Peter Green's VERY VERY Important Pickup Height [Dave Simpson - YouTube]

duotone

Time stamp
4:35 High wall pick up rings/ pickup height
8:27 sink EAD side of bass pickup to below pickup ring (u can see under ring) (half’s the output in EAD brought output up on GBE) 9:35 picture of Greeny
12:15 examples of helps play dynamic
16:55 out of phase aswell
20:40 greens jtm45 settings in blues breakers picture
21:07 word of warning

https://youtu.be/Qwrv7UCLSUg?feature=shared

Kittyfrisk

Great stuff, I do love Dave's enthusiasm & skill.
He maybe needs to see an optician though, to me those Marshall settings are not all at 10 

OilCityPickups

Pickup heights are massively important in getting 'your sound' and I always love Dave's videos. I love Peter Green too - saw him live with The Splinter Group back in the early 2000s - sadly he was a husk of his former self with all his guitar parts being played for him. His voice and harmonica skills were still there though.  

Headphones

Quite a revelatory thought that!  I'd always kept the pup level and tried tweaking the poles, never really achieving the results I wanted.

In my case, the issue has always been that the treble strings are quieter than the bass.  Raising the screwed pole pieces has a small impact only.  I've then tended to play partial chords on low or high strings as a consequence, which works well in most circumstances.

Tilting the pup - as Dave suggests - sets a cross string balance and full chords sound good for the first time!

I'll bet that this is why Peter did it.

Dave's rather extreme version supports his "dynamics" theory, but I suggest is a consequence from the above.  Indeed, I find that the tilting for a balanced chord sound leads to more even single string response, whereas I (at least) was used to something different and played accordingly.

If only it didn't look wrong!

It occurs to me that there's more metal in the lower strings, presumably giving more signal, so backing away for balance seems logical.

hotpickups

I used to be sooo into chasing the Peter green sound too. Just ended up jumping at conclusions (or shadows) - see what I did there lol. 

Thank god I let it all go and now just concentrate on my own sound  You can copy my sound if you like though lol 

SlopeSoarer

I've just watched Dave Simpson's video (always a decent watch) but it reminded of me watching Jim Kirkpatrick of FM and his acoustic version of Oh Well! Just an excuse to show his talent and absolutely nothing to do with pickup height (sorry).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOU12RdHN3M

NelsonP

OilCityPickups said:

Pickup heights are massively important in getting 'your sound' and I always love Dave's videos. I love Peter Green too - saw him live with The Splinter Group back in the early 2000s - sadly he was a husk of his former self with all his guitar parts being played for him. His voice and harmonica skills were still there though.  

Would you recommend having the bass side of the pickups further from the strings? You never see it, but it makes some sense given the physics (I think the larger gauge strings would generate greater emf in the same field, right?).

Maybe this compensation is already integrated into the pickup design somehow? Maybe it doesn't need to be because the bass strings should be 'louder' anyway?

Things you take for granted, part 1!

Humboldt

OilCityPickups said:I love Peter Green too - saw him live with The Splinter Group back in the early 2000s - sadly he was a husk of his former self with all his guitar parts being played for him. His voice and harmonica skills were still there though.  

I saw him in Glasgow (probably late 1996) and he made a point of telling the small crowd that he had no intention of playing any of the old stuff but, after much disharmony amongst the punters, he relented and let fly. One of those nights...

OilCityPickups

NelsonP said:

OilCityPickups said:

Pickup heights are massively important in getting 'your sound' and I always love Dave's videos. I love Peter Green too - saw him live with The Splinter Group back in the early 2000s - sadly he was a husk of his former self with all his guitar parts being played for him. His voice and harmonica skills were still there though.  

Would you recommend having the bass side of the pickups further from the strings? You never see it, but it makes some sense given the physics (I think the larger gauge strings would generate greater emf in the same field, right?).

Maybe this compensation is already integrated into the pickup design somehow? Maybe it doesn't need to be because the bass strings should be 'louder' anyway?

Things you take for granted, part 1!

I'll put this in three different ways.

Way one:
When we design a pickup (at least these days) we adjust the magnet grade and the wind level to produce a certain characteristic sound ... we (or at least I) do that with a level pickup and usually three or four mm between the poles and the strings played at the top of the fretboard. I can't imagine Seth Lover or Ray Butts, the fathers of humbucking design canting their pickups over like a ski slope - or winding them in to the guitar to the point of disappearance without thinking 'hummm I think I may have gotten the design wrong here.' 

Way two:
As I said, I love Dave's videos, he's a very likable chap and they are great entertainment. YouTube thrives on novelty and controversy, the more of both you put into your videos the more likes, comments and subscribers. 

Way three: whatever sounds good to you - is good. Full stop.
If you want to unsolder your pickups every night, put them in in an old football sock and sing to them ... and you think that improves your tone ... fill your boots! :-)