Pickup Height Question(Plz Help)

[viva_360]

Hi people, i just wanted to ask if the pickup height affects the sound alot for an Active pickup? As i have the Zakk Wlyde EMG set in my Jackson. Before i had the Bass and Treble string have almost the same hieght accept the bass string are offcourse 2 or 3 mm lower then the Treble strings.

But after i went into the Lace Pickup website forum http://www.agi-lace.com/forum/display.asp?mid=3088

I read something abt adjusting the pickup height and i tried it out putting 2 coins on the bass side of the pickup and 1 coin of the treble side of the pickup. After i had this great Shredding setting. I was just great really.

But i found out that i can't really do my pinch harmonics really well again. The squealing sound is dead.

Can some one please help give me some measurements of there pickups who use EMG's

Thanks!

 

[-Gavin-]

I have my pickups flat, as close to the strings as possible.

what i do
is raise them really high, and pull the floyd up, and then lower it till the strings aren't hitting the pickup.

That means you can have your pickups really high and have no chance of the notes on the high frets / screams hitting the pickup.


this increases output.

 

[Indiooo]

Yeah, but don't try that with passives if you like to play in tune. EMGs have a small magnet and reduced string pull compared to passive pickups, so they can get closer to the strings without causing a Doppler effect. The difference is really noticeable with single coils.

 

[viva_360]

HI NeedledWarheart sorry i didn't get what you mean by "pull the floyd up"

 

[-Gavin-]

If you have a floyd rose, pull the bar upwards so you strings are really low on the neck (i.e, they are pulled clsoer to the neck. Then raise your pickups according to how much space you have left when the strings are as "close to the pickups" as they can get

 

[7 Dying Trees]

Basically adjust up and down untill you get a sound you want, but not too far up as it'll cause a lot of string pull and lose you sustain etc. Let your ear be your guide.

 

[viva_360]

Cheers people I did what you guys said and now the JAckson is fully charged with molten Leads and Heavy Chords. Now i know why all people use EMG's

Hey NeedledWarheart do you have any sound clips of your Guitars fitted with EMG 85 in the bridge section? I am pretty interested in the sound of that. I have my EMG 85 at the neck and is only used for cleans to muddy for distortion.

Do all metal bands only use the Bridge pickup for distortion chord and lead playing?

Thanks!

 

[Hexer]

I think most metal-guitarrists use their bridge-PUs but I've also seen some guys switch to neck-PU for soloing
maybe some play rythm using the neck-PUs, too. personally I prefer the bridge-PU for anything except clean (depends on what kind of clean-sound I want)

 

[Indiooo]

I don't know any player that does high gain riffing on the neck pickup, but apart from that, it is used all the time for low gain overdriven chording, clean and obviously soloing.

I can't imagine a player that actually cares about his tone that doesn't use the neck pickup (even EVH learned that, altough he sounds like shit now that he does play guitars with neck buckers).