Help choosing a metal pickup

[AdrianSD]

Also consider the pickup height, both BW and Distortion sound better to me if set lower.

 

[Mincer]

To be fair, I've never heard the BW sound too bright in any guitar.

 

[Securb]

However, my guitar doesn’t have the scale length and string tension rn to go down to super low tunings that the BW might be made for… hmm

Here is me using a Black Winter in standard tuning.

 

[Rottenriffer69]

Oh wow, that seems to hold up really well, but still retains that density I’m looking for. Thanks for the sample! What’s a good starting point for setting pickup height for the black winter? In mm? Is that also up to personal preference? What are yalls favorite black winter pickup heights?

 

[Securb]

Oh wow, that seems to hold up really well, but still retains that density I’m looking for. Thanks for the sample! What’s a good starting point for setting pickup height for the black winter? In mm? Is that also up to personal preference? What are yalls favorite black winter pickup heights?

I never measure because different gain pedals and amps greatly affect the tone depending on the height of the pickup. I start high and back off until I get a sound/tone I like. I would rather use my ears than a ruler.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I set all of my pickups initially at 3mm and tweak from there. It's usually closer for A5 magnet pickups, and 3mm or lower for Ceramic magnet pickups.

I tend to like all of my pickups around that zone, though. I like my pickups as close as I can get them to the strings without the magnetic pull being an issue. I feel like I squeeze the most out of any pickup that way, but that's just my approach. I do tend to like pickups that are sorta kinda loosely along the lines, though, so maybe that's why it's not too far off for any of them.

I like to use my ears rather than a ruler as well, but I am pretty OCD about measurements because I like reproductability in case I wanna drop the pickup in another guitar or I lose my setup for any reason. Also, like I said, I tend to tight and aggressive pickups in general, and I like knowing where to start when I set up a pickup's height.

 

[weepingminotaur]

To be fair, I've never heard the BW sound too bright in any guitar.

Same. The highs on the BW are very cool and borderline unique -- cutting and clear without being harsh or ice-picky.

 

[misterwhizzy]

I never measure because different gain pedals and amps greatly affect the tone depending on the height of the pickup. I start high and back off until I get a sound/tone I like. I would rather use my ears than a ruler.

I'm surprised anyone does it differently.

 

[AdrianSD]

To be fair, I've never heard the BW sound too bright in any guitar.

No, but if set too close to the strings it has his annoying chirpy queeack queeack when plucking the high Eand B that I just can't stand, Distortion is a bit like this when it's too close but nowhere near as bad as the BW. I have 2 guitars with BW sets now and love the way both sound, but I had to lower them to where that queeack sound goes away. I don't get this from th JB and th Custom, could be output level related?