Pickup Height

[gbowman]

Hi Folks

I'm wondering if there are specs for setting the (non-covered) humbucker height on my Bluebird. (1998 I think). Plus, what are people's thoughts on whether to radius the pole pieces or not. Any and all comments are handy...

 

[GGJaguar]

Welcome to LTG! That's a beautiful BB you have there! I don't think there is an official Guild spec for pickup height. It just requires a lot of small adjustments until you find the sweet spot that works for you. Maybe start with the top of the pickup just above the bezels and then start raising them from there. It's takes a little patience, but not a too much time to find the right heights. Good luck!

 

[gbowman]

Welcome to LTG! That's a beautiful BB you have there!

Thanks! I am thankful that this is one of those guitars that didn't get away. I think we've all made some bad guitar decisions along the way - but this one is a keeper...

 

[GAD]

The pole pieces aren't for radiusing - they're for adjusting the strength of the signal for individual strings. If you were to radius them you'd likely get a badly out of balance sound since the weakest strings (b/e) would be lower than the middle strings. The goal with the adjustable pole pieces is to achieve balance.

 

[GGJaguar]

I should have been more clear. I was only describing raising the entire pickup, not the pole pieces.

 

[Quantum Strummer]

I do it by ear. The closer a pickup is to the strings the louder & brighter it gets. But I find if I go too far an unpleasant edge to the sound creeps in…too strident. With single coil pickups that use magnets as polepieces (most Fenders for instance) if you raise 'em too high the strings start vibrating weird & losing sustain. In both cases I like to find that "too close" point and then back off a bit from it. Per GAD I use adjustable height polepieces to set individual string volumes. With guitars using per-pickup volume pots and "50s wiring" I prefer to optimize each pickup's height without worrying about its volume relative to the other pickup(s). I then use the volume pots to balance 'em to taste.

-Dave-

 

[PAPADON]

Lots of companies put out specs for string height but as has been stated the bottom line is you just gotta mess with em til they sound right.

 

[SFIV1967]

There are many descriptions on the internet, here are a few:

How To Properly Set Pickup Height

Learn how to set pickup height properly by following each step in this easy-to-follow guide by Fralin Pickups.

www.fralinpickups.com

TGP: » Setup Like a Pro: Correctly Adjust Pickup Height on Electric Guitars

The Guitar Pages offers reviews, articles, tech tips, repair guides, gift guides, features and many other guitar resources.

theguitarpages.com

How to set pickup pole-piece height — Haze Guitars

The (possibly) weird, but (definitely) good method for adjusting your pickup pole screws… If you've got adjustable pole-pieces on your pickups you can balance the output of individual strings so that none is too loud or quiet as you play across them. That's a great advantage. F

hazeguitars.com

Fine-Tuning Pickup Height and Other Passive Humbucker Adjustments

If you haven’t adjusted your pickup height like this, give it a try. I guarantee it will take you less time to do than it’s taken me to write about it!

www.seymourduncan.com

Ralf

 

[Nuuska]

Hello

I did NOT look at those links provided by SFIV1967 - but just in case they do not mention it - adjusting pick-up height affects your intonation - do not worry - it is quite normal - so just ignore intonation until you're done with tweakink pick-ups - after that is right time to adjust intonation.

Naturally the VERY first thing even before all this is to set string height to your liking - then pups - then intonation.

 

[GAD]

Hello

I did NOT look at those links provided by SFIV1967 - but just in case they do not mention it - adjusting pick-up height affects your intonation - do not worry - it is quite normal - so just ignore intonation until you're done with tweakink pick-ups - after that is right time to adjust intonation.

Naturally the VERY first thing even before all this is to set string height to your liking - then pups - then intonation.

I find that hard to believe unless you're talking about "Stratitis" where the pole pieces pull on the strings which can make a tuner go a bit nuts.

Convert me! What is the basis for your assertion that pickup height can affect intonation?

 

[Nuuska]

Hello

Like you say - pole pieces pull strings a bit - not much - normally when you have your guitar all set and tweak one polepiece or pick-up just a tad, it has VERY little effect on intonation - but in pursuit of perfection - or if you atart from scratch - I believe it is best to at least check intonation as last step.

 

[parker_knoll]

I do it by ear. The closer a pickup is to the strings the louder & brighter it gets. But I find if I go too far an unpleasant edge to the sound creeps in…too strident. With single coil pickups that use magnets as polepieces (most Fenders for instance) if you raise 'em too high the strings start vibrating weird & losing sustain. In both cases I like to find that "too close" point and then back off a bit from it. Per GAD I use adjustable height polepieces to set individual string volumes. With guitars using per-pickup volume pots and "50s wiring" I prefer to optimize each pickup's height without worrying about its volume relative to the other pickup(s). I then use the volume pots to balance 'em to taste.

-Dave-

To some extent I find the opposite - backing off, especially at the neck, helps to reduce the bass and cut out some woolliness in humbuckers.

 

[Quantum Strummer]

To some extent I find the opposite - backing off, especially at the neck, helps to reduce the bass and cut out some woolliness in humbuckers.

I try to avoid wooly sounding humbuckers. More seriously, you're quite right that pickups with overbearing low end benefit from being lowered. With such pickups you may have to sacrifice some treble bite to reduce bass woof. I have a guitar where the neck pickup is tilted away from the bass strings to keep the low E from booming. (Its polepiece is cranked all the way down…still not enough without the tilt.)

-Dave-

 

[DThomasC]

The magnets can have a lot to do with it. Alnico 2 magnets are sweet and musical, but tend to give up on the low end early. Alnico 5 on the other hand is more modern sounding and stays tight at all levels but, to my ears, doesn't sound as good. JMHO, YMMV, ...

Swapping magnets in your favorite pickups is a rabbit hole to be sure.

 

[gbowman]

I have rough cast A4s in my current pickups

 

[Guildedagain]

What are those Zebra pickups in the OP BB?

Who made em?

What are the magnets?

What are the DC Ω resistance readings?

500k pots?

 

[gbowman]

The BB pickups are Sweet 59s, made by Craig Vineham. 8.4k / 7.5k. Yes, 500k pots. Neck tone control uses a .015 cap, wired 50s style and the bridge is .022 wired modern. Rough cast A4 magnets. These pickups are killer and a great price to boot!