Lower/Raise Pickups?

[Scriptor]

If your pickups sound a little too bassy to you, is it possible to affect that by raising or lowering them? Would you raise or lower only the bass string side? To lower do you loosen the screws and tighten to raise? I am seeking to get a little more clarity with the magnetic pups on my P22. Even the bridge pup seems a little too bassy to me. A little help from The Braintrust here please. Any tips are welcome. Thanks.

 

[Twinfan]

You have a couple of options:

1) Lower both, or just the bass, side(s) of the pickup in the ring, unscrewing to lower. Go for half a turn at a time and see what you think. Use a quarter of a turn to fine tune when you get to the sweet spot.

2) Raise the pole pieces out of the pickup on all strings (by unscrewing them) or again just the bass side. This will weaken the magnetic pull slightly and give a little more clarity.

You may find a combination of the two works best, as it did for me. In my SC245 (with very balanced 57/08s) I raised the poles on the neck pickup and lowered them on the bridge. I set the bridge pickup slightly closer to the strings than the neck pickup, and lowered the bass side of the neck pickup to get the right balance.

Trial and error is the way to go. Good luck, and don't forget to make a note of where your pickups are now before you start adjusting things, so you can always go back to ground zero

 

[rugerpc]

...and don't forget to make a note of where your pickups are now before you start adjusting things, so you can always go back to ground zero

This is the most important thing to remember when adjusting anything, whether it is pups, the truss rod, the jets on a carburetor, what have you. You need a road map back to where you started.

 

[Scriptor]

Just a report ... I checked the PRS website and found both of my pickups on the P22 were too high per the suggestions from the website ... I basically lowered them to the spec (maybe just a little lower on the bass side for both pups) ... the P22 sounds much better now .... I may tweak some more later but for now I am very pleased with the sound ... thanks for the help everyone ...

 

[prscat33511]

Great post for sure
Thanks for that - it confirms what I do !

I usually lower my pickups to almost 1/4" below the bottom of the string and work up to get my sound right

You have a couple of options:

1) Lower both, or just the bass, side(s) of the pickup in the ring, unscrewing to lower. Go for half a turn at a time and see what you think. Use a quarter of a turn to fine tune when you get to the sweet spot.

2) Raise the pole pieces out of the pickup on all strings (by unscrewing them) or again just the bass side. This will weaken the magnetic pull slightly and give a little more clarity.

You may find a combination of the two works best, as it did for me. In my SC245 (with very balanced 57/08s) I raised the poles on the neck pickup and lowered them on the bridge. I set the bridge pickup slightly closer to the strings than the neck pickup, and lowered the bass side of the neck pickup to get the right balance.

Trial and error is the way to go. Good luck, and don't forget to make a note of where your pickups are now before you start adjusting things, so you can always go back to ground zero