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How high/ low are your humbuckers?

Mine are:

• Low E - 8/64
  High E - 7/64

Where are you taking these measurements? From top of the pole pieces to the bottom of the strings?

What I generally do for all pickups is hold the strings down at the very last fret and then measure from the top of the pickup to the bottom of the strings. I usually set them at 2/16'' at the bridge and 3/16'' at the neck as a starting point, and adjust from there just using my ears to make sure they're balanced.

A lot of this just comes down to personal preference, though. I wouldn't get hung up on "correct" pickup height, it's not really a thing. The only thing you should watch out for is having them too close - it can cause intonation issues and some farty distortion sounds.

Some people like to set them as close as possible and then slowly lower them while playing until any negative effects disappear. This essentially gets you the closest "acceptable" position. But I don't like to do it this way.

I have mine a good half-inch or so away from the strings on my humbucker guitars.

That said, I do generally go for the more modern metal kinda pickups, because I like the response, but I drop them pretty low to get a little more air and headroom (for playing dynamics I find something medium-ish output better) instead of punching the preamp in the face.

HarlowTheFish wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 18, 2021 8:48 am

I have mine a good half-inch or so away from the strings on my humbucker guitars.

Good joke

2/16 = 8/64 so we’re doing the same on height, but half inch is a joke

ChrisDesign wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 18, 2021 11:01 am

HarlowTheFish wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 18, 2021 8:48 am

I have mine a good half-inch or so away from the strings on my humbucker guitars.

Good joke

2/16 = 8/64 so we’re doing the same on height, but half inch is a joke

No, for real -- the humbucker guitar that's currently in rotation is my Kiesel CL6, with their Lithium pickups -- very hot, very pokey, and IMO they sound way better backed down as far as they'll go, which is about a half inch. Can't back it up any more without poking holes through the back as they're direct-mounted, but I'd probably go down a little further still.

My other humbucker axe in working order is my Ormsby HypeGTR 6, with their own pickups, which are also very hot and pokey, but that's in Drop D an octave down as a faux-Bass VI kinda thing. Those are higher because I'm too lazy to go in and swap out the existing foam for something lower, but they'd be at the same 1/2" if I could get them that low.

Oh, half an inch or so. So 128/256ths or just a bit over 0.491"?

andy_tchp wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 19, 2021 1:13 am

Oh, half an inch or so. So 128/256ths or just a bit over 0.491"?

I mean, if you wanna be like that, it's 0.43", that's as accurate as my measuring tools can get me.

Is that 1/2 inch with the strings depressed at the last fret, or just as they ride untouched?

ChrisDesign wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 19, 2021 9:03 am

Is that 1/2 inch with the strings depressed at the last fret, or just as they ride untouched?

untouched, but my action on that guitar is maybe 1.5mm flat across the entire fretboard, so there's not a huge difference even when pressing down at the 24th.

edit: again, that's because these are super hot pickups, so even at that height they're still way hotter than anything except the Ormsby (which has a similar output, but I can't lower the pickups as much.

I've got a Dimebucker set up at 3/32" from the open E strings, but I like to keep my Alternative8 at 7/64". They're both pretty high output, but the Alternative8 sounds really dark in the neck position.

Thanks everyone. This is what I’ve learnt

I prefer the tone of lower humbuckers: 8/64

Lower humbucker mean coil tapped pickups sound less good, so not a fan of that tone

Lower humbuckers have a clarity that I like so much I no longer want or need to coil tap (when I preferred the coil tapped tone when at 4/64 height)

Tone is subjective, everyone is right in their own way.

So - I like e the vintagey lower output humbuckers generally sooo this is what "I" do...

I slightly radius the pole pieces to match fretboard radius.
2 nickels on the base side (pole piece to bottom of string depressed at last fret) and 1 nickle on the treble for the bridge pickup. Adjust down until i get a bridge sound i like and then adjust neck pickup to match "volume" or "output".... I actually use a couple of different amps to do this and hit the average.

My recent experience with some higher gain HB's (EMG Retro's which are still pretty hot) had me dialing them way down to get the output volume that I wanted. Pretty much level with the body...

but basically - i start with thee Gibson guidelines and then adjust to what I want to hear...