Gah! How did I miss this?!

[ShredCow]

Today I lowered my middle pickup by... 1.5mm

I suddenly find myself using pickup positions 2, 3 & 4... as in... WANTING to use them!!!

MAN!!!!!

All along I've been stubbornly wanting all my HSS pickups to have as even volume as possible... but then I never noticed I didn't actually WANT to use positions 2, 3 & 4.

I even did the height adjustment earlier this year but decided... NoooOooOOooOO... I want EVEN OUTPUT.

Bah.

Today I decided I had enough with the middle pickup being the closest to the strings of the 3 pups. I couldn't dig in over that area and I couldn't do pinch harmonics properly... imagine the amount of tones I was missing out on?

So I adjusted for the sake of pickability... and somehow my ears opened.

Damn.

It took that long.

 

[Rojak_king]

COngrats man..................Lucky it took you a year or less ................

 

[Ratboy]

ha ha ha

this shows that you should do all adjustments blindfolded
you gotta trust your ears

ouch shit .. poke my fingers with the screwdrivers again !!

 

[subversion]

that's what Steve Vai does every time he picks up an off-the-shelf JEM to play in stores- he made sure the mid single coil is lowered

 

[gsonique]

same goes to the neck too ha ...

 

[snuffleupagus]

seriously you took that long to figure out this?Hhehehh

 

[edder]

shouldn't there be an interwebs folklore on this? there should you know! :mrgreen:

 

[gsonique]

ha ha ...he is using BL's tho ....

 

[Whitestrat]

I suddenly find myself using pickup positions 2, 3 & 4... as in... WANTING to use them!!!

erm... it took THAT long?:mrgreen:

But I'm curious... Why would having all 3 pups of equal volume stop you from using 2, 3 and 4 in the first place?

 

[Danelectrico]

told ya shred. screw even volume.

the in between position tones sound much better with the middle pup lowered. adds to the hollowness and makes it sound air-ier, more breathable. on my strat, when my middle and neck pups were raised they sounded awful.

my next step is to change my suhr S3's SSH+ bridge pup or at least adjust it as best as it can get and get a coil split tap going. it's way too much output than i would normally like.

 

[ShredCow]

But I'm curious... Why would having all 3 pups of equal volume stop you from using 2, 3 and 4 in the first place?

because... when the middle pup is brought higher / louder, then this happens:

Position 2 (bridge & middle)
Less quack, fatter, bolder tone

Position 4 (middle & neck)
More flub/looser tone

And overall, the gain difference is minimal. Of course it sounds like a different position but the gain doesn't change that much... Its like the sound is one that makes you want to smack the strings hard but then you're getting similar amounts of gain/compression that really does not need any smacking. I dunno, it just did not appeal.

Now with the middle lower, I actually have a drop in gain but because i'm on dirt, the volume is maintained... just less gain and less compression. When I hit harder, I can hear the effect more clearly, more pronounced. It makes me want to play because it now better fits my style.

Does this make sense? Its difficult to word it.

 

[ShredCow]

told ya shred. screw even volume.

the in between position tones sound much better with the middle pup lowered. adds to the hollowness and makes it sound air-ier, more breathable. on my strat, when my middle and neck pups were raised they sounded awful.

my next step is to change my suhr S3's SSH+ bridge pup or at least adjust it as best as it can get and get a coil split tap going. it's way too much output than i would normally like.

Aye. I agree that it sounds better... fits the whole vibe of a HSS better too.

Actually, on clean, there is a difference in volume but because the sounds are better suited for strummy stuff (as compared to full on neck/bridge) it still balances out. Pretty interesting.

Edo83 has a very low output Suhr Humbucker for sale. Might be the key.

 

[fuzztremecho]

post a vid lah bro shred..
i'm a visual person..all this postings reminds me of porn writings..in need of some ACTION !!!..redtubey it man...eh..salah..youtubey it..

 

[gsonique]

Edo83 has a very low output Suhr Humbucker for sale. Might be the key.

Oh Noooo...

 

[Whitestrat]

Now with the middle lower, I actually have a drop in gain but because i'm on dirt, the volume is maintained... just less gain and less compression. When I hit harder, I can hear the effect more clearly, more pronounced. It makes me want to play because it now better fits my style.

I get what you're saying. It's more open to dynamics now because one lowered up allows more headroom in picking colume control as opposed to 2 at full value. I don't really have this problem with my Fender CS69 Single Coils (because they're already such low output pups, I think it's hard to saturate them by proximity), but I see this as a potential tweak to some "hotter" singles...

nice one!:mrgreen:

P.S, I'm assuming ONE of your singles (probably the neck one) is already at max proximity to deliver the full bodied single coil tone right?

 

[edder]

redtubey it man...eh..salah..youtubey it..

redtube rorks! :mrgreen:

 

[ShredCow]

I get what you're saying. It's more open to dynamics now because one lowered up allows more headroom in picking colume control as opposed to 2 at full value. I don't really have this problem with my Fender CS69 Single Coils (because they're already such low output pups, I think it's hard to saturate them by proximity), but I see this as a potential tweak to some "hotter" singles...

nice one!:mrgreen:

P.S, I'm assuming ONE of your singles (probably the neck one) is already at max proximity to deliver the full bodied single coil tone right?

No, its not about saturation. Its about ... relative saturation.

When all pups are at similar output - then there is a similar saturation going on. I say "similar" because in a HSS setup, the humbucker will always be fatter/louder.

So even with say your CS69 pickups, you can have them all setup to similar output... so the gain saturation is pretty much the same across all the pickups. But then... when doing positions 2 & 4, you get the jangly stuff which makes you wanna jangle except, its still got a similar saturation going on and it just defeats the sonic vibe that is there. The feel is just not right for the sound I'm hearing. Therefore, lowering the middle pickup decreases the saturation in positions 2 & 4, relative to the neck & bridge pups. The jangle sound is still there but the feel has changed, not as much gain/saturation as before, so thats less compression going on, less volume going on, I actually want to hit the strings hard.

Something like that.

If I explain any more, I might implode.




I'm using Bill Lawrence L200s... if those are not low output, then I dunno what is... my humbucker is on a degaussed Alnico 2 magnet wound to 8.4k. The neck single is .. sounding good. The right fatness and stuff - I think its at a good setup height.

 

[Whitestrat]

So even with say your CS69 pickups, you can have them all setup to similar output... so the gain saturation is pretty much the same across all the pickups. But then... when doing positions 2 & 4, you get the jangly stuff which makes you wanna jangle except, its still got a similar saturation going on and it just defeats the sonic vibe that is there. The feel is just not right for the sound I'm hearing. Therefore, lowering the middle pickup decreases the saturation in positions 2 & 4, relative to the neck & bridge pups. The jangle sound is still there but the feel has changed, not as much gain/saturation as before, so thats less compression going on, less volume going on, I actually want to hit the strings hard.

Something akin to the difference between a Air Norton and a PAF Joe in the neck?:mrgreen:

Ok... I'm going to try lowering my middle pup to see if I can differetn results from what I'm getting now, and whether they're better to like than what I'm getting now...:mrgreen:

 

[ShredCow]

Sorta... you could say that.

More Airy... less oomph... wait... Danelectrico said it up there already what....

 

[penta-tonic]

yeah lowering the mid pickup adds way more quack. did that with my strat cos i started off with 2 humbucker guitars and when i changed to playing strats suddenly there was a pickup in the way of my picking so i always lower them out of the way. and it does make the 2 and 4 more quacky. a nice drop in vol too when needed.