Pickup Height sweet-spots?

[RagedHysteria]

Hey what are the sweet-spots for a guitar with two Humbucker pickups, I'm currently in the process of trying to make guitar sound more awesome without spending a lot of money. eg new strings/gauges, action height, electrics cleaned/sorted and pick-up height. I would very much appreciate it you would reply maybe just measure how high your pickups come above/below the body of your guitar(s) (Metric system is always the best system)

[sampudd]

There is no such thing as a "sweet spot"...

Higher = more "gain"

Lower = less "gain"

use YOUR OWN EARS and set it how YOU LIKE.

[RagedHysteria]

The system of trial and error can be a long process, especially if you don't really know what your looking for until you find it. It just makes it easier for me to know what other guitar players have.

[haze015]

There's no specific "sweet spot", it's purely up to you.

If you want more bass, raise the pickup by the thicker strings/lower by the thinner ones and vice versa for more treble. How high overall raises/lowers gain.

It's not a massive difference, regardless of what some very lonely men on the internet have said.

[james90]

uh

i don't know what guitar you have or what pickups you have.

but

to give you an answer

1/16" bridge
3/32" neck

is the default for gibson guitars

[Don'tPostThePear]

i am talking from experience, the lower the neck and mid pickups on your SSS guitars, the better the intonation.

edit: disregard this, you are talking bout buckers

but this maybe applies to the neck bucker too, but i heard somewhere that humbuckers' magnetic pull is weaker than singles so they don't fuck with the string that much.

[james90]

Originally Posted by Don'tPostThePear

i am talking from experience, the lower the neck and mid pickups on your SSS guitars, the better the intonation.

fuckin magnets, how do they work?


actually, ignore the last post of mine...

use your ears to adjust where it sounds best. there won't be much of a difference in sound unless it's REALLY close to the strings or REALLY far away. there's no sweet spot.

it'll also depend on the pickup itself (output, etc)

i could go on

but..

[haze015]

Originally Posted by Don'tPostThePear

i am talking from experience, the lower the neck and mid pickups on your SSS guitars, the better the intonation.

edit: disregard this, you are talking bout buckers

but this maybe applies to the neck bucker too, but i heard somewhere that humbuckers' magnetic pull is weaker than singles so they don't fuck with the string that much.

You need to get the pickups really close to start doing that!

[sampudd]

Generally speaking I'd say to have the neck pickup quite a bit lower than the bridge pickup because neck pups tend to sound much much nicer clean, and having it lower means you can crank the clean gain up slightly more without it actually clipping and distorting.

Anyway, the system of Trial and error isnt THAT lengthy with regards to pickup height, and besides, If you don't even know what you are looking for.. why not just leave them where they are?

[RagedHysteria]

Thanks for all your help guys your advice and experience is invaluable to me.
I haven't really been happy with the way my guitar is sounding and I didn't want to spend a whole lot buying new parts.

I guess I'm just searching for that New sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCopQAVxeU0