Pickup Height

[closeyetfar]

Hey, I was wondering if there is anything more to pickup height then volume levels. When I setup my pickup height I try to get all the pickups at the same volume. Doing this I have noticed that humbuckers are usually louder then single coils. I have teamed up a set of humbuckers with a Lace sensor in my last project and they sound great together. The only problem is I have to keep the Lace sensor very high and the humbucker pretty low to get them to the same volume.

I want to lower the Lace sensor a little bit more, but in doing so I will also have to lower my neck humbucker. From the picture below, do you think it would be a bad idea to lower the neck pickup anymore? I'm gonna try it tomorrow so I thought I would get some info here first. Are there any other basic rules with pickup height?

[gitpiddler]

never hurts to try, you may find that the lace will cut thru as well AT less volume, plus it looks like it would interfere with the strum zone. you get a lot of string movement out in the middle. fun ain't it?

[newey]

CYF-

I was wondering if there is anything more to pickup height then volume levels.

Yes, at extremes of adjustment, there is more than just volume involved. The pickup works by the string interacting with the field of the pickup, so changes do affect other factors than just overall volume (tone and sustain, to name two things). But these are usually only noticeable at very low or very high settings.

But the nice thing about pickup height is that you can futz around with it to your heart's content and it's easy enough to go back where you started if it's no good after you adjusted it.

I've harped on pickup adjustment before around here, IMO it's an underutilized tool by many players. I've talked to guys who wanted to replace their pickups entirely but who had never tried adjusting the ones that they had.

[sumgai]

cyf,

I can't see the thread, your image is making me scroll back and forth forever, trying to read everyone's input......

Could you please re-size the thing down to say, 800x600?

Thanks!


sumgai

[closeyetfar]

OK, I cropped it a bunch for you. The problem is that the neck humbucker is almost in the body at this point. If I lower the Lace then the neck humbucker will have to be about level with the body. I'm just wondering if that is too much of an extreme setting.

I can actually play pretty will with it like that. Thats why I really don't want to touch it, and it sounds great at this point. The only trouble I have had so far is with pinch harmonics. I like to some times push the side of my thumb deep in between the strings to get that screaming sound.

[andy]

The only limitation to how far you can lower the pickup is the length of the screws!

I have seen pickups flat with the mounting ring on Les Pauls and such, so I would assume that you could physically go lower- just be prepared that if you do reach the end of the screw there is often still enough pressure from the spring to fire the pickup into the cavity! I've never damaged a pickup that way, but it can be a bit of a shock if you don't expect it.

As for tone, I would simply say that in my experience, within the extremes, the closer the pickup is to the string, the bolder the tone will be across all frequencies, further back it will be softer and thinner sounding. Neither is right or wrong of course- in fact I had a pickup (Dimarzio Virtual Vintage 2.1, if I remember rightly) with advised that for a '50's' tone you set the pickup low, for a fuller '60's' tone, you set the pickup a little higher. But as Newey points out, this is a very low risk experiment- give it a shot and see what you think sounds good, you can always un-do what you done!

[sumgai]

cyf,

Ah, that's much better, thanks! ;D

If you were using stock (more-or-less) Fender Strat pickemups, then I'd say that you were already too close to the strings - you'd be getting that "Strat-itis" tone. Lace Sensors don't have that problem, no matter how close they get. If you're happy with how things sound now, then do the Beatles thing - Let It Be, Let It Be.

Learn to place your hand in another "picking zone" for those pinch harmonics. In fact, they'll sound best (both in volume and tone) if you do that directly over the neck pickup, not in-between pickups. Directly over the bridge pickup is also good, but it might not be quite as loud.

HTH




sumgai

[ChrisK]

I can't see the thread, your image is making me scroll back and forth forever, trying to read everyone's input......

Could you please re-size the thing down to say, 800x600?

Ya know, if'n ya weren't a' connecting to the inter-web with a taut string, a blinkin' light, and a Morse code key, you wouldn't have these issues!


Broadband doesn't just refer to the Donnas!

[sumgai]

Chris,

My tin can is 1650 x 1080 pixels, and driven to its fullest extents, thank you very much! When an image is large enough to cause me to scroll sideways, I can just image how it it appears to other Forum users.

And BTW, my string is waxed, so I'm getting the highest speed possible, too. ;D



sumgai

[closeyetfar]

Yea, I really just have to mess with the settings while I play and see what sounds the best to me.

[newey]

just have to mess with the settings

I think testing in a more systematic fashion is desirable. Turn the pup you're adjusting all the way down, and count your screw revolutions on the way up, on each side, so that you can easily go back to the prior setting if you go too far up for your tastes.

Once you get an overall height for each pickup, you can then play with angling them side-to-side, again counting your screw revs, plus or minus, on each side.

[closeyetfar]

That is actually a really good method. I can test new settings out and then just go back the exact amount of turns if I am unhappy with the new settings. Thanks, I'm gonna try that out.