408 pickup/action height, and relief

[jrw32]

I'm curious what others have their 408 pickup height set to? PRS spec. or?

Would also be interested to hear your action height and relief on namely stoptail-equipped 408s.

I picked one up recently and pickups/action/relief seem a little off, so just curious how others have them set for optimum playability/tone?

Thanks much!

 

[BlueSky]

I'd like to hear more about that too. What are the PRS specs? I think mine is a bit off too.

 

[tolm]

I gave my Paul's Guitar a tweak - pickup height, bridge height and intonation - when I first got it. Didn't *need* it - was perfectly playable as it arrived - but I was just sure the action would go a little lower and was damned if my 1/3 price SG was gonna have a lower action!

I set up the pickup heights as per the following PRS link but then dropped the treble side to the same height as the bass side to warm the tone up a little. Only made a very subtle difference but enough to make the guitar sound fuller - to me - through my fairly bright EL84 Jackson Ampworks Newcastle 30.

https://www.prsguitars.com/csc/setup.html

 

[BlueSky]

So when I find some time this weekend, I'll finetune the pickup height on my 408. I'll start with "2.5/32 (5/64”) on the treble side and about 3/32” on the bass side", as recommended in the PRS link.
After that, I'll try to find the sweet spot using the 'note bloom' technique. Play a note on the 12fth fret and listen if it becomes louder shortly after hitting the string. If it dies away the raise the pickup. If the note is loud from the start, lower it.

 

[Deleted member 2284]

So when I find some time this weekend, I'll finetune the pickup height on my 408. I'll start with "2.5/32 (5/64”) on the treble side and about 3/32” on the bass side", as recommended in the PRS link.
After that, I'll try to find the sweet spot using the 'note bloom' technique. Play a note on the 12fth fret and listen if it becomes louder shortly after hitting the string. If it dies away the raise the pickup. If the note is loud from the start, lower it.

What is this note bloom technique of which you speak?

I understand what you do - just never heard of it

 

[BlueSky]

Note bloom means the pickup height is at its sweet spot. That means after you hit a note, it first fades away and then starts to bloom, i.e. becomes louder again. When the pickup is too low, the note simply disappears and when it's too close the bloom won't happen.