pickup height

[olfunk]

hey
i have an epiphone les paul and for a while now ive noticed my rhythm pickup is so much louder and more powerful than my treble. anyway, after months of putting up with this (it was kinda cool in a way cos with light distortion the rhythm pickup was like a fuzz box) i thought 'ooooh pickup height could be to do with it'. i experimented and it made all the difference. my neck pickup is now as far down as it could be and it sounds like...erm....think 'the wind cries mary' by hendrix. the bridge pickup i've moved nearer the strings, and it chimes sweetly. anyway i don't know what the point of this post was, just thought id share something with you.
thanks

 

[ggunn]

hey
i have an epiphone les paul and for a while now ive noticed my rhythm pickup is so much louder and more powerful than my treble. anyway, after months of putting up with this (it was kinda cool in a way cos with light distortion the rhythm pickup was like a fuzz box) i thought 'ooooh pickup height could be to do with it'. i experimented and it made all the difference. my neck pickup is now as far down as it could be and it sounds like...erm....think 'the wind cries mary' by hendrix. the bridge pickup i've moved nearer the strings, and it chimes sweetly. anyway i don't know what the point of this post was, just thought id share something with you.
thanks

You can get the pickups too close, though. If you start hearing a little warble when you play up high on your small strings, then the pickup is so close that the magnetic field from the pole magnet(s) is pulling on the strings enough to screw with their freedom of motion, and you'll have to put it/them down a bit.

 

[IronFlippy]

You can get the pickups too close, though. If you start hearing a little warble when you play up high on your small strings, then the pickup is so close that the magnetic field from the pole magnet(s) is pulling on the strings enough to screw with their freedom of motion, and you'll have to put it/them down a bit.

AH! Magnetic field! Bad memories of Physics class!

If the pickup is too high, like ggunn said, then it will screw with the strings (all of them, but it's most noticable on the higher strings). The pickup's magnet creates a ring (magnetic flux) that goes around the string and if the string comes near the edge of the ring, then the flux will get screwed up, in turn, changing your tone (usually in a bad way). Although I'm no Physics major or Electric Engineer, I have taken 2 semesters of college level physics and oddly enough, it came into use I really hope I got this right, the little information I have leads me to believe that this is true.

 

[AlfredB]

getting them up too high will also kill your sustain ... unless you go "active" e.g. EMG ... there the rule is the closest to the strings!!!

cheers
alfred