How to adjust bridge pickup height - humbucker?

[Number Of The Priest]

So here's my guitar:



I've adjusted single coil height before since it was simple. There are only two screws, and you can feel the springs acting on the pickup if you try to push the single coils down into the route.

For the bridge humbucker, do I adjust the two middle-side screws on the pickup ring? I don't feel the springiness (if there's such a word) of the humbucker like I do with the single coils.

The reason I am asking is because I feel that the bridge Super 3 is much too close to the strings and I'd like to back the pickup off and away from the strings a little bit. With my other guitars, I have no problems... I'm using active EMGs on those, where the pickups should be as close as possible to the strings.

[YetAnotherOne]

Re: How to adjust bridge pickup height - humbucker?

Yep, the middle two screws. There should be springs between the bottom of the pickup ring and the dog ears on the hummer itself. If you're not feeling any tension it might be because there's an ultra-light spring in there, or springs that are so short that they're not compressed, or no spring at all (the hummer is just hung on the bolts).

[Ace]

Re: How to adjust bridge pickup height - humbucker?

If the pickup was just resting there on the bolts, it would slide around plenty, and vibrate with the guitar. Since the springs push the pickup away from the ring, in order to feel "springyness" you would have to pull on the pickup.

[Ace]

Re: How to adjust bridge pickup height - humbucker?

Let me better explain. OK, first of all if there were no springs under your humbucker, you would know it. The reason you are not feeling "springyness" is in the way that the pickups are mounted. Your single coil pickups are mounted directly to the body of your guitar, and springs push between the body of the guitar and the ears of the pickup, giving them their height from the bottom of the cavity.

Your humbuckers on the other hand are mounted on that pickup ring, or bezel, which is in turn mounted to the guitar using the four corner screws. The spring sets the distance between the ears of the humbucker and the bezel, giving it depth in the cavity.

Having pickups too close to your strings, while producing a louder signal, also decrease sustain by pulling on the strings magnetically, making them want to stop vibrating and find equilibrium between their tension and the magnetic pull of the pickup. Gravity is a factor too, so if you adjust pickup height with the guitar face up, the measurements will change when you hold the guitar in playing position.

[YetAnotherOne]

Re: How to adjust bridge pickup height - humbucker?

Originally posted by Ace:
Gravity is a factor too, so if you adjust pickup height with the guitar face up, the measurements will change when you hold the guitar in playing position.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'd never thought about that though it makes perfect sense. Any idea how far a medium-guage set would move as the guitar was moved from a face-up position to playing position?

[Ace]

Re: How to adjust bridge pickup height - humbucker?

I don't know in distance, but the pitch changes a few cents.

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: How to adjust bridge pickup height - humbucker?

I understood everything Ace explained (nice to see you back and sharing the wisdom, bro!! [img]graemlins/toast.gif[/img] ), even the stuff I didn't specifically ask. Thanks! [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img] I never realized that you should ALWAYS tune and set up (whenever possible) your guitars in playing position until fairly recently. From the time I started learning guitar, I've always done it anyways... it seemed easier than putting the guitar lying down on a bench.

Your pitch also changes a bit when you jump up and down as you're playing, but who am I, Blink 182? [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]