Poll: Pickup Height?

[rsf1977]

what's the deal with pickup height? Some say keep it as close as possible without distortion from the magnetic pull, others see keep it as far away as you can before the tone starts to fall apart.

And does anyone really know what happens to the tone of the signal as you raise or lower it? What's really going on in the signal being captured?

 

[AudioPhile777]

Depends on what type of pickup it is, generally closer is better, but some EMGs sound weird if they are to close... experiment, man... takes like 10 minutes to figure out where your pickup height sound best.

 

[ForefrontStudio]

I always found closer=hotter signal. it sounds more aggressive and pinch harmonics are a lot easier and louder.

 

[kev]

I always sound closer=hotter signal. it sounds more aggressive and pinch harmonics are a lot easier and louder.

+1

 

[rsf1977]

it seems closer to the strings things are more compressed and farther away things seem more open, but are the actual frequencies being picked up changing as well? Or does it just seem that way from the compression?

 

[rsf1977]

I always found closer=hotter signal. it sounds more aggressive and pinch harmonics are a lot easier and louder.

just curious. How close are your pups

 

[phatfil]

it depends on whether the pup is active or passive. my EMG81 is very close. my Painkiller is medium.

 

[Jind]

Hard to define a "correct" pickup height as it is a very individual thing not only based upon the pickup itself, but your playing style and other factors. I personally set my amp to my normal tone with my tone and volume set in my general playing conditions - then I just start raising the pickup until I start hearing a bit of muddiness, then back it off just a wee bit until I find the sweet spot I'm looking for. But I can't say it's the same for each guitar I have - even on two guitars with the same pickups but different woods. I have to treat each pickup individually.

 

[ForefrontStudio]

I get them about as close as I can without the strings touching the poles when I "choke". I'm using passives too btw. I was always a fan of adjusting the poles to bring out certain strings a littler more/match the radius of the strings. I never understood why people don't do this very much. that's the reason there are screws on one coil. You can really bring out the mids by raising the A and D strings, the highs on the B and E, etc.

 

[Metaltastic]

Generally it's best to keep EMG's as close as possible, but leave a bit more room with passives, as EMG's have pretty weak magnets (compensated for by the internal preamp), so they don't have the negative effects on sustain that too-high passives can. And actually, for awhile I had my EMG's pretty far from the strings because they're direct-mounted into the body of my guitar and I couldn't find any pointy screws to fit the EMG threading; then I just dremeled out the threaded brass rings in the pickups and used single-coil screws to hold them down (and stuffed foam under the cavity to push them up), and the sound improved exponentially, just so much fuller and more powerful. Here's where they are now:

They could be higher, of course, but I left room for my pick (when solo'ing, I often vary the position for different tonalities)

 

[16S]

voted middle but i guess i am inbetween middle and close : like Marcus's pic basically

 

[nwright]

I voted far because I prefer the sound of my EMG's at a distance. I think the lower output sounds better and is cleaner. I have my 81's flush with the top of the pickup rings on all my guitars (think Gibson LP bridge p/up ring height).

 

[Sickan]

I have mine 3 mm's from the strings, is that too far (would you say)?

 

[Pot]

bridge at 2.5-3 mm from strings , that´s were i stay

 

[Wolfeman]

My actives are up as far as they can go without the string touching when I fret the lowest fret.

Passives are different, usually as far from the strings as possible without getting too muddy. As already mentioned, if they are too close the magnet will pull on them in a negative way.

 

[Harry Hughes]

I use actives in my main guitar, so close as possible.
For passives, about middle.

 

[Harry Hughes]

This should be in the Equipment section BTW.

 

[Rez]

I had to go for medium but thats mainly down to my heavy handed playing.... I'm not that subtle.

 

[JonWormwood]

As high as it will go when my trem is fully pulled up without strings hitting

 

[Full_Tilt]

Voted middle.
Ive not worried too much about it , I once had some dimarzio's that distorted the pup circuit on a bass so raised the distance higher than normal which sorted it out.
On guitar I think that doesnt happen as often but the magnetosphere does have a definite shape only you cant see it so its a case of raising lowering until it sounds good for both heavy and clean sounds, most of the time closer sounds hotter but too close sometimes causes problems .

Once its roughly right then you can adjust each individual poll piece (if you have adjustable) using a meter until all 6 strings give out the same volume, that's a good tip if you dont like having to use much compression on clean stuff.