Balancing pickup heights

jaymenon · September 2023

Electric guitar playing still being kind of new for me,

I have noticed that:

- On a twin humbucker guitar

- If you balance neck & bridge pickup heights to get a meaningfully different sound in the middle position

- When you use overdrive, the neck pickup has much less gain than the bridge pickup

Solution ???

If I raise the neck pickup height I can get similar levels of overdrive in both pickups - but then the middle position just sounds like the neck pickup

ICBM · September 2023

For me, that isn't a problem to be solved, it's the ideal combination of sounds

- cleaner and clearer on the neck, more gain and midrange on the bridge, nice balance in the middle. That way I can use the pickup selector almost like an overdrive switch with the amp on the same settings. That's why I like much hotter than PAF-type bridge humbuckers, otherwise they're too weak and bright to get the bridge louder and middier than the neck, and the right balance in the middle.

GoFish · September 2023

Seconded. I think it's actually quite rare to get a neck with much lower perceived output than the bridge. They're usually too loud for me! I usually want the bridge to be a tad louder, more middy, and a touch brighter. It's much easier to get there with a 4 control guitar, but also possible with a simpler setup. 3 distinct sounds is certainly what I aim for, though neck and middle often sound closer to ech other than the bridge.

OilCityPickups · September 2023

Thirded ... if that's a thing :-)

stickyfiddle · September 2023

Sounds like you have mismatched pickups!

this is why a matched set usually has a hotter bridge pickup - so you can get good usable sounds in all positions at all gain levels.

And when done right it doesn’t lead to a louder bridge pickup - that’s because the strings move less distance closer to the bridge than they do over the neck pickup, so generate less voltage if the pickup la were identical

TheBigDipper · September 2023

My Les Paul has always made my life difficult due to the imbalance between neck and bridge p/ups. I finally found a way to get close after asking lots of questions of others and trying a few things out.

My Strandberg has two Suhr p/ups. The one on the bridge is much hotter than the one on the neck. The balance and tonal choice is good. Apart from the fact I can coil tap the neck p/up and the single coil is (naturally) a bit quieter than when it's in humbucker mode. But that's what the volume control or a clean boost is for....

Cirrus · September 2023

I like matched pickups. Like, the same pickup in both positions. It works fine. You just crank the bridge up close to the strings and drop the neck down to balance the volume. That gives me my favourite in-between tones. Two T-tops in my Explorer, both 7.5k. Two Super 58s in my Gretsch, the neck actually reads slightly hotter (7.6 vs 7.4 bridge) but they balance just fine. When I had Filtertrons in the Gretsch, it had 2 neck versions in. Again, they balanced fine. Just adjust the height.

Funkfingers · September 2023

This is the traditional Gibson problem with two PAFs or P90s of (notionally) identical specification.

ICBM said:

I can use the pickup selector almost like an overdrive switch with the amp on the same settings.

This.

Many of my guitar habits were established when my only electric guitar was a Telecaster copy. I like a ripping bridge/Treble pickup and a smoother neck/Rhythm pickup.

Translated to humbuckers, this manifests as an Alnico magnet neck pickup and a ceramic magnet bridge pickup. e.g. PRS Vintage Bass and HFS.

There might be a clue enshrined in the legend printed on every Gibson selector switch "poker chip" surround. RHYTHM/TREBLE.

•

To get a mellow overdriven sound with the output you expect from a hot bridge pickup, select the bridge pickup and roll its tone control off.

Roughly sixty years ago, God created "woman tone". This now being politically incorrect, somebody will have to coin a new moniker for it.

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Balancing pickup heights

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