Adjusting Pickup Height - Boss

GT-X Setup Manual

Section 3 Guitar Set-up
drastically alter the power output, tone, noise and sensitivity
characteristics. An incorrectly set pickup can make you
sound awful. Get it right and you can really make it sing
beautifully.
OK, Barry, so what is correct? Well. This is where life gets
a little difficult, the only thing that is generally agreed as
being bad by almost all guitarists is a pickup that 'chokes'
the string (I will explain this in a moment). Apart from that,
it's down to what pickups you have and a large dosing of
personal taste! Some manufacturers offer a range of
recommended heights, others don't.
However, to help you out, there are some general
differences between a pickup that is closer to the strings
than one that is further away. For this you need to ignore
the tonal difference that occurs between pickups placed in
different positions on the guitar body. Consider that we are
always talking about the same pickup in the same position,
just nearer to, or further away from the strings.
At this point I would like to say that I am specifically
talking about pickup->string height – NOT string height
above the frets. If your action is correct then providing you
have adjustable pickups—which most will be—then you do
not need to alter the strings in any way. I am purely talking
about pickups here.
Pickup-String Distance
Closer:
If the pickup is closer to the strings you will get:
More volume
A 'bigger' sound
Easier to overdrive amplifiers
On the downside you will get:
Less clarity
Increased sensitivity to pick/finger noise
If it is too close then you may get unwanted
harmonics. These harmonics manifest themselves
as a distorted ringing. Also by having the pickup
too close the magnetic pole pieces will suck your
string down and kill all sustain. This is known as
'choking'.
Further:
If the pickup is moved further away from the
strings you will get:
Better tone and clarity
Less sensitive to pick/finger noise.
No choking so no unwanted harmonics.
On the downside however you will get
© Copyright 2000-2002 Barry S. Pearce et al.
Less volume
If the pickup is a bit too far away from the
string you will get reduced sustain and
sometimes there is a drop off of sustain on a
bend due to magnetic field being too far from
the string.

Adjusting Pickup Height

Most pickups are height adjustable. For single coils there
are normally two screws, one each side of the pickup. These
look like they are there to 'hold' the pickup down. In fact
they are usually spring loaded and have a dual purpose. By
adjusting these two screws you can therefore adjust the
height of your pickup. Be careful not to go too low—your
pickup may come off! Humbuckers are similar. Here, you
will probably have six screws. The 4 outside screws bolt
down the pickup housing and the 2 middle screws adjust the
pickup height—again these are spring loaded to ensure the
pickup rises and lowers.
If your guitar has several pickups then it is a good idea to
try to balance the output volumes. This is a fairly easy task,
and fits in with the philosophy I have with the GT-3/5, of
using GT-3/5 for colour and an amplifier for volume. Here
we are looking at the same thing—pickups for colour, amp
for volume. The slight difference here is that you want a
reasonable output from your pickups to avoid problems in
the signal path and to keep a good S-N ratio.
Now, in order to reduce the imbalance between single coil
and humbuckers you can start by putting them all at the
same distance from the strings, then moving the humbucker
away, or the single coils slightly closer. You may also find
that it is beneficial to tilt the pickups to be closer to the top
strings.
Now given this information you now need to 'juggle' it all
and adjust your guitar so the pickups produce the tone you
require and are relatively balanced in terms of volume
between pickups.
It should be noted that by setting the pickups too high, you
can cause the pickup to overdrive when then string is
plucked. This is especially true with bass guitars. I find
myself lowering my bass guitar pickups significantly to
avoid a 'clipping' situation where the slapping of the string,
caused so much movement it overloaded the pickup. This is
even more important to watch out for if you use a drop D
tuning on the bass, as the bottom string moves so much
further during its
http://www.mrgearhead.net.
the Fender section. Also, the 'Guitar Player Repair Guide'
and 'How to make your electric guitar PLAY GREAT' have
many factory settings.
vibration. Check
There's a set-up document in
out
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