Pickup height for maximum quack

S

scarabunga

New member
Saw a debate on another messageboard and I'll bring it here:

How do you think you should set the pickup heights (specifically the middle pickup) on a Strat to get the most quack in the notch positions? Some people say lowering it increases quack. That doesn't make sense to me. If quack is caused by a combination of two pickup sounds, lowering the middle pickup will make one pickup quieter than the other and reduce the effect, right? Certainly when I lowered my middle pickup, I thought there was less quack, though I couldn't swear to it.

What do you guys reckon?
 
Re: Pickup height for maximum quack

The "quack" to me has always been about the mismatch. In other words, the difference in the sound between the two pickups produces "more quack". Now it's a silly debate because everyone has a different definition of what they hear as quack. I pick pretty hard when I want that kind of sound, so maybe someone else who picks softer thinks they get more quack from matched singles at equal heights. But generally I like a fat, deep neck pickup and a thin, icy clean middle. And yes, I lower the middles. Making one pickup "louder" than the other does not reduce the effect, because what you really did was make the sound between them more different. So I would agree that lowering your middle and raising your neck is a good recipe for quack, but I wouldn't speak definitively.
 
Last edited:
Re: Pickup height for maximum quack

I meove 'em all as close the the strings as I can...until I fret above the 12th fret and hear the magnets pulling the low E out of tune. Then I back the neck and middle pickups down again until they are not being pulled out of tune when I play above the 12 th fret.

When holding the strings down at the 21st fret, the pickup polepieces are about 1/16" away from the underside of the high E and about 1/8" away from the underside of the low E.

Lew
 
Re: Pickup height for maximum quack

I find the middle pickup has to be lower than the neck and bridge also to help with that "quack" we all like in the 2 and 4 positions...This is providing we're dealing with say 3 SSL1s etc......
 
Re: Pickup height for maximum quack

Make it #3 for Middle pickup lower. I find this to be necessary, even when the neck and bridge are a lot hotter (in my case 9.1k neck and 10.7k bridge).

The only (hair-splitting) difference is I like to refer to the neck/middle tone as "cluck" rather than "quack", which is bridge/middle.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top