Pickup Height? (get low output ie john mayer)

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

heh, for guitar purpose and my way of understanding in simple term, some use it to increase that pathetic bit of sustain(cos boss/roland named theirs so! roland had a sustainer pedal back in 70s and boss did it with their compression sustanier pedal) at the expense of taking away playing dynamics.

Some uses it to add wee bit of brilliance/presence/warmth and even out the difference between loudest note at loudest and softest note at softest.

Or some just like compressed/squashed sound or need it for certain purpose, eg chicken picking in fast country stuff etc Those really sibey rocksss! Clean fast tasteful shred and bouncy

one of the more well known compressed clean tone in rock music is the intro from under the bridge from RHCP.

 

[Whitestrat]

heh, for guitar purpose and my way of understanding in simple term, some use it to increase that pathetic bit of sustain(cos boss/roland named theirs so! roland had a sustainer pedal back in 70s and boss did it with their compression sustanier pedal) at the expense of taking away playing dynamics.

Some uses it to add wee bit of brilliance/presence/warmth and even out the difference between loudest note at loudest and softest note at softest.

Or some just like compressed/squashed sound or need it for certain purpose, eg chicken picking in fast country stuff etc Those really sibey rocksss! Clean fast tasteful shred and bouncy

one of the more well known compressed clean tone in rock music is the intro from under the bridge from RHCP.

hmm... but wouldn't it be easier to use a boost pedal to add meat to the tone instead? I've really never found compressors to be useful or necessary.

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

compressor doesnt always add meat to the sound thou, depending on how the maker design the circuit, the additional of the presense, fatness is not a constant. The ultimate aim be on the compression side, how it fare, whether it can compress without changing much of the inherent sound or able to balance the playing dynamics without squashing the inherent sound

heh, to me, its kinda like eq pedal, its useful and having its purpose, but not everyone will need it and put it on pedalboard

 

[ngjingming]

hmm whitestrat sure knows his stuff! two thumbs up for explaining!

oh yeah this year learn physics the electromagnetism. can use the hand rule coz gow cutting of magnetic flux linking the coil of the pickup!

so increasing the magnet strength, ie a "hot" pickup, will get u more output? is me deduction correct?

 

[Zepp3lin]

I can recommend you another option here, If your humbucker spot a 4 wire conductor than do a switch mod by using a push pull volume or tone pot or wired it with ur 5 selector switch without risking a hole to ur guitar body.

Mod it for a single coil switching or parallel, where u can definitely get a lower output from your hum, and it makes ur sound more versatile.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

Compressors: http://soft.com.sg/forum/showthread.php?t=29500&page=3

Pickup height: If you really want to know what all these talk is about, don't understand it by the way people describe on paper... Just try the damn extremes... Adjusts your pickups as close as possible to ur strings and play and see what it sounds like then do the opposite, and adjust it until its quite far away (make sure it doesn't pop out of the screw) and listen. There will definately be a very large contrast to the tone AND the sustain of your notes.

You will most probably dislike both of these tones, so now you can go on and adjust the height till you are happy. Not too close yet not too far. As to pickup height difference on the treble strings and bass strings, you can try the same also... make the height at the bass high and treble very low and vice versa to compare.

 

[Whitestrat]

hmm whitestrat sure knows his stuff! two thumbs up for explaining!

oh yeah this year learn physics the electromagnetism. can use the hand rule coz gow cutting of magnetic flux linking the coil of the pickup!

so increasing the magnet strength, ie a "hot" pickup, will get u more output? is me deduction correct?

Not really. Look at the Evolution set for Steve Vai. Those are low pull magnets. High pull kills sustain. It's more about the winds than the magnets. Polarity also matters, but try telling that to Jimi Hendrix.

 

[almondx]

The emf generated by the coils of a humbucker is not constant. The magnetic flux is denser closer to the pickups than further. A current will be induced when the magnetic flux linkage is cut, given by X = nbacos theta where b is the magnetic flux density. The magnetic flux density is the number of flux lines, or lines of magnetic force, per unit area. Since the lines are denser closer to the pickup, at a constant rate of cutting the magnetic flux linkage a higher current is expected to be induced and hence a larger output. Increase the height between the pickups and the strings and a lower current is generated hence a lower output since the same region now contains fewer lines of magnetic force ie. the area which the strings lie on top of now contains has a weaker magnetic flux density.

Therefore, by lowering the height of the pickups, output (current) is lowered.

 

[edder]

i just have to add this and its gonna make me unpopular but i just have to....

whats up with this monkey see monkey do? john mayer lower pickup height so you must do it lah? if john mayer likes to eat Post's Banana Nut Crunch so you must do so too lah? sighs..... practise and practise somemore to know the nuances and the little things on the guitar before trying to emulate your favourite artiste.

different pickups have different sweet spots.

For example, you take a regular single coil pickup. Put it very near the strings and the magnetic pull will choke the string's vibration. In guitar speak, we call it "wolftone". There's a pickup manufacturer that named his company after that. One of the earlier boutique pickup makers.

And then lets say, you get a set of Bill Lawrence L280 or L290 humcancelling single coil pickups. You gotta adjust them pretty damn near the strings to get to the sweetspot. No wolftones or anything.

So its a case to case basis issue.

I'd normally adjust the bridge pickup to the optimum height and output and then balance the rest of the pickups to it. But sometimes, the neck pickup can be quite weak, so I'll adjust the neck pickup to get the loudest and nicest tone before adjusting the bridge to balance it up. This is esp if you're using say a high output humbucker on the bridge and relatively weak single coils on your neck.

Its all about balance not about what John Mayer ate for supper last night. :mrgreen:

 

[deathism]

edder's popularity -100..


:mrgreen:

 

[ngjingming]

hmm does john mayer lower his pickups? i tot they are already low output. just trying to get lower output from my pups, not trying to follow him. -.-

 

[edder]

" Pickup Height? (get low output ie john mayer)"

well that title triggered my respond. ignore edder.

 

[Whitestrat]

For example, you take a regular single coil pickup. Put it very near the strings and the magnetic pull will choke the string's vibration. In guitar speak, we call it "wolftone". There's a pickup manufacturer that named his company after that. One of the earlier boutique pickup makers.

And then lets say, you get a set of Bill Lawrence L280 or L290 humcancelling single coil pickups. You gotta adjust them pretty damn near the strings to get to the sweetspot. No wolftones or anything.

So its a case to case basis issue.

I'd normally adjust the bridge pickup to the optimum height and output and then balance the rest of the pickups to it. But sometimes, the neck pickup can be quite weak, so I'll adjust the neck pickup to get the loudest and nicest tone before adjusting the bridge to balance it up. This is esp if you're using say a high output humbucker on the bridge and relatively weak single coils on your neck.

dude... you talking about sweetspots and stratis-tis lah... But do you find that neck pups tend to be more tolerant of proximity before farting? I always seem to get a nice tone on the neck, and adjust the bridge to match the volume, then I find that the bridge always farts when the neck doesn't. Then I end up having to lower both down... whahaha...

Didn't know L500 got to be so close. Won't kill sustain meh?

 

[Whitestrat]

hmm does john mayer lower his pickups? i tot they are already low output. just trying to get lower output from my pups, not trying to follow him. -.-

John Mayer doesn't do ANYTHING to his guitar... The guitar is set up by his tech... whahaha... (sorry... couldn't resist).

No. Seriously. Look again at what Edder mentioned. John Mayer's pups would have been set up to the sweetspot according to his ears. Lowered or not, it doesn't matter. your best bet would be to buy a set of this Fender Big Dipper pups to get close to his sound. You can't get it with a set of DiMarzio Cruisers... But don't forget that's not the only component hor...

 

[edder]

Didn't know L500 got to be so close. Won't kill sustain meh?

uhm... i didn't mention L500.... but in general, most Bill Lawrence pickups have lower magnetic pull.

 

[ngjingming]

they dont sell big dipper pups alone! ARGH.
fender has other pretty sweet pups like the CS range...

and edder, no hard feelings! =)

 

[Whitestrat]

they dont sell big dipper pups alone! ARGH.

Check EBay... You'll be surprised...:twisted:

 

[Whitestrat]

uhm... i didn't mention L500.... but in general, most Bill Lawrence pickups have lower magnetic pull.

Eh??? Paiseh... I thought you did mention the L500... whahaha...

Low pull? Hmm... Might be interesting... But I can't stand blades... Dunno why. Always preferred to see 6 bobbins on one pup.

 

[fgl]

matter of personal preferance.

My personal set up: treble side of pup slightly higher than the bass side and overall height from front to bridge pick up in ascending order. As high or as low as you feel comfortable with. Set them while in your normal "gig" setting with effect and normal volume.