Pickup balancing

probably not. getting level boost from the bridge pup can be useful for kicking up your presence for soloing. and if it's really a great annoyance to you, just lower the bridge pup a bit. that's that'll take down the output, and often even sounds better. as this is a Strat, do not bring up the other pups v close to the strings to try to boost their levels. that causes Stratitis. (taste, opinions, YMMV caveats apply :wink: )

lower the bridge pup a bit. that'll take down the output, and often even sounds better. as this is a Strat, do not bring up the other pups v close to the strings to try to boost their levels. that causes Stratitis. (taste, opinions, YMMV caveats apply :wink: )

I was always of the school of thought that the pups on a Strat should be as close to the strings as they can get, without causing problems in order to get the best sound out of them....
Then I got into a discussion with Ric about pup height and decided to investigate:

I found that pups generally have a HIGHEST possible position and a LOWEST possible position.... on my White Strat, this was a difference of no more than 1/8 inch if that.

At the highest position the sound is more compressed and clipped.... While the lowest position resulted in a nice airy/open sound.

IMO the Neck and Mid pups on a Strat sound best at the lower pos, and the Bridge pup should be set at the highest.

Finding these positions is the hard part :twisted:
Well worth the hassle IMO.

Ken

lower the bridge pup a bit. that'll take down the output, and often even sounds better. as this is a Strat, do not bring up the other pups v close to the strings to try to boost their levels. that causes Stratitis. (taste, opinions, YMMV caveats apply :wink: )
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IMO the Neck and Mid pups on a Strat sound best at the lower pos, and the Bridge pup should be set at the highest.

Finding these positions is the hard part :twisted:
Well worth the hassle IMO.

Ken

okay - we agree. but have you never heard of Stratitus, Ken? Strat pups have such strong magnetic flux density near the pole pieces that if too close to the strings, can create drag and even what I will call "soft nodes" on the string. this can create wolf tones, messed up harmonics and even detuning. it's not much of a problem for the bridge pup.

most humbuckers, Tele neck pups and P90s have weaker, more diffuse mag fields -- less of a problem.

Oh I agree totally with that Greg :)

The pups have a 'Highest' setting - cant be too close to the strings on the Neck/Mid or HORRIBLE things will happen for sure!
Even when I thought I had mine set right, they were still too close once, and as I moved higher up the fretboard, I would actually get cut out - It wasnt too loud, it was almost 'soft' in sound, but it was apparently too much to handle and would result in NO SOUND at times - LOL!

And the 'drag' you are refering to.... would that be the loss of sustain due to magnetic pull?
Some may think that closer = louder = more sustain.... actually on a Strat, the lower settings yield more sustain.
Go too low though and you've got nothing!
Like I said - The difference between my High/Low settings were about an 1/8 inch: Big difference in tone and playability though.

With AlNiCo V magnets, the strings are way too unstable in the neck/mid pos....
The strings are very sturdy by the bridge tho, so pup height is less of a string pull type factor....
They can still be too close though.

Great care and attention has to be taken to find that 'Highest' setting (%

Ken

yep -- the drag does kill sustain.

Its effect on sustain isn't as big as its effect on the harmonic nodes mentioned above, though. It'll sound bad if you get too close. Also, you get a lot of added even harmonics anytime you get close enough to the poles that the magnetic field varies substantially over the strings' range of vibration. That may or may not be a good thing, depending on what you want. You will get the best clean sound with the pickup far away from the strings.

You will get the best clean sound with the pickup far away from the strings.

Well, I like a pretty clean sound usually with my Strat....
And dropping the neck/mid pups has made the cleaner tone much more appealing to me.
Like I said; more open and airy....
Almost - More 'acoustic' sounding; if that's a posibility with a solid body electric :wink:

It also did wonders for the slightly overdriven tone I like out of my 71 Strat - I almost play exclusively with
the mid pup on the 71 now.... amazing tone with the pup in the 'lower' position.

I wouldn't go so far as to say 'FAR AWAY' from the strings though.
On my 88 strat (with the 5 position pup selector switch), I always compromised with the mid pup for the sake of
the extra two positions (which use the mid pup in conjunction with either the bridge or neck pup)....
To get the extra two positions to sound 'balanced', I had to drop the mid pup really low.
This resulted in the mid pup as a 'stand alone' pick-up to be rendered pretty much useless.

After my 'Ric induced experimentations', and subsequent lowering of the pups; and my 'falling in love' with my 71's mid pup;
I decided to go with a mid pup only set up on my 88 as well :D
(Oh - and thankx Ric, for driving me to do that 8) )

Here's some pics of my pups just to give a visual to it all:

As you can see, the bridge pup is 'much' higher than the mid/neck pups.
Can't be about 1/16 of an inch, but makes a huge difference in tone.
And to 'balance' the pups out to the guitar, I angle my pups - almost dropped as low as they'll go under the low E string side,
angled up higher towards the high 'e' side.

Here's a pic of my pup heights 'pre-Ric' talk.
I favored the neck pup in playing, and it was set almost as high as the bridge pup.
You can see that the mid pup is dropped, and pretty much flat - no good on it's own, but that's what it took
to balance out the #2 & #4 positions.

Ken