Pickup height adjustment..SOOO critical!! Everyone shoud do this...

T

Tag

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Spend an hour with each guitar you have adjusting the height of the pups and the pup screws both overdriven and clean. (Markie, I know this would take you around 5-6 years) :D;) Almost every guitar I have had to have the bass side of each pup lowered, and then the treble side adjusted either up or down. I cant stress how much of a difference this makes. It can make a guitar that you just cant get comfortable with, to your # 1 guitar. It can take all of the "sharpness" off of a guitar with to much attack, and soften it right up to perfection, or, can give a guitar with not enough "punch", enoughy to give you a black eye when you pick a single string. :tongue: Its amazing. Adjusting the pole pieces can give each string a "looser" feel by raising the pole piece, or a tighter feel by lowering it down. One guitar feels a little "flubby" on the bass strings? Lower the pole pieces! Another feels to stiff on the upper strings? Lower the pickup a bit and raise the pole pieces. I have my Pomegranite down to PERFECTION, and am working on my Walnut semi hollow (WHAT a guitar!!!!) now. It has HUGE output for some reason, even with the 57/08s having slightly lower output than my Turquoise guitar. I almost have it to where I want it as well, but man, it can make or break a guitar. I bet I have sold many guitars, unable to bond with them, simply because I did not take enough time adjusting pups. Take your time, really listen and feel each string, and then try adjusting up and down. You will come away with a guitar that you did not even know you had. Amazing, and 57/08s are EXTREMELY sensitive to all these adjustments, so take your time. Fantastic! :)
 
This is a great tip! I never think about doing it, and it's a good idea to experiment a little.
 
Definitely a good idea. Of course, if you LOVE where it's at carefully measure so you can return it to that spot. I have my 5708's much higher than my 5909's(especially bridge). Sometimes I have to be a hair lower at gigging volume so things don't "take off" and get outta hand. I also use really heavy strings on some guitars which makes a difference too.
 
I always do it with a new guitar. I'm a born tinkerer so it's one of those things that I can't resist, and it definitely 'personalizes' the guitar to the player. Definitely makes a difference. I'll often continue to tweak it a bit as I get to know it.
 
Make sure to do it at an appropriate volume. If you're strictly a bedroom player it's fine to do at lower volumes, but if you play in a band, adjust the heights at rehearsal/stage volume.
 
If your worried about getting it back to where you started, look at the screw and turn it exactly 1/4 turn at a time counting the turns. Sometimes I start out with 4 turns before I play so I can hear a more pronounced difference and them fine tune.

I'm not sure I can hear differences with the pup screws???
 
Isn't it annoying when your trying to lower the pickup just little bit more, that the screw runs out of thread and that side pops off down in the socket?

I have become able to find the screw hole again without taking the strings off, using a soft plastic thin rule to hold the pickup up in the pocket, while trying to get the screw and spring aligned to the hole.
For the record, on mine at teast, there is not much place to go down once you have the bridge pickup set at the recommended height.
 
Great advice. With just a little practice, you'll really be able to find the "sweet spot" quickly. Another tip...to improve the clarity and sustain, lower the pickup just a tiny bit lower than what you think sounds best. Then, raise the polepieces back up to regain the optimum output.

Oh BTW, the most drastic difference I've encountered while adjusting pickup height is with my SRV Strat. The Texas Specials sounded harsh, and trebly, and muddy at the same time. We're talking a serious tone problem. I immediately started googling for info regarding good aftermarket Strat pickups. I ran across a tip to lower the Texas Specials a LOT. I cranked 'em down, almost to the pickguard. Lo and behold, they now sound great. Lots of Strat glassiness, and plenty of SRV mojo.

Good luck!
bs
 
pac90 said:
Isn't it annoying when your trying to lower the pickup just little bit more, that the screw runs out of thread and that side pops off down in the socket?

I have become able to find the screw hole again without taking the strings off, using a soft plastic thin rule to hold the pickup up in the pocket, while trying to get the screw and spring aligned to the hole.
For the record, on mine at teast, there is not much place to go down once you have the bridge pickup set at the recommended height.
Click to expand...


I LOVE it when that happens!!!!! NOT!! :mad: Thats when you have to go to the pole pieces. Once again, EVERY PRS I have has had to have the bass side of the pup lowered to get rid of boominess on the lower 2 strings. I bet its not just mine. You do not notice it nearly as much with overdrive, because of the compression it gives, but with a clean tone it can drive you nuts. You have to lighten up your attack on the bottom two strings to keep the volume even. Lower the bass side of the pup and its a miracle!!! And it ALSO sounds even better when overdriven. This is especially noticeable on the neck clean tones.
 
BrianC said:
I'm not sure I can hear differences with the pup screws???
Click to expand...


Try a full turn down, and play and FEEL it. Then return a full turn back up. With the polepiece lower, the tone is tighter and more focused. With the polepiece higher, the tone is looser and more "jangly". I could not get the bottom string tight sounding enough by lowering the bridge anymore (It was bottomed out) so I had to go the the polepiece. FIXED! And I was able to raise the pup a bit more as well. :)
 
FWIW, I use the Bill Lawrence nickel approach.

http://www.billlawrence.com/Pages/Pickupology/Introduction.htm
3. The distance between pickup and string is a very important factor for output and sound.

As a general rule for the bridge pickup - put a nickel on top of the pickup under the high E string and play the highest note on that string. Adjust the height on that side of the pickup till the string touches the nickel. Repeat the same with the low E string, but use two nickels on top of each other. If this gives you too much output, you can reduce the height slightly. Don't forget that twice the distance will reduce the output by about 60%, and the sound will lose some lows. NOW, you can adjust the neck pickup to match the output of the bridge pickup. For the sound test, use stage volume.
Click to expand...

For the rest of the world: a nickel is about 2mm thick.
 
Did a little research since I've been very interested in this topic and I found this site which has some great info on it. Much of it is echoed by some of the posts above, but it also contains a whole lot of other stuff related to guitar set up: http://www.ratcliffe.co.za/articles/pickupheight.shtml.

And a big thanks, Tag, for getting this thread started. Exactly what I've been looking for ever since I did some "adjustments" on my SE CU 24, only to find out I went the wrong way. :redface:
 
Great advice Tag.
I have never adjusted pickups or the screws before, a little nervous about it.

I have an idea though, these tips should be in a sticky thread.
Perhaps add more tips to this thread, and make the title of the tip in bold, then add the text.
 
The only real "mistake" I can find is getting the pups to close to the strings. You will hear the "warble" and double note thing when that happens. Also, remember to check guitars with the strings pushed down at the 12th fret. Otherwise guitars with higher action will measure differently than strings with lower action. Sounds simple, but I made that mistake once myself. :redface:
 
On humbuckers i set polepieces in a radius just like saddles.Not same curve as saddles but a curve.
I measure with string pressed down at last fret,polepiece to bottom of the string.5/64 on low E and 2/32 on high E to start with.I Always check with a Clean sound because of the compression with distortion Tag talks about.It can take weeks to get it right :).My DGT reads 5/64 low E and 2/32 high E on neck pickup and 3/32 on both Es on bridge pickup.
 
Last edited:
swede71 said:
On humbuckers i set polepieces in a radius just like saddles.Not same curve as saddles but a curve.
I measure with string pressed down at last fret,polepiece to bottom of the string.5/64 on low E and 2/32 on high E to start with.I Always check with a Clean sound because of the compression with distortion Tag talks about.It can take weeks to get it right :).My DGT reads 5/64 low E and 2/32 high E on neck pickup and 3/32 on both Es on bridge pickup.
Click to expand...


I like the curve idea! I have my Pomegranate and Walnut pretty much down now.(Turquoise seems good as is. Just had to lower the bass a bit) Have to move on to the LP and 359.
 
For myself it can depend on what formula wound strings I'm using on a particular guitar.

If I'm using nickel wrap I generally have to be careful about the difference in output between the D and G strings.

When I use nickel plated steel wound strings on a guitar then I can generally match the radius of the neck, and often find I need to back the bass side of the pickup off some (especially on the neck pu).

My ears listen for harshness if I get too close to the strings on some guitars. Generally I prefer pickups not overwound much, or too powerful magnets. Even EMG's can sound harsh to me if REAL close to the strings, but backing them off just a little works for me.

Anything in a PAF style humbucker design I can quickly dial in. Also single coils I generally prefer more vintage style specs, although sometimes Texas Specials can be fun and work for me on a particular guitar.

I'm sorta new to PRS 57/08 pickups, but fortunately the shop had my new Cu22 set up perfectly for how I play and hear. I should probably measure before trying to wring out anything more optimal.

If it ain't broke I generally leave things alone, but of course sometimes there's great tips to be found in a thread like this one.
 
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