Height of Bass Pickups

[RW James]

I was recording some bass tracks and noticed the pickups on my bass seemed kind of low, so I raised them.

I just checked the recording and there was a series of clicks (like a fast delay) after each note in the recording. I'm wondering if I have the pickups too high now. They're not touching the strings, but there could be some kind of magnetic influence happening here.

(Or I suppose I could have something wrong with my recording set up.)

Anyway, any rule of thumb for bass pickup height?

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Height of Bass Pickups

I have the pickups in my Jazz as low as I can get them. In fact, most of my basses have the pickups as low as they'll go. The T-Bird, Jazz and G&L. The G&L have a couple of the polepieces raised- I remember playing, tweaking, playing, tweaking... I don't know if the amount of what I did really made any difference- but I put a lot of effort and time into it!!

 

[RW James]

Re: Height of Bass Pickups

Thanks - that's good to know. I've lowered them back down a bit.

It turns out the problem isn't in the pickups but in my mixer - it's causing clipping somehow.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Height of Bass Pickups

Uh, actually there IS a rule of thumb here... it's a science actually. Of course you can blend the suggested heights, but they should be SMALL adjustments.

Suggested bass pickup heights with string fretted at the last fret (you measure from the top of the pickup's pole to the bottom of the string; assuming your string height is correct):

Bass side:

7/64th"

Treble:

5/64th"