screwing pickups tighter?

[fruitysquirts]

I was looking at my bass and my pick ups seemed loose. I started to screw them, but hell, it was a good bit of screwing. It adjusted the distance from my strings a lot.

Does this really affect the sound?

 

[line6man]

Yes.

If the screws are loose, fill and redrill the holes, and/or add more foam.

 

[VerryBerry]

Sounds like you don't have enough foam underneath the pickups which pushes the pickups up against the screw heads. As Line6man said, get more foam under there.

The distance of the pickups to strings will affect tone and loudness. If you double the distance between string and pickup, the magnetic field decreases 4 times (squared relationship), which decreases output to your amp, so you do want to pay attention to distance.

For a starting point, visit your bass manufacturer's website and see what they suggest as a spacing for your pickups - once you have more foam in there. From the suggested spacing, you can adjust slightly to balance the sound of the lower and the higher strings to your taste.

 

[fruitysquirts]

Thanks!

My bass is still relatively new. I've had it, maybe three years.

 

[VerryBerry]

Easy enough to take the screws right out and pull the pickups away from the body to see the condition of the foam. (Careful don't pull on the wires.)

3 years could be significant enough for some foam materials to lose their resilience. And you don't know how long your bass hung in the store.

I just picked up my first bass in early January of this year - brand new - but the serial number tells me it was made in 2009 - that's 3 years before I got my hands on it.