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G-400 Custom, pole piece adjustment


Roosto7

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Posted

When raising, how many turns do you give the pole pieces on the G-400 Custom humbuckers? Is there a diagram or photos which show the best settings? Not trying to make the guitar scream, just what to clarify a bit.

Posted

You should optimise the height of the pickup itself first, then use the pole pieces for fine adjustments, there's no real numbers to adjust to, it will be different on every guitar/pickup combination. Be mindful of the magnetic field, if it gets too close to the strings it will sap your sustain substantially, you can test the magnetic field by holing a small flat bladed screwdriver very lightly and moving it towards the top of the pickup, at about 4mm or 5mm it will just snap to the magnets, you want this distance and at least half again clearance from the strings. What I do is dial in the bridge pickup, then adjust the neck pickup so that switching between them has about equal volume. The height of the neck pickup has more influence over the strings, that's one of the reasons why they set a greater distance from the strings.

Posted

Great pot Rob..............IMHO, individual height has more effect on Strat type pickups; hence the "staggered" way many are made..........

 

It's less of an "issue" with HBs........But, yes, they can be adjusted as Rob says....One can also have the "bass" end lower than the "treble" side..........

Posted

You should optimise the height of the pickup itself first, then use the pole pieces for fine adjustments, there's no real numbers to adjust to, it will be different on every guitar/pickup combination. Be mindful of the magnetic field, if it gets too close to the strings it will sap your sustain substantially, you can test the magnetic field by holing a small flat bladed screwdriver very lightly and moving it towards the top of the pickup, at about 4mm or 5mm it will just snap to the magnets, you want this distance and at least half again clearance from the strings. What I do is dial in the bridge pickup, then adjust the neck pickup so that switching between them has about equal volume. The height of the neck pickup has more influence over the strings, that's one of the reasons why they set a greater distance from the strings.

 

I did it on my 5120 "Gretschbuckers" and it made a nice difference. What has me particularly confused is that the G-400 Custom has three pickups.

Posted

I did it on my 5120 "Gretschbuckers" and it made a nice difference. What has me particularly confused is that the G-400 Custom has three pickups.

I would still do the same, optimise the bridge, then adjust the other pickups from that reference volume wise, doesn't matter if there's 2, 3, 4 or more pickups, just select the one you're adjusting.and try match it's output to that of the bridge.

 

EDIT: that's just the way I do it and it works well for me, others will use different methods, whichever method you're most comfortable using is the best way for you.

Posted

Great pot Rob..............IMHO, individual height has more effect on Strat type pickups; hence the "staggered" way many are made

 

Plain strings are louder than wound, thick strings are louder than thin. Pole piece heights, in order of the highest: D, high E, B, A, G, and low E.

 

From a volume perspective, the staggered heights on Fender PU's makes no sense, except for cosmetics.

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