Isn't it insane how height adjustment changes the tone so much?

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: Isn't it insane how height adjustment changes the tone so much?

One thing I never ever bothered with, was measuring the pickup distance between the strings.
I just set them to the height that sounded best to my ears, and today, I still have no idea how far my pickups are from the strings in exact terms.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Isn't it insane how height adjustment changes the tone so much?

Pickups have no Tone of their own!

This is so NOT true in so many levels that I just don't know where to start... I even think Trolling Alert!

Gotta go to work... let the flaming begin!

 

[alex1fly]

Re: Isn't it insane how height adjustment changes the tone so much?

Not true. If it was true, then every pickup would sound exactly alike.

Sure thing Zhang. You wind and sell pickups, so of course you think there are these massive differences between pickups. Just like "most players use high output pickups and lots of gain." :laugh2: You can swap all the pups you want, while I play my guitars, and we'll both get what we want. Deal?

Just saying, its easy to place too much faith in the pickup, rather than one's hands to craft the sound. You wanna argue against that, be my guest.

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: Isn't it insane how height adjustment changes the tone so much?

While I do find that tone is in your hands and that it's better to play rather than worry about the details I hardly can call different pickups a detail.

If I did I wouldn't be able to IMMEDIATELY recognize the JB in every guitar that I've ever heard it (all, VERY different guitars and all adding quite a different flavour to it) nor would I go through about a dozen different pickup sets when I was buying pickups for my Swing, the difference between each one being almost as dramatic as between vastly different GUITARS.

I have absolutely no idea why you came up with that nor if you do believe that what on earth you're doing in one (and apparently from your signature, actually two) forums dedicated to people that can hear and actually appreciate the difference in pickups...

 

[alex1fly]

Re: Isn't it insane how height adjustment changes the tone so much?

You're misinterpreting what I said... see beyond the statements that irk you enough to write a post directly aimed at me... I was not saying that any two pickups will sound the same... and giving tips for beginner swappers so they don't feel like they need to buy a dozen different pickups for one position.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Isn't it insane how height adjustment changes the tone so much?

Sure thing Zhang. You wind and sell pickups, so of course you think there are these massive differences between pickups. Just like "most players use high output pickups and lots of gain." :laugh2: You can swap all the pups you want, while I play my guitars, and we'll both get what we want. Deal?

Just saying, its easy to place too much faith in the pickup, rather than one's hands to craft the sound. You wanna argue against that, be my guest.

Nobody's arguing against that, you're setting up a straw man. We're arguing against the idea that pickups "have no tone of their own", which is what you said. If you want to now pretend you were talking all along only about the dangers of placing too much faith in a piece of gear, go ahead, but we're not buying.

Every gear forum I've ever spent any time at gets rousted by the Practice Police about once every 2 to 3 months and unless I missed a recent raid, you were way overdue. Where've you been, officer?

The Practice Police assume that because people in at a gear-oriented forum talk largely about gear, in this case pickups -- which is what tends to happen at a forum devoted to pickups -- that hardly anyone in here actually practices or plays or has any chops. The Practice Police are dead-wrong and need to save their rousts for people they actually have hard evidence aren't practicing enough and are placing too much faith in their gear.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Isn't it insane how height adjustment changes the tone so much?

I know I've been guilty of this, and realized it about the same time I realized that - brace yourselves - Pickups have no Tone of their own! They just transmit the guitar's sound, so most of the debates and discussions about pickups and their sound are useless and/or repeated time and time again. I thought I needed "the right pickups" to get the tones I wanted, but all of "needing the right pickups to match guitar/amp" and whatnot, it's mostly BS - and hands on strings.

Are you serious? You're saying a Les Paul would still sound like a Les Paul with strat pups. On a little less drastic scale you're saying a PAF sounds like a JB, or a Gibson Dirty Fingers.

Now the thing to remember is that just becauseyou (generic you) can't hear a difference doesn't mean there isn't one. Just because I can't tell the difference in a duracell and energizer doesn't mean there isn't one.

Tips: Don't spend too much time 'thinking' about guitar rather than playing!
My favorite: tweak and explore what you have fully, before considering another purchase.
Or: Play your GUITAR, not your PICKUPS.

Although sound advice the "or" part kinda comes off as "high and mighty" or as Zhang calls it "practice police".

Luke

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Isn't it insane how height adjustment changes the tone so much?

Alex, on further thought allow me to apologize. I got kinda chippy and irritated beyond what was called for.

But please understand that you don't know what everybody does when they're away from their computer. Reading posts at a gear forum creates the illusion that all we ever do is talk about and swap pickups, just like working at a doctor's office all day will make you think everybody in the whole world is sick all the time. Most of us are keenly aware of the limitations of gear in making us sound better, many practice too much, if anything, and some in here can even really, really play.

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: Isn't it insane how height adjustment changes the tone so much?

Let me just add that while trying to give some very sound advice (play instead of worry) you apparently chose some wording that actually took the attention away from that. Not only that but the even poorer choice of words when you first answered to Zhang did little more than to solidify that.

I'm not (and I'm guessing neither is anyone else) arguing with what you said in principle.
You're right one every count (well, except the whole pickups don't have a sound of their own 'cause they do, it's just that it's not their sound ALONE that you hear by the time they've reached your ears)
However you made some pretty heavy and to some people offending assumptions and generalizations that obviously didn't sit too well.

 

[Eric Dahlberg]

Re: Isn't it insane how height adjustment changes the tone so much?

The Practice Police assume that because people in at a gear-oriented forum talk largely about gear, in this case pickups -- which is what tends to happen at a forum devoted to pickups -- that hardly anyone in here actually practices or plays or has any chops. The Practice Police are dead-wrong and need to save their rousts for people they actually have hard evidence aren't practicing enough and are placing too much faith in their gear.

That's really funny.

Does Lance Armstrong ride a Huffy? Does Stephen Hawking use an abacus? For God's sake, does Jenna Jameson wear granny panties???

Anyway, I agree with others that this is a cool thread. Tweaking guitars is fun.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Isn't it insane how height adjustment changes the tone so much?

For God's sake, does Jenna Jameson wear granny panties???

totally sigged:chairfall

 

[j9fd3s]

Re: Isn't it insane how height adjustment changes the tone so much?

i was gonna say, i'm a lefty and the average guitar in the store is setup so badly, that they are almost unplayable. which kinda bugs me, cause the factories have good setup guides and dont use em

 

[Markk]

Re: Isn't it insane how height adjustment changes the tone so much?

Anyway, I agree with others that this is a cool thread. Tweaking guitars is fun.

D@mn right!

 

[ken361]

Re: Isn't it insane how height adjustment changes the tone so much?

When I was the tech at Motor City Guitar in the mid '90's I was amazed at how many players either didn't know how to restring a guitar or would pay me to do it and NOT allow me to show them how to save them time and money!!! Their response was: "That is why I have you", they had no interest in knowing how to string up let alone setup their own instrument, and these guys were killer players too!!!!

Thats crazy motor city guitar, bought my wolfgang there lol!! Marty's cool, he pulled out his 25,000 frankie and I took some pics with it.