how high do you have your 496R and 500T pickups?

[ics1974]

Can someone please measure there pickup height for both bridge and treble pressing down on last fret?

I want to see if my setup is close to what others have.

I know it's a total preference thing but I want to see if I am far off from others.

[e/2 Explorer]

Mine are set as I told you before, Bill Lawrence recommendations work for ANY pickup. The whole idea is to have the strings set so the magnets don't pull the strings out of tune or one string drowns out another. You are looking for a balance of equal output. The low E resonates much louder then the high E so hence, the high E should be closer to the pup then the low E

[ics1974]

Ok I will try this again. Maybe I was doing it wrong compared to you.

 

You said in the other post "Bill Lawrence recommendations translate to two nickel (coin) widths under the low E and one under the high E when fretted"

 

Do you do this measurement for both pickups?

Do you place the coin on the center of the pole piece or on the edge of the pole piece? This makes a difference in height so I am not sure what you meant.

 

Thanks

[e/2 Explorer]

Directly from his website:

 

"As a general rule for the bridge pickup - put a nickel on top of the pickup under the high E string and play the highest note on that string. Adjust the height on that side of the pickup till the string touches the nickel. Repeat the same with the low E string, but use two nickels on top of each other. If this gives you too much output, you can reduce the height slightly. Don't forget that twice the distance will reduce the output by about 60%, and the sound will lose some lows. NOW, you can adjust the neck pickup to match the output of the bridge pickup. For the sound test, use stage volume"

 

Regarding the neck pup, use the same technique

[ics1974]

Thanks I will give this a go

[efp]

For the benefit of those of us who dont use nickels, the United States nickel is 1.95 mm (0.077 in) thick.

[gizeh68]

I always found my ceramic pups to have a higher output, and therefore cause more sonic trouble when too close to the strings. When I had my Seymour Duncan SD-5's on my LP, I found they were best a little lower than normal.

 

If you're using the nickel method, perhaps give a full turn ofthe screw after setting the high E and a full turn and a half, to maybe even two full turns on the low E for breathing room.

[Hydra26]

I lowered mine a lot on one of my explorers to tighten up the sound a little by removing some of the output. Seems to have worked alright. Didn't take measurements though.