Why Do Humbucker Pickups Have Screws? Should You Adjust Them? Episode 301
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- Опубликовано: 3 июл 2024
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This is a Question we get AAAAALLLL The time.
Humbuckers didn't always have screws. Older pickups actually started the trend. Should you adjust them?
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Actually there are two nice things you can do by adjusting those screws.
1. You can correct the presence (brightness) of the pickup: raise them to add more brightness; lower them to tame some high treble. Of course you might need to compensate by lowering or raising the whole pickup if you get too close or too distant from the strings with the screws, respectively.
2. You can fine-tune the volume of each string to accommodate for fretboard radius/strings gauge. However you DON'T have to simply follow the radius: you have to consider both the radius and the string gauge at the same time. So the low E and G strings will have the lower screws, the D and high E will have the highest screws. Look at DiMarzio's Velvet series of staggered single coils to have a picture of what the final result should look like.
Do you *really* need to do this kind of adjustments? No, you can leave with the stock flat position like I did for 22 years of electric guitar playing. BUT you will be surprised by hearing how these fine adjustments can make a good sounding pickup sound great, and how cool is having your strings sound all at the same level when playing chords, with no string getting buried by the others.
I can totally agree!! ( just read your comment right after posting my oppinion)
Axy Dent-ly: never mind! For other people looking for other infos to start doing this: set a very very clean tone in your amp, pick each string with the same strength back and forth to hear how they don't quite have the same volume, usually; then start by raising the D string screw e lowering the G string one, those are the most ill-regulated ones if set leveled to the others! Repeat the process and work a little with the other screws to reach the perfect volume balance between the strings!
I adjust the string out put.
I agree 100% with all of your points. I've also been doing those methods for at least that long.
shredgd5 Your comment provides excellent in-depth information and I appreciate you taking the time to post it.
I adjust the polescrews a bit on most of my guitars; knowing the radius will help determine ideal setup (most are 9.5”, some are 7.25”), but eventually I will round up to make the head groove flush with the strings. That part is just aesthetic.
The effect is minimal, but it’s there. Of course you’ll want to start by raising/lowering pickup height to affect output.
The Duane Allaman trick from this clip is a neat little tidbit.
Adjusting the height of the pickup can dramatically change the tone and the dynamics of the guitar sound. Adjusting the screws can help to correct the slight volume differences between strings. That's my experience.
I got my first really good guitar-- a Gibson SG Standard-- back when I was about 13. I remember spending like whole frickin Saturdays with a screwdriver playing with those screws on the humbuckers. At the end of the day I'd say "Yeah now I got it, sounds great!" In reality it sounded exactly the same as when I started. (Just a boy in love with his guitar.)
Aren't we all?! ❤️❤️❤️😁
I've been doing the same on Les Pauls for 40 years now fiddling with everything from tailpiece to tuners, lol.
@@gregdunn6040 what have you found sounds best for tuners; if ‘n You don’t mind I open up this here can o worms!!!?? They need to breath ;). ……. ALSO: Are you using vintage correct tailpiece with nylon thingamabobs, grrrr darn it I just brain pooted and I gots me a case of the stank bootie!! Brass nut? I’m experimenting WIF ALL O DESE NUTZ er I mean all of these pieces of equipment on my ‘79 Yamaha Custom Shop Black Beauty. Mah body, maple cap, mah neck Avec ebon fret board. Under 10 pizznounds >9.8ish. Neck is not overly chunky but it’s chunky all biNding is intact the only thing missing are the elusive Frett nibs.👨🏼🔬🤦🏼. What an absolute dreamboat dime piece of a six string!! But like you guys i think about friiggin tone bro tone ya got some tone I need tone jonezin for tone eh you over there are you experienced, wanna buy some tone it just got done curing….150 a LID!! LOL. I
I realize itaint the full mah Black Beauty; it’s built like a Standard. Long tenon.. oh what’s that dear? Your salad is ready for a toss in?? Miss thang needs her azz licked I’ll be back, (The guitar) no ypu dirty minded heathens not my escort GF. Jeeez
@@6nosis I like the Grover rotomatics, they add mass to the headstock and are a common mod on vintage guitars.
C'mon, we all know the color of the guitar makes the biggest difference in sound.
12 South I always thought it was strap length
@@artysanmobile That's the second biggest difference! Dont forget the strap color as well!
Red guitars go faster.
The black ones usually sound best, but only if the strap is color coordinated and adjusted properly. ROFL!
Paint tone.
Over 20 years of playing guitar and last night for the first time I adjusted the pole pieces. Not only was I able to get perfect volume across the pickup, but I also noticed that it made the pickup brighter
I've noticed that adjusting the pole pieces and pickup height in different configurations sonically make a big difference. The lower/further things are from the strings you will get a more flat bassy tone, the higher/closer to the strings you are, you will get more sharp and pronounced high and mid tones. If you push it even more close you will get howly growly gainy tones. The actual pickup itself will also gain or lose volume depending on height. Adjusting the volume knobs on the guitar and amp can also affect tone. Everyone is going for different sounds so it is great to experiment when these variables and see what you personally like. Everyone is going for entire new pickup sets to achieve a certain tone yet I believe many people don't understand how versatile every pickup is with a little bit of adjusting. For example recently I got a guitar with a humbucker.... brand new from the factory. All of the screws came flush inside. I found the most pleasant-to-my-ears configuration was to slightly lower the pickup and raise the screw poles up 1 to 1.5mm. Remember that its all to do with magnetics. And every one will be slightly different than the other
I just learned that I can plug my guitar into a thing called an amplifier. Dang, the difference it made in tone and volume is amazing.
Now that's good news. I'm going broke renting time on the gas station's amp for my air guitar.
Those round knobs are called volume and tone knobs.
How did you interface it with an amp? Some kind of electrical line?
I like the part where I adjust a pickup and after several tweaks I'm like "now that's better", and then realize I have that pickup switched off! Back to the drawing board. I do think that the adjacent screws to the one you're adjusting also play a role in the sensing field, especially since we're bending strings and such into other screw post zones.
I never adjusted screws until right now, and I decided to try out thing you mentioned, putting pickups way down, and screws way up , regarding the string magnetic properties I put lower E and G bit down, and high E and D bit higher and it does make chords sound more even, and I would say better articulated
I typically only adjust the pole pieces when there is uneven string response, or unwanted string response. I have even had people respond to this unknowingly to say that my pups sound better than they can get the same pups to sound. This isn't to say that it is needed or even wanted with all pups, but in certain instances, it can make a cheap pup respond better than otherwise expected. This is a process that takes a lot of trial and error, but can be the difference between a pup swap and basic adjustment. Always start with the overall height, and then go for the poles. If you can't find that right tone there, then go for the swap. After 20 years as a tech, I have saved a few pup swaps by just adjusting the overall height of each pup. More rarely can I save it by the pole pieces being adjusted. If neither gets the desired results, then I consider a pup swap for myself or a customer. I have also found a few pups that weren't ideal on paper that worked out with some adjustment. I have a set of Gibson 490s that work well for metal due to adjustments. Lower output pickups with Alnico 2 magnets should be garbage for metal, but adjusted properly they can do great. The bigger picture is your amp and speaker choice. At the same time, I ended up swapping the pups on my tele due to they sounded too modern and better suited for alt rock. I wanted something better for country. No level of adjustment could make that happen. Adjust your pups first, then consider swapping them. Adjustments can't save it all, but can save some cash and get what you want. Adjust your height, adjust your poles if you can, then swap if you aren't happy.
Hy Dylan! Great vid, as allways!! I do use the humbucker screws in the setup, after finding the right pickup-height by ear. So I even out the volume for each string with the individual screws, after that I continue fine tuning the balance of the sound of chords and allso of two notes ringing simultaneously on skipped strings . That has an impact on how musical and harmonic, overall in tune the guitar sounds. In half turn steps. For each guitar results a different pattern of screw height. Mostly a double staircase: low E flush with pickupface, A string +1,2 mm high , D +1,6 mm, G +0,3mm, B +0,6mm, e +1mm . These were the measurements on my 2007 B. C. Rich classic Koa with rockfield mafia pup's, But some guitars and pickups need very little adjustment, maybe none, like on my Ibanez Gio with tesla plasma 3 pup's... But then again, its a matter of taste... I'm a guitarplay beginner, but I look into the subject of guitarbuilding and eartraining for tone...
Funny, I came to same result by ear on my new SG tribute !
Thanks for the history lesson.
Yes, I adjusted my pole screws. The sound is a little brighter and louder. When I want a more pronounced sound from my 6th string I raise it up. As of this moment I have my middle poles matching my radius of 14in. It sounds awesome. Much better than them being flat.
When I was younger I used to give each screw a partial turn, just to get all of them facing the same way. For a more uniform look, not for sound.
Nothing much changes in only a 1/4 turn. Same deal though, used to line them up. This was a long long time ago for me.
@@denniswalsh8476 just read in a guitar setup book that a pretty renowned guitar tech used to use zig zag pattern when adjusting screws. So the would look kinda like / \ / \ / \ (but with more angle) and his theory was that the screw slots shouldn’t be aligned with the strings as they are missing “mass” (metal) for best magnetic power.
@@shader26 There's absolutely no way that matters.
I always adjust the pole pice screws it does make a difference in attack and volume. Its not a huge benefit but it does make a difference
Great explanation. As usual, to the point. I had work done on my 1st "quality" guitar, a 1983 Electra Phoenix. The tech used 1/2 of each humbucker to make just one humbucker. And it's always been my favorite. Haven't been able to match the tone. Oh yeah, and it's all studs!
I love finding old stuff like this. I have an Epiphone Les Paul Ultra III with the Shadow Nanomag pickup in the neck which is close to the poles of the Humbucker. The two pickups being so close created an odd field which caused the E strong to vibrate in a way that caused a buzz which is complained about with this guitar if you try to lower the action too much. I have since lowered the E pole and shaved the shelf 1.5mm to 0 from low e to high e. I now have a great action with no more buzzing. I'm not saying lowering the pole did it but I believe lowering the pole reduced the magnet pull on the string while still leaving everything else as it needed to be. Interesting video I stumbled across here. Hopefully someone else sees this comment and it helps. The Epiphone Ultra III is a great guitar they just placed the Shadow Nanomag to close to another magnetic field causing the Low E to buzz.
Peace and Play On
Hi Dylan, thanks great information for me, I'm in the U.K I've listened to half a dozen videos on setting up and adjusting pick ups but now after watching your video I'm quite happy to leave the pole pieces just where they are and set at 3/32" as a nominal height setting, I have three electric guitars, not much of a player but I just enjoy playing for myself, keep up the good work my man and thanks.
I love the channel. It’s all questions I’ve wondered about and didn’t want to take up the luthiers time.
The best channel I've ever seen about pickups. Thank you so much Dylan⚘⚘⚘
Everyone credits Seth Lover for coming up with the humbucker but the humbucking coil was invented by Electro Voice in 1934 Lover just adapted it to guitar pickups.
I have found that with a muddy sounding pick up, lowering the pick up a little and raising the screws up, a bit, usually following the radius of the strings, will brighten things up a bit. Also, if you have a louder string usually the B or G or both. Screwing those down will even out the level from string to string. As for having the treble or bass side of the pickup closer to the strings, this is a matter for personal taste.
Screw height doesn't do much but adjusting pickup height is critical. If you want your guitar to sound very even between all strings (low E and high E strings to have the same volume, sustain and harmonic content) then compensating height of pickup based on the greater or lesser magnetism of string gauge is super important. The low E string is much heavier than the high E string thus their I reactions with pickup magnets are very different. Lowering the bass side of a humbucker and raising the treble side until you achieve an even tone between all strings is a must! The adjustment is subtle but the results are massive.
Intersting info! Thanks again Dylan. I never have touched my screws in my PuPs... u got me thinkin.
I owned my Les Paul for years, never fully getting the tone I wanted. However, after taking it to a guitar tech and few turns of screwdriver, it was as if I was gifted with a brand-new instrument. I cannot over state how drastically adjusting each pole piece changes the dynamic tone of the instrument. I've also learned since then, there is an entire method of doing this to harness the true tone and articulation of the Les Paul. It now sounds absolutely incredible and is by far the most versatile guitar I've ever owned. My only complaint is that Gibson fails to communicate this to their customers, nor take the time to adjust each pickup to match the sonic resonance of each guitar made prior to shipping to vendors. ---- neck pole pieces should be higher (closer to the strings) on the GBE strings and lower on the EAD strings (closer to the body). The opposite should be done on the bridge pickup. It should also be mentioned that even a mere quarter turn can drastically alter the sound. Secondly, the tone knobs should also be adjusted depending on the sound you are going for. It may take several hours and multiple tries to unlock the tone you are seeking but that time is extremely well spent and well worth it. However, once achieved you will finally appreciate how incredible of an instrument you probably already own without a need for much else such as effects, special amps, let alone new pickups or guitar.
Thanks for clearing this up!
I hooked my guitar up to an oscilloscope to check this and found the following:
Are some strings louder than others? Yes.
Can you balance them by adjusting the screws? Kinda, but not really.
What I found is, you can raise a screw right up for a lower volume string, but it won’t affect the volume much at all. What it does do is change the tone. That string gets brighter as you raise the screw. So instead of balancing the strings, you make some brighter than they were before. On my Les Paul with a Classic 57 Plus it made the tone quite ear piercing. So I just set all screws to be level with the top of the pickup.
Hi from England. Thank you for that. I'm an old guy, and I've always shied away from messing with pickups. Except height screws. Just subscribed.
I'm with you (another old guy) and always shied away from messing with pickups. Then one day I got really curious and decided to do some experimenting on my old SG and truthfully I couldn't discern any substantive difference.
I adjusted the screws on my Duncan's (JB/Jazz) and it really sweetened the sound and tone of already great pickups. The best sounding Humbuckers I've ever heard and played.
Dell Huseman I adjusted the same pickup set (JB & JAZZ) and adjusted the pole screws to the radius of my fretboard with a radius gauge. I certainly heard a difference and it was more balanced, in my opinion. Then I just adjust the overall level on bass and treble sides to taste and recommended measurements in relation to the string height. As long as the magnet isn’t pulling or interfering with the strings, I say go for it. Mess around, you can always put it back to the way it was.
I always wondered about it, thanks!
hello Dylan. Thanks for your work, and for sharing your knowledge. I personally will start usually with the bridge Pup, put it on a slightly dirty sound, and pluck each string and view the signal output and listen to each string. If the volume of a particular string seems a little quiet, I will raise that screw. I repeat this until iI get an even sound on all strings. I will also toggle between Pups to make sure that both Pups are cranking out the same volume. I forget which youtube guy convinced me this was the way to go, but it makes sense to me. Im not the Willy Wonka of tecknical stuff though, but that is where my OCD currently resides lol thanks again for teaching.
Nice history here. I usually just leave all my screws flat in humbuckers because most guitars I am playing with have a relatively flat radius so I don't really need to tweak them very much, but I'm glad they're there in case I ever need to tweak them.
If you lower your pickups and raise the screws, it will tame the highs a little bit. The fact that the screws are raised may be the biggest factor in the tonal differences between a covered and uncovered pickup as well.
Thanks for this video. I've alway wondered what to do with this. I've replaced pickups several times. Never really adjust the polepieces. Now I'm sure I can leave it alone.
Good job on producing great episodes Mate ! Keep rocking ,cheers.
Excellent topic Dylan 👍🏼
They have screws because the sales guy at Gibson requested them. The original pickup was designed to have the poles hidden under the cover - like on the Firebird pickups. It's not alleged, Seth Lover is quoted in an interview he did back in the 90s.
Gibson originally intended the covers to sit flush with the edges of the rings, as well.
Best way to set 'em up is to just get a screw driver out and play around... some like the screws flush and adjust the pickup, some keep the pickup lower and take the sccrews up above the cover a little... they sound different either way, it's just a case of finding which way floats your boat.
Great topic. I've research this and found some consistent advice that I've applied. First, lower all the screws flush with the cover, then adjust the overall pickup height. Then raise the pole pieces - E strings a quarter turn, A and B half turn, D and G full turn. This basically follows the radius of the neck. I think the pu's sound more balanced...or maybe it's just my imagination, LOL. Anyway, it sounds really good to me.
I always use this screws. I split my humbucker to use screws side coil. I add laudness of screw single coil till i get similar volume to fully humbucker. additionally when i split I'm adding right value of capacitor in series (102.222.332.152 but really depends on pickup muddiness). That's give me weaker lows and more trebly highs (basically it only cut lows but for ear it's feel different). Now I've got 2 totally different tones from one pickup, and both are usable. Yes single are still a little weaker becouse of ammount of mids and bass, but you can set your amp/preset as you would use single coil guitar.
Great little chat! I always wondered about this myself but I never dared to actually try making any adjustments myself. I think I will let them be and just continue relying on those outside screws. Doing something extreme like pulling those pole pieces all the way out sounds a little dangerous. Like what if I dug in a little too hard and accidentally yanked on 'em and tore the pickup out of place or something?
Now, I do have an Agile 8-string HH guitar that seems to have its pickups screwed down tight directly into the cavity. The guitar shipped to me set up in a way that sounds pretty great to me, but in THAT case I suppose I might try adjusting the individual screws if the overall height is indeed not adjustable.
go ahead and mess with it, yalls won't mess it up.
I've had quite a few humbucker equipped guitars over the years, but I've never felt the need to adjust any of them. It's reassuring to know that you can correct an imbalance of output between strings, if the need should arise, but it hasn't happened, yet!
The bridge pickup on my guitar seemed kinda meh at first, too harsh and way too loud compared to the neck. I started toying around with the pickup height and got a decent result. When I started adjustin the individual screw polepieces though is when I brought my guitar to life.
Rose the treble side on the neck a bit, lowered the pickup to the floor and now it is clear and defined. Rose the A screw polepiece on the bridge and floored the treble ones and it tamed the harshness and gave it a really nice attack. Did a similar approach to a friend's SD pickups and they now roar at rehearsals.
TL;DR - Screw polepieces DO make a big difference.
490R humbucker in my Les Paul (neck position) always sounded muddy. Muffled and boomy no matter how high or low I adjust the height. A few people suggested lowering the pickup and raising the screws like you mentioned. Improved the sound quite a bit. Not a dramatic tone change, but more note clarity and the overall sound is more balanced. To get a noticeable improvement in the tone, the screws stand higher than they should. Makes it louder than the bridge pickup, so it's a trade off. Still a good way to make do until I find the right pair of replacement pickups.
They are used to adjust for the radius and output balance of each string! G strings tend to be louder by nature, so lowering that one pole piece can help balance the overall output!
Adjusting the screws makes a very subtle difference. I usually leave the bridge plush. But on the neck I adjust the poles. Particularly on the higher strings. If you don't like it you can always adjust them back.
Had a Gibson ES 330TD during the 60's while playing in a band in high school. By raising the A screw in the neck P90, thumbing the string and facing my amp, the hollow body would start to feedback, increasing the amplitude of the strings vibration causing it to strike and vibrate against the fretboard, and producing the exact growling sound that everybody of a certain age remembers as the into to the Beatles' "I Feel Fine."
I always start by putting a slight radius to my pole pieces. Gives it a more even sound. Depending on the guitar and humbucker, addition adjustments will be done to get rid of unwanted brightness.
thanks man i was wondering why!
This demonstration was perfect example. My guitar gas essentially the same set up as the v in the video. I recently adjusted my screws in my pickups based on the volume that was being put out. They ended up quite staggered which was interesting to me, knowing some single coil pickups have staggered poles.
When you raise the screws you can create a smaller area of sampling of the strings which results in a tighter sound. The wide sampling over the total width of the humbucking pickup creates a complex signal that can Buck high frequencies
THAT is why my bridge Hot Rail is probably gonna get wired parallel! It's too hot, too dark, and no way to adjust for those features. This video followed up another one, 2013 from England, where he demo'd HB pole piece height and parallel wiring.
I always adjust my screws. You can definitely tweak the individual levels for each string. It's subtle, and possibly unnecessary since you can just tilt the pickup, but if nothing else, it can make for better aesthetics. It's especially useful on semi-hollows like the 335.
Thats Right... in semihollows it can make a lot of difference
My 335 is reasonably dark sounding. Raising the screws near the bridge does help add some brightness. With the screws raised substantially, it's by far the best sounding guitar I own.
I got a PRS SE from Reverb (one of two guitars I have ever purchased online). Both pickups had the D string screw raised. The string volume sounds good so I left it that way.
its my understanding (and experience) that changing the screw height can change the volume of individual strings somewhat, allowing you to better balance the volume between all strings. I don't recall having to do it on many guitars though, maybe one in ten or so - and probably all cheap guitars - can't recall having to mess with it on any nice axes. probably has to do with setup and pickup quality.
Many many years ago I asked around if I could, or even should, adjust those screws. The reply I got back was "No!, don't ever" Recently I figured I'd try it on pickups that I was throwing out anyways and if adjusting those screws is wrong I don't wanna be right. Now I only use custom hand made extremely expensive PAFs and if my neck is a 12" radius I use a 12" under-string radius gauge tool to adjust each individual screw. Then I raise the pickups in small increments to find my perfect sweet-spot and to me, it's actually night and day in the overall richness and fullness of the sound alone. With already very clear and lively tones I make sure each string is accounted for and are allowed to speak what I want to say. Nice video Dylan. Loved it!
To be honest, there is no guitar (mine or customers') left with pickup polepiece screws unturned. There's always some fine tuning to be done, even if the difference in tone is slight (and it is, very subtle indeed). It is more noticeable on high output/high gain setups, and certain pickups are more sensitive than others.
Thank you for these interesting insights, it sure makes sense.
I never touch the screws at all, my SG sounds good so why bother. I just think they look cool, the classic "vintage" look you're familiar with, on humbuckers with covers but no screws there seems to be something missing optically.
I really learned a lot about guitar from you, thank you!
How goes ot, thanks again for sharing your wisdom and experience on pickups and overal guitar set up rules/rule of thumb/mythbusting and personally real time im having more and more revelations relative to big brand exposé of what I consider greedy marketing schemes and generally pretty much all of your vids are enlightening, and i know its not to purposly expose these brands i just want to point that out and not put you in that awkward position,
but you are the guy who I consider amongst one of the most educated folks in your field that are actively and generously doing their best to enlighten the minds of folks like myself and my friends who have with the interest in everything to do in regards to the truth, and,
at the end of the day-
You are good at explaining what doesn't have to be over complex, this is great, you obviously know your stuff, and thanks for doing what you're doing, I believe you want people to know the basics first likely decent expert and teacher/sharer of knowledge the kind that helps me and I'm sure many more know important things like-
The right questions to ask- basically cutting out the crap the bigger dogs use to dazzle us into buying polished turds, and most importantly-
- where to start,
Myself and those who are asking, seeking and knocking on the doors to first know what questions to ask or more find and chew on food for thought, thats golden!
On that note that I can personally say your channel has encouraged me to dig deeper without losing sight of the bigger picture.
I'll admit- my brain hurts when I am faced with conflicting "truths" of information and I personally believe for me that has been caused partly by my own fault of not following my interests earlier when in my teenage years choosing to pick the trade my family wanted me (which isnt bad i like it im in a good place in life thanks to my folks bless their cotton socks)
to pursue, over the real interest in me of courses in electronic engineering, sound and visual engineering etc, music I mean I couldn't do it all, I did one year electronic engineering at college then a job came up at the local shipyard for a marine engineering apprenticeship which I loved I'd not change that, anyhoo-
Back to big brands- the other cause of my brains conflicting information i believe is because of conformational bias, and that's sort of linked to something similar to learning and then unlearning bad habits/thought processes in this case following trends, thinking because it cost more means better instead of most things are simply different and the materialsused in compenents differin cost, stil, some are just pure crap-
but
the "getting the best" way of thinking is not a wise way to approach anything without the solid facts and the information and how to decifer or calculate and learn the application,
so that was me before i learned the easier parh with least resistance like electricity ironically, isn't the wise way, pretty much in anything I don't know everything I can possibly know in the area, and guitar woring etc are probably the most simple to learn once you understand the basics, to avoid
things like blindly believing trusting in the word of the brands limited info and allowing myself to make my guitar related decisions based on what I believe now to be mostly marketing strategies designed to polish a turd and sell it for a very greedy uptake on top-
call it the
"cherry topped golden turd selling technique"
- ie- false marketing and the plain outright lies and withholding of the information that is important in our decision making process before even considering buying what pickups are now no longer based on popularity, and now are based on the subjective, in choice to one's own tastes, and what adjustments in the simple circuitry that directly/indirectly affect the frequency idk... groups?... maybe? 20hz to 20khz the three main ranges low mid bass and the 3 sub ranges within each main sections on the chart-upper middle high ranges in those main three and the last upper octave range at 20kz, this I believe to be important in finding a way to translate what out ears know what is good for us as individuals respectively.
Anyway I could go on but the long and short of it is to me big brand name purposely lie in my observations and get away with it, yes they do put up the resistance values in ohms, the gauge of coil wire but I've not come across a company thar advertises the real important information, so
they are in my opinion going by many chat forums (I'll not name these companies) major brand names are lying either by omission, a little bit of minimisation, and the half truth kind of lie by withholding all the relevant information,which pisses me off after i spend my hard earned snd dont get the quality that the price tag suggests, its outrageous and has been going on for a long long time, prettymuch very well established, and I have called and messaged the local to me music shops with workshops in back, I'll not name I'm not that guy, music stores that make their own brand of pickups, but it's always
"talk to the tech guys," "they're busy right now"
I have respect for them they are really good at fixing and setting up all sorts of very reasonably priced squires etc, guitars that I've bought from them that are way better to play and sound great too for way less cost, than the "Real" fender telecaster i paid 800quid for and has so many faults i didnt notice, fender - i am very disappointed in right now grr! Lol,
so I'm planning on doing a test of sorts, looking for an HSS set for my strat build, so i have everthing on the pickguard wready to go all i need are pickups, its all 500k pots with superswitch oaks grigsby, 470k resistor x1 instead of two and auto coil split on pis 2 i was gonna go for .033uf on middle pot with the 470k resistor but id need the pickups first and you can't exactly send em back after installation so i have a few more pickguards ready to be loaded and gonna go about this scientifically, test different caps and wiring diagrams and push pull dpdt pots or one of those theyre not that expensive from the factory,
I'm looking through all of your videos, taking notes, I'm serious about doing this to make what I have a passion for and to make some extra income eventually the injuries to my body due to accidents and work I do I hope I can gain more knowledge and be at least competent in guitar building, wiring looms, loaded pickguards, possibly if I had the money- making pickups as you know the equipment not just the winder but the testing equipment etc to uniformly make enough consistency is key.
Anyway thanks again as you if you've read this dylantalkstone you'll know I'm serious due to the essay I've written on my thoughts, regards Mike.
Weird setup here.
I have a Dimarzio EJ in the bridge.It is bright but I wanted more strat -like sparkle,less emphasis on the upper mids and more on the sparkly end.I tried dropping it low and raising the screws.It helped a bit but did not produce the single coil-like highs I wanted more of.
I had an idea.I yanked the pickup out,removed the screws,reinstalled without them and found it went way too sharp and bright(operating with the one slug coil only).I then recalled hearing that larger diameter poles in single coils (like the SD quarter pounder) produced more lows/less highs so I wondered what if the screws were more *narrow* so as to produce less lows and more highs.I reinserted the screws but from the *bottom* of the pickup so that the heads were down by the base plate and the thinner threaded ends were facing the strings.On the first attempt I brought them up only 1/2 way into the pickup(they were recessed half way down with respect to the strings)This was a little less shrill but still not there.I then yanked the pickup again and turned the screws so that the ends were near flush with the slugs(slightly recessed).Bang,it gave the pickup a more sparkly tone without sounding too shrill.
All in all I lost a little output but I could then hear more of the sparkle I wanted,things became a bit more linear and balanced out.
I have never tried to adjust a humbucking pickup. But when I saw this I remembered my first guitar. I almost said cheap but for a 12 year old kid 38 years ago 600 Sek (~60 dollars) was a lot of money. Anyway, this Mizuno strat copy had the two middle studs sticking out further from the pickup than the rest of the polepieces. I know it looks kinda like this on a fender. At that time though I was seriously thinking about taking a hammer to push them down as they sounded much stronger than the rest. I never did though...
My first electric guitar was a LP copy & I adjusted everything that could be adjusted- especially the pole pieces
Not sure it made much of a difference to my ears at the time, but I found where I liked them best
I have different pickups in it now though & I don’t mess with the pole pieces
I just read the exact same thing about Duane's bridge humbucker. Nice! 👍
If think adjusting the screws can act as some sort of a equalizer. My 1st string was having low sustain, so I adjusted the screw a little higher and it gave more sustain to that string. It's cool to experiment with the screws height.
Nice job!
I lowered both the neck and bridge pickups to where they were flush with the pickup rings on my Epiphone Les Paul Standard PlusTop Pro and raised the screws as far as I could get them without removing them and the tone is much closer to what I wanted. A lot more clarity and a lot less muddy.
Dylan, I agree with you in so many things but not in your meaning about the polscrewson humbuckers . Pls remember that the old fretboards have had 7.25" or 9.5" radius. My 30 year young PRS McCarty has also 9.5". If I do the polscrews flat with the height of the metalcase around, the D and G string have the double height as the E and e strings. So I have to follow the radius to get a well balanced volume of all strings with clear bass response from E,A,D because the tiny difference between the polscrew and the under cover magnetic pole helps to reduce muddy low frequency response of the low strings. After that the gap between head of polescrews and strings is 2 mm for the bridge PU polesrews and 3 mm for neck polscrews . The total height of the neck PU cover to strings is 4mm and the total the height of the bridge cover to strings is 3mm measured on E and e strings. With these adjustments I get a good adjustable octave for each string and it works in the same nice way on my PRS McCarty , my TOKAI LP and my YAMAHA SA-2000 . Love your Videos and your well balanced way of talking about these not well documented details . Thank so from Germany !
I subed because i actually learned something new. Thank you.
Good stuff!
I adjust my low E A screw a bit up and a touch up on D got this tip from Seymour on his blog. Setting hums to factory specs. Reason is high E B and touch G are brighter so more pronounced so raising pole pieces on lower strings makes them bit hotter giving balance in strings pronunciation, or can go old school a US nickel width between pickup and string bottom on both high and low string size, which was used on most guitars in 60s
I enjoy building telecasters and for the last 50 years the predominant style I make has been with a humbucker in the neck position. I keep the 250 pots, so the neck PU can be a bit of a battle with darkness. Over the years I have tried many things to balance this out, but what works for me, is I take the 6th string pole screw completely out of the PU. The tubbyness goes away, and makes it much easier to balance the rest of the PU eq to itself, and with the middle position as well. Its an easy thing to try, if it works great, if its not your thing, just screw it right back in.
congratulations you made that side of the magnetic frequency into a single coil
@@ernestochang1744 Yes I know the sixth string will only have the slug side coil in play, however the over all affect on sound is that the pick up is more balanced and brings the bass in line with the rest of the strings that do have all of the screws and pole pieces. Its not something I do on all humbuckers, only the occasional model from certain builders. And as I noted, its easy enough to try and put back if it does work for you. Every one has different experiences, why not give it a try and see.
In my experience, I try not to adjust them. However, I have dove in before. Not sure if this will apply to all humbuckers but with the SD Little 59er, it has two rows of screws. The front row of screws would add (or decrease) more body or thickness to the note. The 2nd row of screws, I believe they were closest to the bridge, would add (or decrease) "hair" or fuzz (through adding gain) on the note.
I agree with shredgd5, also look at Fender pups. they are not in-line or flat. I have also taken apart pups, trying to find out why the sound was week on either end of the pup, only to find the magnets were not centred. I do not disagree with the history lesson, but making sure the pups are in-line with the magnet, has proven to be very beneficial. Great video, always enjoy the view of others. Thanks for what you do...
If you wind the whole pickup back into the body of the guitar, and then wind the polepieces out, what you're doing (presumably) is taking the magnetic field of the secondary coil further away from the strings. Then winding the polepieces out is (presumably) acting to keep the magnetic field on the primary coil in the right place. The net result is a humbucker which has a slightly less "broad" overall magnetic field, which interacts slightly less with the strings than a humbucker set up "normally". The reduced interaction with the strings (reduced magnetic field) will move the tone of the pickup more in the direction of a single coil, with a very slightly brighter top end than a "normal" humbucker. So I would have thought that Dwayne Alman's set-up would give him a tone somewhere inbetween a "normal" set up humbucker, and something like a mini humbucker (with a reduced magnetic field, because it's smaller than a regular sized humbucker). That would be my guess anyway.
This aligns with my experience experimenting with it. Thanks for the meaningful scientific explanation for it! Feels somewhat like it takes my humbuckers into something like P-90 tone territory.. beefier than a single coil but not as "compressed" sounding as a humbucker. Great if you don't like your humbucker sound but split coil is a little too thin 😁
I never adjusted screw height before, so after watching a video, I decided to tryout putting PU's way down and screws way up, like he mentioned, and I was amazed by difference in the overall sound, now with neck PU on clean (and I mean totally clean, not even reverb) thing sounds like a high quality acoustic guitar, and I mean real acoustic guitar unplugged , not amplified piezzo stuff
I play a jazz style that is derived by turning the volume of the amp up and then compensating for the high amp level by utilizing an extremely light picking action just above neck pickup - using the neck pickup while playing without distortion. The technique brings out the complete frequency envelope of the string. Using this technique, the level differences of the individual strings becomes pretty apparent so I adjust the pole screws in an attempt to equalize the level of the strings which works out pretty well.. I use D'Addario Chrome Flatwounds with a wrapped G String.
Sounds a bit like the sound I go for, but I use a custom tuning G-D-d-f-g#-b and use the bridge humbucker for the bottom two strings. To avoid having the bridge pup capture the other strings, I use soft steel bars between the two pole pieces associated with each of the upper strings. I have the treble maxed on the amp, and minimized for the neck pickup, while the bridge pickup is almost wide open.
Hey. Realizing it involves personal preference among other things...I’m curious as to how you have them set as it appears I am going for the same sound that you are.
I played with the screws a long, long, long, time ago. I sold that guitar (stupidest thing I've ever done - it was a gorgeous ES-335TD). Realizing it didn't make enough of a difference to care back then, I've never touched the screws on pickups since.
I know what you mean dude. I have done some stupid things in my life, but other then almost marrying a total wench, selling Rosie is my biggest regret. She started life a silvirtone sg, but after 4 years of modifying, the body (which really was beautiful) was the only thing left stock. I even found NOS gibbson pots to wire her up with. I easily got the money I put into it, but to rebuild another at the current price of everything I might as well by a real Gibson...
I've honestly never noticed that much of a difference from adjusting pickup height. I just leave it at the general recommendation and am happy with that.
Sometimes, when you change strings, you'll have one that overmodulates. A slight adjustment, can make a difference.
Agreed on buckers.
But I have some TV Jones TArmonds. I adjust the pickup to 3 or 4mm under E strings VIA FIXING SCREWS first.
Then I listen. The pickups have a nice adjustment of pole heights via adjacent screws to each pole piece.
This is fine tuning stuff and I reckon it's really good ..... On single coil pickups.
Ditto the G&L hex adjustment poles, hex screws. It does help balance out louder strings like G typically.
Its my beef with Fender pickups but you can get single coils that have adjustable pole pieces. Harmonic Design etc.
For single coils it makes a lot of difference for me as you can follow the string radius if you want.
Typically it's not how it turns out but the fine adjustment is really useful. Poles don't end up in a perfect arc.
I recommend it
Great vid.. informative 😁👍🏻
I have a few guitars that have screws and I do adjust the screws if I'm not happy with the sound. I noticed (and this could be how my amps are set up) that it only makes a difference with volume majority of the time. In the case of my p90s I'm trying to make certain strings not as loud as some and vise-versa. With humbuckers, I notice if the humbucker is lower and the screws are higher the muddiness is slightly less prominent. Now, I could just easily adjust the eq on my amps and remedy the situation but I don't mess with it because the amp's settings sound great with my single coil guitars that are none adjustable. Now I do have a 12 string humbucker guitar and I've tried the screw trick but it hasn't made much of a difference and therefore I'm doing other mods to it to get more clarity out of the pickups. I'd advise trying the screw trick if you like your pickup and want a tad more clarity and a little less muddiness. Again this isn't a major change, just a subtle one.
great video, thank you
Good info.
I came about it naturally (I didn't know about Allman doing it) but I adjust a neck humbucker as low as possible with the screws raised because it makes a less muddy sound to my ear.
Yes, I adjust screws from time to time because I occasionally change from a plain 3rd to a wound 3rd string, and vice versa.
Thanks for the tidbit about Duane Allman...and I do adjust pole pieces to match the radius
Very interesting video but to answer your question as of yet I have not experimented with the pole pieces because I'm reluctant to mess with for fear of ruining the pic up.
well yes i did actually do it once.. 25 years ago maybe? took an old beat up strat/ put a chrome plated pick guard on it.. cut out the bridge p/up area and installed a duncan invader dual humbucker... it was too damn hot.. feedback no matter what unless you were playing.. didnt matter the volume level..
dropped the duncan as low as i could and arched the pole pieces to match the strings and it helped quite abit but didnt solved the problem.. ended up ditching the chrome guard.. solved the problem.. sounded fine . didnt even bother messing with the pick up after taking out the chrome guard..
you should have just grounded the plate... then nothing bothering u at all lol
just take any ground wire connection and add a wire from the plate to a ground (usually solder it to the pot cover)
Super Mecha Death Christ yeah that does likely sound like a ground issue. Or his gain is always on the line 6 “insane” settings with no gate lol.
Cheers from Texas!
🤘😺🤘
I agree with Dylan on both accounts. You don’t have to adjust them at all, you can use your EQ settings to change your tone.
That being said, I have a couple of guitars that I changed the height of the poles, and it made a big difference. more articulate.
Not all pickups are created equal ;)
Obviously you are a very knowledgeable man 🥃
Most informative comment section ever.... good video
I usually lower my pickups and have since I bought my SG in 1971. My theory is that the lower harmonics of the strings have more space to "develop" before they affect the magnets if there's more space between the strings and the pickups. I believe this also affects sustain because more harmonic content affects the way we hear the notes.
It depends on the type of music you play. Normally a pickup that's a little lower will have more clarity, and if you raise it, it'll be hotter for overdrive etc...Normally Gibson has the neck pickup lower and the bridge higher.
the need of adjustment of the polepieces depends on the bridgetype: e.g. on tremolotype hb guitars (ibanez, fender, parker, etc) it gives sence to adjust the polepieces or screws
Haha my seth lovers neck pickup in my epiphone sg sounds to warm i tryed everything pickup height its always extreme one way or the other. So i carefully adjusted the screws coming out. Sound completly changed to typical sg sound especially the e,b and g string. I love it
So I am in the process of buying a PRS 594 Sinble Cut with the new low turn, low out put pick ups. I have seen a couple guys talk about adjusting the pick up and pole piece height to get a little better tone. I starting thinking is that really needed?? Interesting video
Adjusted the pickup screws on my Hagstrom Viking as they were a little dark sounding, did seem to make them a little brighter
I've been doing the "Duane Allman" thing for a while, only I didn't know it was a Duane Allman thing. I like the somewhat more single-coil kind of tone it gets me.
I know this is an older video on your plethora of content channel which I have so thankfully discovered... re: screws in a humbucker. Years ago, I had my PRS checked by a pro? Luthier (I needed a slight adjustment on my neck and I was ignorant about how simple this stuff is -pre youtube ara-) the dude who worked on my axe would back out the G string screw only on my bridge pickup... making it slightly closers to the strings. Gave me some explanation as to why... which I didn't understand. The crazy thing in retrospect is he made this adjustment without ever listening to my guitar through an amp. Never plugged it in. I was really only there for a neck adjustment him the whole time he checked and tweaked my truss rod but made that other change as a favor that I never understood stood... was is just smoke or is there possible something to it. I never touched it since and don't care to change anything on my setup cause my axe kicks ass but thought it was a worth while talking point to get a tone Pros feedback on. Thanks again for all that you do.
Hi Dylan. I'm from Argentina. You have an amazing channel to understand all the stuff related to guitars. I like to make my own guitars and my own pickups. Viewing this video I started to think in the diferents heights of the strat pickups. In the other hand, I made the pickups of my strat with same heights and the sound is very good in each string, so, why strat has different magnet heights?
I leave the screws on my bridge humbucker pretty much flat. But I do adjust the screws on my neck humbucker. I kinda do the Duane Allman thing. I lower the whole pickup down quite far, then adjust the screws up quite a bit. Almost until the threads start showing at the top of the pickup. This sort of emulates a single coil sound which is my preferred type of neck pickup. But since it’s a humbucker, I do this “trick” and it sounds pretty much how I like it. By the way, it’s a Seymour Duncan Jazz pickup. JB in the bridge.
in my experience, pole piece height can alter pickup eq. for example, if you raise the bottom string pole piece, the whole pickup will have a little bit more mid and reduced high
I was going to swap the quantum bridge pup in my rg421 cuz I hated it but then I adjusted the pole pieces and now it's a beast.
yeah, i adjusted the screws in the humbuckers in my guitars that have em(closer to strings), and even a p90 in my epiphone sg jr...made it "hotter" (or whatever word you wanna use ) to my ears. especially in the jagmaster i have, definitely heard more output once i did so... cool story, i know.