Pickup height, 50's wiring

[dudiluty]

Hi there.

I'm using a set of Bare Knuckle 'Brown Sugar's' in my std USA tele. But I ordered a broadcaster set(stl1b + str 1) to get more twang. I play mostly blues, rock with a country vibe. The bare knuckle set has little twang and is more of a rock pickup set.

But what is the recommended pickup height for the SD pickups I ordered?

Also.. I would like to have 50's wiring for a clear sound and to get a smoother roll off in the volume and tone to keep my treble and have it less muddy. What would be the best wiring diagram?

Thanks

Marco

 

[beaubrummels]

Pickup height, 50's wiring

Duncan doesn’t have a published recommended height that I know of. The sweet spot will depend on the inherent properties of the guitar a little bit.

The Broadcaster bridge sweet spot on my ash body / maple neck Highway 1 Tele is high E .090” from the top of the pickup to the bottom of the string and low E .100” from the top of the pickup to the bottom of the string, with the high and low E strings fretted at the 21st fret while measuring. I did not set them by the numbers, however. I arrived at that height my ear alone.

I’m using a 1955 Antiquity neck, so I don’t think my measurements will help there.

 

[dystrust]

Re: Pickup height, 50's wiring

Also.. I would like to have 50's wiring for a clear sound and to get a smoother roll off in the volume and tone to keep my treble and have it less muddy. What would be the best wiring diagram?

I'm assuming that you mean Gibson-style 50s wiring, and not the original Telecaster wiring. Modifying a Tele to 50s style wiring is pretty easy, just use a standard Tele diagram and connect the tone pot to the output lug of the volume pot instead of the input. IMO it sounds far more natural than any treble bleed I've ever heard.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Pickup height, 50's wiring

I would google the Fender recommended height specs. I'm sure they are out there somewhere.

However, the BEST height is wherever you ears say it is! So that requires a little trial and error. But I always recommend start at spec and go from there as a baseline. It will vary from pickup to pickup, guitar to guitar, and owner to owner as what sounds best. Only you can decide for you, and I'm sorry to say, it will simply take a bit of time!

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Pickup height, 50's wiring

There isnt a recommended height. Factory height settings do exist but there is a reason pickups are adjustable. They have no idea how high your action is, which will influence how high the pickups need to be. This is done by ear.

 

[dudiluty]

Re: Pickup height, 50's wiring

I would google the Fender recommended height specs. I'm sure they are out there somewhere.

However, the BEST height is wherever you ears say it is! So that requires a little trial and error. But I always recommend start at spec and go from there as a baseline. It will vary from pickup to pickup, guitar to guitar, and owner to owner as what sounds best. Only you can decide for you, and I'm sorry to say, it will simply take a bit of time!

Ok thanks all.

So starting point as the vintage style fender pups?

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Pickup height, 50's wiring

I adjust humbuckers so the high E string isn’t hitting the pickup. Then I lower the bass side a bit.

Fender pickups are a different matter. The alnico rod magnets are about 900 Gauss at the tops. A humbucker, even with ceramic magnets is about 300 Gauss. Plus it’s spread out between the two coils.

So if you adjust Fender single coils too close to the strings the magnets will disturb the string’s movement. Then you get “Stratitus” which is that out of tune warbling. So they have to be farther from the strings. If you hear warbling back then off until it stops.

Then you want to keep neck pickups a little lower because of the wider string excursion, which also makes it louder towards the middle of the string.

So adjust until they sound more even.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Pickup height, 50's wiring

What do you mean by "twang?" It means different things to different people. It means stinging treble to some people. In means juicy but biting midrange to others. Do you mean you actually want a thinner sound (i.e. less mids, "scooped"), or just more bitey mids?

Pickup height is adjustable for a reason. Place them where they sound the best to you.

'50s wiring won't give you a "clear sound and...smoother roll off in the volume and tone to keep [the] treble and have it less muddy." Modern wiring gives that to you more so than '50s Tele wiring, because it eliminates the "bass" setting and gives you the thinner parallel tone in the middle position. Volume and tone knobs act with the same intensity with both wiring setups (though the tone acts as a master tone with modern wiring). The only real world difference between modern and '50s Tele wiring is what each switch position does. If you want smoother (meaning less jumpy/sensitive) rolloff, you want linear taper pots, not the standard audio taper pots. You can lower the tone cap value to retain higher frequencies as you roll down the tone knob. And you can use a treble bleed on the volume pot to retain more treble as you roll down.

So, in summary: the new pickups you ordered, adjust them by ear, modern wiring, linear taper pots, lower value tone cap, and treble bleed on the volume pot.

 

[Zombiwoof]

Re: Pickup height, 50's wiring

What do you mean by "twang?" It means different things to different people. It means stinging treble to some people. In means juicy but biting midrange to others. Do you mean you actually want a thinner sound (i.e. less mids, "scooped"), or just more bitey mids?

Pickup height is adjustable for a reason. Place them where they sound the best to you.

'50s wiring won't give you a "clear sound and...smoother roll off in the volume and tone to keep [the] treble and have it less muddy." Modern wiring gives that to you more so than '50s Tele wiring, because it eliminates the "bass" setting and gives you the thinner parallel tone in the middle position. Volume and tone knobs act with the same intensity with both wiring setups (though the tone acts as a master tone with modern wiring). The only real world difference between modern and '50s Tele wiring is what each switch position does. If you want smoother (meaning less jumpy/sensitive) rolloff, you want linear taper pots, not the standard audio taper pots. You can lower the tone cap value to retain higher frequencies as you roll down the tone knob. And you can use a treble bleed on the volume pot to retain more treble as you roll down.

So, in summary: the new pickups you ordered, adjust them by ear, modern wiring, linear taper pots, lower value tone cap, and treble bleed on the volume pot.

I believe the OP is meaning Gibson-style 50's wiring, which only takes moving one wire to a different lug and you do instead of treble bleeds, not 50's Tele wiring, which is a different thing altogether.
Al

 

[Mincer]

Re: Pickup height, 50's wiring

There are some good tips about pickup height in this small blog.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Pickup height, 50's wiring

FWIW - the official Fender recommendation, as a starting place.

https://support.fender.com/hc/en-us...ow-do-I-set-up-my-Telecaster-guitar-properly-

PICKUPS
Set too high, pickups can cause myriad inexplicable phenomena. Depress all the strings at the last fret. Using a 6" (150 mm) ruler, measure the distance from the bottom of the first and sixth strings to the top of the pole piece. A good rule of thumb is that the distance should be greatest at the sixth-string neck pickup position, and closest at the first-string bridge pickup position. Follow the measurement guidelines in the chart below as starting points. The distance will vary according to the amount of magnetic pull from the pickup.

Pickup Type: Bass Side - - Treble Side
Texas Specials: 8/64" (3.6 mm) - - 6/64" (2.4 mm)
Vintage style: 6/64" (2.4 mm) - - 5/64" (2 mm)
Noiseless™ Series: 8/64" (3.6 mm) - - 6/64" (2.4 mm)
Standard Single-Coil: 5/64" (2 mm) - - 4/64" (1.6 mm)
Humbuckers: 4/64" (1.6 mm) - - 4/64" (1.6 mm)
Lace Sensors: As close as desired (allowing for string vibration)