Pickup height

[Cliff]

What would be the distance between string and top of the neck pickup on my Charvel Model 6? I don't care about balancing the volume with the bridge pickup so much as getting the sweetest, most sustaining tone out of the neck.

[toejam]

Raise it and lower it until it sounds best to you?

[Cliff]

I knew someone was going to say that .

[toejam]

Well, if you don't want volume balance with the bridge pickup, then that's basically what you're gonna have to do. Plus, what sounds best to you may not for me or someone else.

[Cliff]

Fair enough. To be honest, it sounds pretty damned nice already.

[lefty]

Also remember that action height will make a difference. That's why it's hard to give an exact number for PUP height...

[Cliff]

I read somewhere to measure this with strings fretted at the last fret.

[Cliff]

Finally got around trying this. I thought I'd read turning the screws clockwise would raise the height, but it seems to lower it. Turning anti-clockwise eventually leaves pickup loose in the cavity, free to move up and down, which doesn't seem ideal. And this when it's still way lower than the 2-3mm people seem to talk about for strat and LP pickups. This is the stock Jackson single-coil neck pup on a Charvel Model 6. What am I doing wrong?

[DonP]

There supposed to be some foam or springs under the pickups that "push up on it" as you loosen the screws. Sounds like it's missing or non-functional. Just stuff some foam under the pickup.

[toejam]

Tightening/turning the screws clockwise is supposed to raise the height. Sounds like you do need some foam or something underneath the pickup.

[Cliff]

Thanks guys. Yeah, it's an old guitar, so maybe the foam has perished underneath or the springs have lost their zing.

[DonP]

Tightening/turning the screws clockwise is supposed to raise the height. Sounds like you do need some foam or something underneath the pickup.

Other way around Toe. Tightening the screws claps the pickup down, closer to the body. Loosening the screws lets the pickup rise higher to the strings.


OP,

Might want to check out rubber as well as long as it can compress and rebound easily. You don't want the screws stripping the wood in the body.

FWIW I really like the J200's with the boost in a stock Model 6. I think they sound good, and are noise free.

[Cliff]

I did manage to loosen the screws a bit before the pickup just becomes loose. Not as much as I would like, but enough to make a noticeable improvement in volume and, I like to think, tone. And yeah, it sounds great.

[toejam]

Other way around Toe. Tightening the screws claps the pickup down, closer to the body. Loosening the screws lets the pickup rise higher to the strings.

I just adjusted the pickups on my G&L Legacy the other day. Tightening the screws clockwise definitely raises the pickups. Is it different on guitars without pickguards now or direct-mounted pickups without rings?

[DonP]

Yes, opposite with pickup rings or a pickguard. Clockwise on those raises the pickup.