JohnWhirl Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Hey Everyone, I'm curious about making some small adjustments to my Epi Les Paul Standard. What would the impact be to the tone of the pickups by raising or lowering the pole pieces on the HumBuckers on the LP? Could I raise the mid and low end pole pieces to give a warmer, more bassy/better balanced tone from the bridge HB? Any recommendations for replacement pickups? I don't know if I will actually buy some new pups yet, but am always curious about recommendations:-) thanks guys! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Well, mostly it's used to balance string volume...not so much for tone! Don't know that it would help, all that much, that way? As to pickups? Wow...there are a lot to choose from...and some of it depends on budget, and/or what your tonal needs are, etc. I've always liked Gibson '57's, Burstbuckers, or PAF's in LP, SG, and 335 style guitars, but...that's just me! You'll get a lot of opinions/recommendations on this, I'm sure. Cheers, CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 They can affect tone somewhat, but it's the overall height of the pups that will thin or thicken.. Every guitar has strings that are louder than others.. some pups have flat poles. and some staggered.. non adjustable. *single coils* older ones were made for heavier strings... so they don't work out for some peoples taste. I start with the poles flat in the covers. no deeper. adjust the neck and bridge indivdually for overall height, then go for string to string balance with the poles. You can get warmer by raising the pup.. and thinner or brighter by lowering it.. and to some extent, the same happens with the pole adjustments. I never go higher than the depth of the poles screw head. In your case I'd set 'em flat.. then I'd adjust for the tone I wanted.. then I'd set the poles for string to string balance. One thing is that there's a range.. too low and you lose volume.. too high and you can increase distortion as well as affect the strings pitch.. because the magnet will be close enough to pull on the string while it's vibrating. The amount the poles affect tone is pretty minimal, like charlie says, it's volume first. But it's hard to say how much you want, so don't just ignore it. A lot of times people don't think about their speaker.. which is a very important part of this bright/dark thing pups can do. If the dark/warm is there, but the speaker wont let it out, you can adjust all day. Sometimes it's better to play your head through other speakers to get an idea of what's really happening. ceramic and alnico magnets in pups are different, as well as models and brands.. so google the arguments and familiarize yourself with all the hubub! It never hurts to google what your fave guitarists are using in theirs, too. TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timandbob Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 TWANG, as usual great info. I do have a question -- my Dot Deluxe has '57 Classic Alnico humbuckers. I need to increase the volume a bit in the B and high E strings. If I want to do that a tad, I need to turn the screw which way in order to accomplish this. Thanks, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnWhirl Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 Wow! Thanks for the answers guys! I'm excited to play around with these ideas with the suggestions on Pup Height and such! Have a good one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthewk Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 TWANG' date=' as usual great info. I do have a question -- my Dot Deluxe has '57 Classic Alnico humbuckers. I need to increase the volume a bit in the B and high E strings. If I want to do that a tad, I need to turn the screw which way in order to accomplish this. Thanks,[/quote']Just like you were unscrewing a normal screw - anticlockwise to raise the pole toward the string. Give it a go, you can't hurt it (unless you unscrewed it ALL the way out and somehow misthreaded it). Of course if both the high strings are weak, you could just adjust the screw on the side of the pickup itself to raise the whole end of the pickup towards the strings. Either that or move the bass side away from the strings - depends on the overall volume leven and whether it matches well with the other pickup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 yep. I really think you should never go deep into the cover.. some allow you to screw in.. and no more than the head depth out. I can't remember who I talked to about this.. but if memory serves the idea was you get better performance out of adjusting the overall height and then fine tuning with the pole. I've always found it works that way for sure. I've pulled single coil plugs out and ground 'em down, too. *L* You have to taper them to get them back in or they can catch on the coils. Maybe that's the deal about taking them too high or too deep when they're adjustable, in part. Seemed to work. Was a cheap guitar though so.... no recommendation on that from me. TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timandbob Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Hmm, I sort of swiped this thread, sorry, but thanks for the info. I'll give it a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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