an important lesson about pickup height...

Education.

 

Yep, anyone who's spent much time setting up Stratocasters is well familiar with this. It's even informally called "Stratitis" where the magnets exert enough pull on the string to affect the strings' vibration. It's common on Strats because the PUPs poles are actual magnet slugs (unlike a Gibson style PUP where the magnet is in the bottom of PUP and the poles are simply ferrous slugs or screws to bring the field to the string) and the E (sometimes A) strings have enough magnetic mass to be deflected easily.

The key part of this is the assumption you made without checking it out in real-life. You said "because its a passive 5er, I assumed it wasn't as hot an output as an active bass so I cranked the PU's fairly high (sic)". Might have been better to spend some time just playing it the way it was and then addressing any needs.

Also there's the fallacy that active basses have higher output than passive ones, which is so far from the truth to be laughable. The hottest output I've ever experienced is the original G&L MFD PUPs on the original L-1000 and L-2000e basses. I was a very very early G&L dealer (when they still offered only ebony and maple fingerboards, when the catalog listed a passive L-2000 which never was produced, etc.) and those basses with the PUPs properly adjusted were hotter than my '78 StingRay, and any other active bass I've played since then. Now if you're boosting all the EQ knobs all the way, you may be putting out more juice than a typical passive bass, but without extreme EQ every active bass I've played has very similar output to a good properly set up passive.

John

 

Yup. Too far away from the strings gives a weak signal. Too close gets you magnetic interference/pull and will result in some weird warbling and string dampening. It can take some experimentation to get each position just right.
Grab a set of jeweller's/precision screwdrivers and tinker till you're happy.

Just a note; some pickups have adjustable pole pieces...some don't, but the pickup bodies themselves can be adjusted.

 

Typically, active (powered, w/internal preamp) pickups have less magnetic pull on the strings because they use the internal circuitry to boost the signal enough, and can be set up with lower string height.
Passive pickups, because there is no internal preamp, generate the full signal from the magnets and coils, so usually the magnetic pull is quite a bit stronger on the strings, requiring a larger distance between strings and poles. Also, a bit more distance can help equalize the string's signal generation due to the distance/strength ratio of the magnetic field.

 

When strings are too close to the pup you can get distorted sounds but not necessarily string pulling,
and you can get pulling and no distortion...
i suppose distortion is related to an electrical thing (that can be solved placing the string far away),
but not because the magnet strengh itself...

 

Those obnoxious noises you get from excessive pickup height are called "wolf tones". Someone in another forum was asking how to get a newer 4003 to sound like a 4001 without mutilating it, and it was suggested to lower the pickups into the body cavity. Not only will the strength of the signal diminish, but the bottom end will disappear as well.

 

Better for pickups to be a "bit" too far than a "bit too close.

 

Yup. Often the pickups are set too low also. I have picked up many Aria Pro II basses because of this. A lot of people tighten them down hard and complain the sound is too weak. I have bought a few APII's with this "problem", I simply raised the pup into the sensing zone and they turned into tone monsters.

 

I also heard it gives the strings a weird chorusy effect too if the poles are too close to the strings. Is that the same as the "weird warbling and string dampening" effect you describe?

 

According to my genius engineer - the pickup covers on P and J basses are not there for shielding - I don't even think that they are grounded - but to reflect some of the magnetic field from the pickups back down to the strings to help compensate for the pickups' downward pull. I don't know if anyone has ever tested this, but it sounds possible.

 

I must meet Crabby. My MIM P had a similar effect when I changed strings. I realized the D and G pickup was higher than the E and A. I lowered them a lot, to the point where I almost find it difficult to anchor my thumb while I play. Hence, why I got a thumbrest...just in case.

Output was a little weak as a result, so I raised them back up a bit to the size I like them. Can't be happier.

 

Yup.

 

Just out of curiosity, did you measure the new pickup distance? (preferably with the last fret pressed down, measured from the bottom of the string to the pickup). mine are at 2 mm and I'm wondering if that might be my problem

 

do you think there's some place online where I can hear what the "warbling" sounds like?

 

I have a 1025x too and it's definitely rather hot on the output for a passive, almost as hot as my stingray. With some strings they like some weird stuff too, like having just the B and/or E strung through the bridge. Despite that, they're incredible instruments.

 

Sure. I googled it for you. Took me all of five seconds to find one.



About 1:14 and 1:39.

The more bass...the more the effect is pronounced. Very pronounced on a bass guitar.