Stratocaster obtaining the correct pickup height

JJMan

How to do this without measuring? Can it be done if blind?

WezV

Your ears are always the best judge of what is right.   

I'm not sure how to advise on a good starting point for you though, not without quoting standard set up measurements

LastMantra

I do it by ear.

maw4neu

If you were blind or partially sighted, I guess you could try to gauge how far down you press the string before it hits the pickup . . ?? . . or by possibly by sliding a gauge of the correct height under the string, like a Feeler Gauge when you set the Spark Plug Gap or Points Timing Gap on an older Motor Bike or Car  . . .  

Funkfingers

Trial and error. Always.

Cirrus

There is a foolproof method

ICBM

Yes, it can be done if you're blind. I would start with them like this:

Adjust the neck pickup so the top of the cover is level with the tops of the height adjustment screws (if they're domed) or about 1mm (the thickness of a fairly thick pick) above the pickguard if they're not.

Adjust the middle pickup so it's just slightly higher that that.

Adjust the bridge pickup so it's about twice the height of the neck. Check that you can still get a medium thickness pick between the polepieces and the strings when they're fretted at the body end of the neck.

Then, using a full, clean sound, and as many varieties of your playing style as you can, adjust the middle and bridge pickups so they are the same apparent volume as the neck. You may need to tilt the neck and middle pickups slightly so they're higher on the treble side than the bass, otherwise they can be a bit boomy at the low-end. The bridge pickup usually needs to be level or slightly the other way round.

Finally, try the same thing with an overdriven sound. You may find it needs minor tweaks, but probably not much.

steamabacus

JJMan said:

How to do this without measuring? Can it be done if blind?

Absolutely it can be done without visual measurement - indeed, I think everyone should use their ears rather than some arbitrary measurement.

The absolute maximum height will be where the string touches the pickup polepiece when fretted at the last fret - but even before this point, the effect of the magnetic pull from the polepiece will inhibit the vibration of the string if set too close. This can create a kind of 'stationary node' in the string vibration leading to out-of-tune overtones - what are often referred to as 'wolf notes'.

For this reason you should start with the pickups set low and gradually raise the height until you find your personal 'sweet spot' where it sounds - and responds - good to you. Start with the pickup covers just proud of the scratchplate with the treble side just a bit higher than the bass side, maybe 1mm or so.

From that point you can slowly raise the pickup by turning both height adjustment screws a quarter turn at a time. As you find the sweet spot, even an eighth of a turn at a time may produce noticeable change in the sound and feel or response. Go too far and you will begin to hear the wolf tones - it will sound like your intonation is out.

I generally set the height of the neck and bridge pickups first (the bridge normally set higher than the neck) and get a good balance between the two. I then adjust the middle pickup to a height that gives a good sound in the 'in-between' positions 2 and 4 as I use those positions more than the middle on its own. Very small tweaks in the height of the middle pickup can often have quite a large effect on the mixed pickup tones.

Finally, you can tweak the relative height of the bass and treble sides to taste depending on playing style.

I will often use my sense of touch to roughly set the height of a pickup once I have one set to height. If you lightly touch or hold the outside of the top and bottom e-strings you will be able to feel the top of the pickup covers with your finger tips - slide your fingers lightly over to the second pickup and you will be able to feel if it's closer or further away from the first.

Hope that's of some help.

For what it's worth, I like my strat pickups set quite low.

JJMan

Perfect! Many thanks :-)

Lebarque

My policy with strats is to set the pickup heights as far away from the strings as I can bear. Certainly far enough way to get rid of wolf notes on the lower E string at the 12th fret. Then go down and up, a quarter of a turn at a time, until it sounds best. High E side a little higher than lower E.

mrkb

Cirrus said:

There is no foolproof method

FTFY - Because there is no “correct” pick-up height.

rze99

I do it by ear, sight and especially checking for any magnet pull which some pickups have a lot of. Even a touch of pull will cause problems. 

maltingsaudio

Echoing what everyone has said, if you don’t try and set by using your ears, you will never fully understand  the effect pickup height can have on tone . Words on a page don’t really translate in this instance to real life

Cirrus

mrkb said:

Cirrus said:

There is no foolproof method

FTFY - Because there is no “correct” pick-up height.

Since you have no idea what my method is, you've made a small minded assumption to arrive at that reply.

Flip

Is this what the forum is for, guys?

As someone who made his living writing, may I offer this:

1 FWIW the original statement said there was no foolproof method but that's actually an opinion.

 2 The second opinion (that there's no correct height) seems generally accepted both here and elsewhere. What makes it small-minded is a puzzle.