Height of a neck Little 59’ in HSS Strat
- Thread starter Jpodesz
- Start date
Are you getting it installed, because the tech will most likely find the right place. But if you are doing it yourself, I go for a good balance with the middle and bridge pickups. Too close, and it will overpower them, too far away, and it will sound thinner and weaker.
There are no rules, only guidelines. This blog post is a good place to start.
There actually is a standard rule about pickup height. And that is...
adjust its height to where it sounds best to you.
Just keep in mind that when it is closer to the strings it will sound fuller/richer/more powerful and ultimately very muddy (and even pull the strings out of tune). Away from the strings will sound lighter/thinner/less powerful. However, if you put it away from the strings you can raise the poles to get a brighter sound and restore some of the lost power.
adjust its height to where it sounds best to you.
Just keep in mind that when it is closer to the strings it will sound fuller/richer/more powerful and ultimately very muddy (and even pull the strings out of tune). Away from the strings will sound lighter/thinner/less powerful. However, if you put it away from the strings you can raise the poles to get a brighter sound and restore some of the lost power.
GuitarStv
Sock Market Trader
It's really best to play around with pickup heights. Usually when I get a new set I spend a couple weeks experimenting and tweaking to get them sounding just right.
The more you back them off the strings the greater dynamic range the pickup can produce and it tends to sound with softer attack, but too far and it will sound balls-less and wimpy, and the bass gets cut. The closer you move the pickup to the strings the louder and more compressed a pickup will get - too close can get both boomy and shrill. It's also important to focus on pickup balance . . . maybe you want the bridge to be a little hotter than the neck, or maybe you want them all sounding exactly the same volume. Sometimes there's a tonal tradeoff to get the balance you want.
For a general place to start - I usually set the neck pickup way too close to the strings, then back it off a little bit at a time until it doesn't sound boomy or shrill and I start to get good dynamics with it. Then I set the bridge pickup height to be a tiny bit louder in volume than the neck. Then I set the middle pickup to be a little bit weaker than the neck. Usually that gets me a workable sound, and I can tweak from there (adjusting individual poles to account for string balance if necessary).
The more you back them off the strings the greater dynamic range the pickup can produce and it tends to sound with softer attack, but too far and it will sound balls-less and wimpy, and the bass gets cut. The closer you move the pickup to the strings the louder and more compressed a pickup will get - too close can get both boomy and shrill. It's also important to focus on pickup balance . . . maybe you want the bridge to be a little hotter than the neck, or maybe you want them all sounding exactly the same volume. Sometimes there's a tonal tradeoff to get the balance you want.
For a general place to start - I usually set the neck pickup way too close to the strings, then back it off a little bit at a time until it doesn't sound boomy or shrill and I start to get good dynamics with it. Then I set the bridge pickup height to be a tiny bit louder in volume than the neck. Then I set the middle pickup to be a little bit weaker than the neck. Usually that gets me a workable sound, and I can tweak from there (adjusting individual poles to account for string balance if necessary).
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