p/u height

[On The DL]

I just got some bart J's for my spector. I have some room to raise them up a bit for a little hotter signal. Is there much difference, if at all, in tone depending on the distance from p/u to strings?

 

[62bass]

There's a difference and a lot depends on the pickup itself and of course, how hard you play. Fool around with it and you'll find out for yourself and then decide what height they should be for you.

 

[manjar]

I'd also say that if you are raising the pickups (i.e. bringing them closer to the strings), be sure to experiment with your more aggressive playing to make sure that the attack of your notes does not get over-emphasized, and that that strings don't bottom out on the pickup. I've raised my pickups before to get more gain, but also ended up with a lot of "clickiness" that I didn't want.

 

[Phalex]

It does make a difference. My 1/4lb PUP is "Too far away" from the strings and it sounds great! The farther I backed it off the bassier / ballsier it sounded. I even raised the action on the E and A strings to get them farther away from the PUP once I bottomed it out.

 

[On The DL]

thanks for the replies, is there a standard height/gauge for pickup height, or is it just whatever works for individual style and preference?

 

[Brad Johnson]

Adjust it according to how you play and what overall tone you want. I typically set my bridge pickup as close to the higher strings as possible then dial in the neck pickup height so it has the same approximate output as the the bridge when soloed. I'm usually happy with the blended sound once I've done that. I pluck more parallel to the body than most people IME so I can set the strings very close to the pickups.

 

[On The DL]

Cool, I actually did exactly that, lowered the neck p/u and kept the bridge fairly close to the strings and I like the tone of the neck better now. I'm sure I'll make some more adjustments as I go. thanks for all the feedback