go from there.

Part of it too could very well be the stock pickups. I'm not very fond of them from that era myself and eventually yanked them out of my '94 Am Standard. For the longest time I used the neck and middle with a little '59 but like you said, lifeless. Zhangliqun rewound them for me but then my tastes changed. On New Years Eve I installed a set of Texas Specials and haven't looked back.

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

What capacitor is in the guitar and what pots?

Does it have a TBX tone control?

 

[ErikH]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

What capacitor is in the guitar and what pots?

Does it have a TBX tone control?

I can tell ya that. Bone stock, .022uf tone caps, TBX tone control, 250k pots (volume and neck tone). TBX is wired to the bridge and middle pickups.

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

I can tell ya that. Bone stock, .022uf tone caps, TBX tone control, 250k pots (volume and neck tone). TBX is wired to the bridge and middle pickups.

I never cared for the way the TBX sounds.

HotSEXJ...If it were mine, I would put SSL-1's in the neck and middle, lose the the TBX, wire it vintage style and put in a bridge pup of your choice......or you can ship the Strat to me.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

Here's a clip of me playing a mickey-mouse version of Little Wing on both my Stratocaster and my '51.

Which has better tone to you?

Little Wing 1 vs. Little Wing 2
Link to Soundclick

 

[ErikH]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

I never cared for the way the TBX sounds.

HotSEXJ...If it were mine, I would put SSL-1's in the neck and middle, lose the the TBX, wire it vintage style and put in a bridge pup of your choice......or you can ship the Strat to me.

I did for the longest time and then I decided to do a mod to it called "Doc's Mod". It puts a 220k resistor in series with it rather than parallel. Much more functional. I may yet yank it out for a traditional 250k tone pot.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

More on TBX please!