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

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.
Same with my new DGT.

I think PRS's are setup for OD/distortion tones. They really do not seem to be setup for that lovely clean sound and the DGT in split mode is beautiful when set correctly. I am in the process of doing just that. There seemed to be a boominess at first but lowering the bass side of the pickups and raising some of the pole pieces seem to be doing the trick.
 
This, to me, is the biggest reason people don`t bond with guitars. I also believe most people who don`t like "the sound" of PRS don`t understand this. Tune your Ferrari, or you may think it`s a model T!
 
Cool this thread got bumped as I've been way into messing with pole pieces and height than I ever was before.

I've turned some duds into magic.
 
I have honestly never gone this route, my pickups have always been set and forget...maybe this would have prevented me from replacing my Tremontis with 57/08s.....nah probably not but still.
 
Good suggestions in here, for sure. I've been finding my 594 a touch boomy on the lower strings and I haven't yet messed with pickup height, but mostly played with amp settings. Pickup height is definitely on the agenda for tomorrow.
 
I have honestly never gone this route, my pickups have always been set and forget...maybe this would have prevented me from replacing my Tremontis with 57/08s.....nah probably not but still.
I put 57/08`s in my 03 CE 24. Just wow.
 
I like my humbuckers relatively close to the strings, but use my ears to get the right balance. To me, they are more dynamic that way.

Also, I have been radiusing my polepeices forever. That is the last step after you think you have the pickup height correct. It is the icing on the cake of an optimized pickup setup.

I don't have my single coil pickups as high, because the neck pu is the one that will cause the warble due to magnetic pull. I have never had that issue with any humbucker.
 
This, to me, is the biggest reason people don`t bond with guitars. I also believe most people who don`t like "the sound" of PRS don`t understand this. Tune your Ferrari, or you may think it`s a model T!
Neck pickup sounding sweeeeet after lowering and raising pole pieces. Just nee to lower the treble side of the bridge a touch as it is a bit bright.
 
A word of advice. On the DGT, the adjustment is minimal. I adjusted the bridge a bit too much and the screw came off. Had to take the strings off and get the screw back in. However, the screw is not that long and the spring really long so it was a bit of a pain to get it back on. Mine is literally on the edge of the screw now and sounds good. Because it is literally just the tip of the screw holding onto it, on the next string change I will put some thread lock glue on it. I am scared with vibrations it may move and come off on a gig.
 
I had to do something similar to my SAS bridge. I happened to have a slightly longer pickup screw in my parts drawer. I took it to the hardware store, got a nut to fit.put it on, and i`m off to the races.
 
How much of a turn on pole pieces seems to make a difference to you? I heard to go in 1/4 turn increments (which I do on saddle heights typically), but personally don't hear much difference between a 1/4 turn and a 1/2 turn of a pole screw. Plus, I'm slightly OCD so when I added nickel covers and raised the pole pieces on my LP, I lined up the slots essentially going in 1/2 or full turns from there.
 
I was not counting, but i will try and take some pics later. Basically I tried to match the neck radius but beeping the bass side of the neck down as that pick up was boomy to start with.

On the treble pick as the DGT has a very bright pickup, I raised the whole pickup on the bass side, lowered the whole thing on the treble side, then raised the middle pole pieces to match the radius of the neck, but also had to lower the treble pole pieces as this treble pickup is bright. Bear in mind that my action is fairly high as I like to bend and go under the strings, so needed to raise the middle poles a bit.

Adjusting them makes perfect sense as the guitar was built for Grissom and his tonal preference. I definitely felt a lack of treble on the neck pickup. Turning up the treble is NOT an option as the treble pickup is soooo bright on the DGT. Therefore the only way was to adjust the pickups or alternatively use an EQ pedal whenever I switched to the neck pickup (cumbersome if you ask me)

See the pictures for reference:

Both pickups viewed from Bass strings
6ac14c_625277ce4b364115bb7ede10a55077ef~mv2_d_5312_2988_s_4_2.webp


Neck pickup
6ac14c_f640d3c3e1fa43299d31d699ddb2a4e6~mv2_d_5312_2988_s_4_2.webp



Bridge pickup (Note lowered pole pieces on the treble, slightly raised middle poles and flat bass pole plus raised bass side and lowered treble side)
6ac14c_d3686f718f3c49b0955ea10831f136bc~mv2_d_5312_2988_s_4_2.webp



Viewed from treble side. Note lowered bass side of the pickup, flat bass pole, raised middle pole and slightly raised treble pole and generally whole treble side raised).
6ac14c_68568399244e49979a7ee82f9724e3ba~mv2_d_5312_2988_s_4_2.webp



This works for the sounds I am looking for which is typically:

Stratty sounding Neck pickup
Incredible combination of middle position (both pickups engaged) with independent volume control.
Incredible treble grittiness especially when I switch to full humbucker mode on the bridge.

Adjust to your taste and your style of music. I need to cover country to Classic rock and anything in between.

Good luck in finding your tone. My DGT is here to stay forever. My Strat has been on it's 24th year with me this year and long may this DGT journey last.
 
One thing I have noticed with the DGT is that dialling the volume back makes the neck pickup brighter. Is that normal? If so what kind of wiring is going on here?

I like it, but just wondering if it is normal and why?
 
One thing I have noticed with the DGT is that dialling the volume back makes the neck pickup brighter. Is that normal? If so what kind of wiring is going on here?

I like it, but just wondering if it is normal and why?

Does it have a treble bleed capacitor on the volume (PRS seems to have these on most models)? If so, these work like a reverse tone control on the volume knob. They filter out a portion of the bass frequencies as you reduce the volume. This is normally described as 'retaining the highs', but it's not really; It's trying to reduce the lows at the same rate as the highs are reduced as you turn down the volume (There is a natural reduction in the highs as you turn down due to the natural capacitance of the circuit, making the volume act as a small tone control).

I personally don't like the treble bleed. I find the filtering of the bass leaves the tone thin sounding as you reduce volume, and the taper of the pot is also affected so volume swells aren't as smooth. And besides, I like a bit of the tone warming up as the volume is reduced. So I un-soldered one of the legs on my PRS.
 
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I personally don't like the treble bleed. I find the filtering of the bass leaves the tone thin sounding as you reduce volume, and the taper of the pot is also affected so volume swells aren't as smooth. And besides, I like a bit of the tone warming up as the volume is reduced. So I un-soldered one of the legs on my PRS.

In addition, the presence of the treble bleed is noticable on the tone even when the volume is up full - just like the tone control is taking away a small amount of the highs even when it is up full (unless you have a 'no load' tone pot). I believe this is in part what gives PRS their signature sound. The slight bass cut can give the guitars more clarity. But I prefer the more vintage sound without it. I had intended to put a small switch in line with the treble bleed so that I could add it or not at will, but I never got around to it!
 
Ok, I gotta ask... when you guys talk about raising/lowering pole pieces, are you referring to the screws or the slugs on a humbucker? Obviously no question there on a single coil. And, if an exposed humbucker, do you suggest raising/lowering both the screws and the slugs, or which?

Thanks!
 
In addition, the presence of the treble bleed is noticable on the tone even when the volume is up full - just like the tone control is taking away a small amount of the highs even when it is up full (unless you have a 'no load' tone pot). I believe this is in part what gives PRS their signature sound. The slight bass cut can give the guitars more clarity. But I prefer the more vintage sound without it. I had intended to put a small switch in line with the treble bleed so that I could add it or not at will, but I never got around to it!
Mine does have a treble bleed cap. However, it appears to function in reverse. when my neck pickup is at 10, it sounds muffled and boomy. when I turn the neck volume to about 3 or 4, there is more treble and more clarity. Very strange. I will try and unsolder one lug tonight and see what happens.

Also when I fitted a treble bleed circuit on my Strat, that comprised of a capacitor with a small resistor in parallel. The DGT just has a Capacitor??
 
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Ok, I gotta ask... when you guys talk about raising/lowering pole pieces, are you referring to the screws or the slugs on a humbucker? Obviously no question there on a single coil. And, if an exposed humbucker, do you suggest raising/lowering both the screws and the slugs, or which?

Thanks!
Yes indeed it is the slugs. What I did was to raise the slugs on the humbucker to get the right balance between trebl/mid/bass on the pickup. However, raising those meant that there was a volume imbalance between the bridge and the neck pickup. So therefore you end up having to lower the two screwws as well to get the pickup further from the screen whilst retaining the tonal balance you like..

Raising the pole pieces the first time they feel a bit stiff and also a small amount of wax is seen coming from the pole pieces, but that is ok. It is only that they have a bit of wax stuck to them in the wax potting.
 
Mine does have a treble bleed cap. However, it appears to function in reverse. when my neck pickup is at 10, it sounds muffled and booming. when I turn the neck volume to about 3 or 4, there is more treble and more clarity

Yeah, this is how it was with mine too (a 53/10 limited). Though I wouldn't say it was booming or muffled on 10, that could just be that the pickups are too high.

Also when I fitted a treble bleed circuit on my Strat, that comprised of a capacitor with a small resistor in parallel. The DGT just has a Capacitor??

I'm no expert on the setup, but I do believe both ways are done. I'd have to look in to it more to learn the effect of the parts. I've read it before but forgotten!
 
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