Never underestimate pickup height!

[BloodRose]

today, I made a Beast Beastlier! Im sure many or most of you KNOW this... I know this... And I take pride in the fact I think I do pretty decent setups on my guitars.. But recently, I have had 2 incidents where I thought I had the setup right on and found the pup height was off.
Today was my EPI G400. The thing sounds sweet. I have an great neck pup in it and when I put in the Custom5 in the bridge, man, what a tone!
Ive noticed tho, when I play thru headphones, it seems very quiet in the bridge position.. Today, I said "lets see".. I cranked up the pup and man did it become a flamethrower! Mercy!! Huge! The C5 is a great voice for a SG. And I got an amazing sound with the toggle in the middle too.
I have to say that this G400 is tonally one of my fav axes.. If it didnt have such dinky frets and a slightly more comfy neck shape, it would be real close to the top of my list..

Moral to the story, crank em up and then back em down to taste.. Not bring em up till they sound good..

 

[Shinobi]

Re: Never underestimate pickup height!

today, I made a Beast Beastlier! Im sure many or most of you KNOW this... I know this... And I take pride in the fact I think I do pretty decent setups on my guitars.. But recently, I have had 2 incidents where I thought I had the setup right on and found the pup height was off.
Today was my EPI G400. The thing sounds sweet. I have an great neck pup in it and when I put in the Custom5 in the bridge, man, what a tone!
Ive noticed tho, when I play thru headphones, it seems very quiet in the bridge position.. Today, I said "lets see".. I cranked up the pup and man did it become a flamethrower! Mercy!! Huge! The C5 is a great voice for a SG. And I got an amazing sound with the toggle in the middle too.
I have to say that this G400 is tonally one of my fav axes.. If it didnt have such dinky frets and a slightly more comfy neck shape, it would be real close to the top of my list..

Moral to the story, crank em up and then back em down to taste.. Not bring em up till they sound good..

I just use the two quarter thickness method when depressing the last fret on the high E, sandwich the two together on top of the pup and string.

 

[Invader09]

Re: Never underestimate pickup height!

I use about a 1 quarter thickness, from bridge pole pieces to strings when pressed down at highest fret. But I like my bridge pickups really high. I'd say I set my neck 2 1/2 quarter thickness from strings when pressed at highest fret.... works for me !

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Never underestimate pickup height!

I was digging the ToneZone in my Charvel SoCal - very heavy and hot pickup. Lowered it a tad to see what I'd get, and wound up with Holy Wars intro tone.

Raised it back up to get more heat and less "sounds like a JB" :lol:

 

[Señor Verde]

Re: Never underestimate pickup height!

Jason Lollar, who knows a thing or two about pickups recommends adjusting humbuckers close to the strings.

I read a thread somewhere about how to find the sweet spot for a pickup and I think it works.

Start with the pickups about 1/8" from the strings when fretted at the 22nd fret. Pick the high E and let it ring.

Continue to do this but raise the pickup a half a turn each time. When the string dies off a good amount, then comes back with a slightly different sounding harmonic you have found the sweet spot. Then do the same thing with the low E. You may have to readjust the high E side after the low one is set because the height of the high E side of the pup moves up a bit as you raise the low E side.

When I got done I was surprised how close the pickups are to the strings. There is no sign of stratitis either. Just over 1/4" on the high E and just over 5/64" on the low E. It sounds bright, clear and fat.

The note coming back can be hard to notice on the high E bridge. It was recommended to plug straight into the amp, set clean and fairly loud. one of my guitars I used the B string because it was more noticeable than the high E.

I tried this with Kinmans and I did not get the returning note no matter how I adjusted the pickups, so I don't know if this method only works on humbuckers. Anyway, might be something fun to try. YMMV.

 

[Jackson Distortion]

Re: Never underestimate pickup height!

I feel ya OP! I check my pup height everytime I switch guitar picks because of thier varying designs, attack, and tones.

 

[bagouser]

Re: Never underestimate pickup height!

Good point on height, it makes a big difference. I've been using a sort of slanted height on my H/X/H guitars that has really helped......
I've found that my Jazz neck was a little to beefy and was making my rhythm tone break up too much and get muddy, but on the high strings, I wasnt getting all the legendary brightness of the Jazz neck, it was sort of muffled and honky. I moved the bass side of the pickup lower into the instrument while raising the treble side about a half turn or so.
EUREKA!
The mud is gone from my power chording, and the shimmer is increased for leads. This also worked well on my 12 string (JazzB/PGatesN), keeping the lower notes from booming through the speakers and adding more sparkle to the highs......
before you guys start yanking out pickups and listening to sound samples until you pass out, get a small screwdriver and twist a little bit.........

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Never underestimate pickup height!

Jason Lollar, who knows a thing or two about pickups recommends adjusting humbuckers close to the strings.

I read a thread somewhere about how to find the sweet spot for a pickup and I think it works.

Start with the pickups about 1/8" from the strings when fretted at the 22nd fret. Pick the high E and let it ring.

Continue to do this but raise the pickup a half a turn each time. When the string dies off a good amount, then comes back with a slightly different sounding harmonic you have found the sweet spot. Then do the same thing with the low E. You may have to readjust the high E side after the low one is set because the height of the high E side of the pup moves up a bit as you raise the low E side.

When I got done I was surprised how close the pickups are to the strings. There is no sign of stratitis either. Just over 1/4" on the high E and just over 5/64" on the low E. It sounds bright, clear and fat.

The note coming back can be hard to notice on the high E bridge. It was recommended to plug straight into the amp, set clean and fairly loud. one of my guitars I used the B string because it was more noticeable than the high E.

I tried this with Kinmans and I did not get the returning note no matter how I adjusted the pickups, so I don't know if this method only works on humbuckers. Anyway, might be something fun to try. YMMV.

Magnet strength is also very important to consider when doing this, though. Powerful magnets will pull on the strings and cause an issue where it sounds like your intonation is out.