Here is what I found. If you roll the volume off and it sounds like you turned it all the way to zero, before you hit zero, then PU's are too far away. Set it on about 2 and adjust them to the level you think 2 should be, or want 2 to be. Then check what it sounds like on 10. Mine hit spot on. 2 should be pretty quiet, but not gone. And it shouldn't be loud, or even moderate, 5 should be moderate. Work up from 2, and 10 will work it self out.

Who knew Ned Stark had such good guitar advice

@Dave Barlow - You are absolutely correct on the spacing and how it improves the dynamics and the sound. (I learned this the hard way!)

Its like what sounds better. Putting your ear right up against the speaker? Or giving yourself some distace to get all of the tone. Boom. There you go.

I've always been primarily an acoustic guitar player, so dynamics are a huge part of my toolkit.. after watching this, it's got me thinking that one of my electrics in particular really suffers from everything being the same volume all the time, which makes it feel pretty lifeless. I'm definitely going to experiment with it's pickup heights.Thanks a lot for this vid, really digging the channel. All the best from here, Robbo.

You were totally right with this. My bridge pickup sounded like a bag of ass till I lowered it. Raised the middle and neck pickups a bit too. So even as a bedroom player, the sound difference is enormous. Thanks mate !

I found this because I experienced some bad sound at rehearsal and pick ups seemed to be the problem after testing pedals etc. I really like this, makes sense, you dont need to measure with a ruler really. Thanks!

A very helpful post thanks. I turned to KZfaq to answer a question I had about pickup height, already knowing what I know. You totally reinforced what I was thinking, and now I need to go and twiddle screwdrivers! Cheers! btw nice Goldtop Classic! GW

I definitely like your approach. Adjust to your taste not what they tell you too. I've always raised them as high as possible, but now I'm going to bring them down and experiment. Thank you. 🎸

Excellent advice, I was given the same advice by an older Guitar tech with a Strat and a set of Fender Texas Specials that I loved, he dropped them so low I was lost for words but when I got home they sounded awesome! I have just Subscribed, g'day from Melbourne Australia.

Great video, Dave! ...New subcriber here. Excellent tip.. lower your pickups and definitely adjust them when playing with live volume and playing with the rest of the band! Been doing that for over 40+ years! Most of the time I have to raise only the high E screw a tad closer to the string. Old fart

Very helpful and eye opening! Thank you so much!

Great vids Dave. Spent thus afternoon putting the original Maxon low output humbuckers back in my 1980 Greco LP Custom. I swapped em years ago for a Gibson set, I think 490/498 set - too compressed, no air. It now plays and sounds better than my 2000 Gibson LP Standard. And looks prettier! Inspired to do this by your vids, you are confirming my suspicions...

Great Vids Dave!! I am an experimenter with different tones and adjusting heights in pickups, cheaper pickups, etc, etc. You tell it like it is and I agree with you that a person needs to experiment with different adjustments to get your own personal sound and what feels and sounds good to the individual. Rock on!!

I was mesmerized by the spinning screwdriver and didn't hear a word you said, Bummer.

Hi Dave, Thank you for reinforcing this idea in me that I desperately needed to do to my guitars. I've also watched some of your other videos and they do offer some great advice. Here in the USA, we have a company called Guitar Fetish and they have lots of great parts and gear for little money. I've just ordered a calibrated set for one of my strats. Tell your little cutie daughter I said HI from California...... Now if you'll excuse me, I have to lower the pickups on my guitars.

EXACTLY what I ws trying to find out! Understand your explanation completely. And thanks a billion. MachOverspeed

Thanks for this video. I toss different ideas around in my head.

Finally....I found somebody to explain in a easy way figure out a height setting for my tone. I use a lot of fuzz distortion pedals so lowering them a bit helped tremendously.

I recently replaced the bridge pickup in my Jackson Dinky with a Seymour Duncan sh6 distortion trembucker and quickly set them to Jackson's recommended pickup height which is about 1.6 mm from the from the strings when fretted at the last fret. Because they are very high output they had a lot of crunch and gain right out of the box with these settings but like you mentioned... The Dynamics or very weak and I did notice a huge drop in sustained compared to the stock Jackson pickups which were very similar output but had a different tone to them, voiced more like a Seymour Duncan sh4 JB. The Jackson pickups had slightly muddy low-end and a very treble high-end with a lot of mids. Your experiences that is presented in your video backs up exactly what I experienced... I back the pickups off away from the strings and I quickly lose some of the output but the Dynamics greatly increased while still maintaining a tight low-end that the sh6 Duncan Distortion is good for. I like a good mid-range hump in my tone and backing off my pickups allowed my high-end to sing just a bit better without being so percussive while keeping my low and tight. Now I feel that I have the best of both worlds and the sh6 Duncan distortion is a lot more versatile in this position being backed away from the strings just a bit just as you state in your video, thank you. Now I can pull off anything from classic rock, dirty Blues to 80s metal the modern metal while before with the pickups closer to the strings... That particular pickup wasn't much good for anything other than high gain stuff like Metallica's and justice for all album out-of-the-box.

Good video mate I came over from David Winters channel liked and subbed and learned something thanks brother.

Great video and very good explanation for adjusting pickups properly. Thanks!

Thanks for taking the time to record load sharing this, I am just about to lower my pups. Gordon Smith makes some nice guitars eh.

I agree and I play on a high gain Agile 8 string. It works across the board with guitars, regardless of the pickup I believe. I backed it down just to pull it back up JUST enough to where it sounds truly proper with all strings. Currently using a Seymour Duncan Pegasus for my bridge and it 100% helped, the voicing is so much more professional sounding

I find it useful to record inbetween height adjustments. So I can listen and compare what sounds better.

Very helpful. Thank you for the clear explanation. It makes sense. Thanks for posting.

dave...good to see a hamer player...i love them and drool over them...and i can say...the new line is ballz out fukn killer

scott grove for the win! great video again man! thanks b.

Excellent video, thank you! :) Keep it up!

Cheers Dave, great video.

Thanks man! I was having trouble intonating. My intonation was wishy washy. I keep going over my neck relief and string hight. I couldn't get my intonation decent. Then I came across your video and tried it. And now im getting clear notes and my intonation is consistent. I'm just messing around with it now trying to get more accurate. Thank You!

helped me out alot! cleaned up my sound!! thanks for the input!!!

adjust the pole pieces to match the contour of the neck then raise or lower the pickups. the output sweet spot will produce leveled harmonics between the strings !

I spent a while adjusting the two humbuckers on my sg and I’ve found there’s a sweet spot sorta midway where the changes are most noticeable. A tiny adjustment up or down from there seems to make a significant difference in both volume and dynamics. Is that normal? I’m trying to find somewhere right in the middle of that zone.

TY Brother ! As you said, it really is a matter of taste, rather a precise measurement ,,,

I bought a new guitar a couple of weeks ago and I could not figure out why I couldn't get the intonation set and stable. Then I noticed the pickups were set too close to the strings from the factory......soon as I backed them off to about 1/8th of an inch hey presto intonated fine.

I noticed on the Les Paul you wrap the strings around the stop tail piece. I have heard that it makes the strings feel possibly one gauge lighter, have you found this?

I dropped the humbuckers in my Epi Les Paul and it's transformed it from a decent to a very dynamic guitar, with natural full sound compared to previously. I always thought Humbuckers needed to be close but it makes sense ofc because a strat is better tonally with low pickups imo. I've only played at a moderate home volume, through a 1 watt tube amp (with very good overdrive) and the difference is clear, it makes playing this guitar much more enjoyable. Thank you.

If i click to the back pickup the volume is noticeably lower. I want the same volume clicking between pickups at least. Right now the rear pickup is a lot lower than the front. Is that why

I just lowered the pickup on my SG to about 4mm on the bridge. The difference is huge. It’s much easier to coax dynamics out, and I’m also hearing a far richer tone. Less output, but a lot more clarity and harmonic content.

What is the optimal height for pickups for a B.C. Rich warlock or does it not matter? Mine appears to be set at 6.3mm or 8.4mm

I'm going to give it a go Dave, pickups I'll try 6 and 8 mil then I'll try 8 mil then I'll try throwing them out the window that doesn't work. Again thanks I wish you were around when I rolled my first joint.

I like low output pickups in a les paul so it can clean up nice and you can always add more gain to push it over the edge. Lowering the pickups certainly makes it sound warmer and gives it clarity at the same time.

often wonder about it. thanks for sharing.

it the magnets you got in and you are right the height between the string and the pick up if you lower the pickup it make you amp work better and sound

you're right, sometimes people want the treble sound. I got it for the low E and stuff, sometimes when playing live somehow the solo played on the lower strings doesn't have enough bite to it. Tho I want to get real TV Jones'es for my guitar sometime. :)

Very nice explained mate... I totally agree with you :-D

I just saw another video. He presses down on the highest fret 22 and measures from the pickup on both bridge and neck 2.4 mm. Will try that and your approach. I have Seymor Duncan tb6 distortion and jazz on neck.

To close to the strings and the string will vibrate unevenly across the length of the string creating disonance(yucky harmonic overtones) which causes cancelating vibrations. Yes it will reduce the sustain. You can demonstrate this by amplifing the effect by holding a strong neodymium(sp?) Magnet close to a string.

I have an ibanez s370 with after market seymour duncans. It's frustrating finding my pickup height on these.

I have guitar with active pickup and it's not my cup of tea. I lowered bridge super low and the neck is deep beneath pickup ring and finally they sound more i want them to.

both your axes are sweet, but damn that V brother!!!!!! awesome video!

So this is good stuff So I had a friend who I used to listen to and he always set his guitar trebbly But when the bar filled the sound bounced on the people and Bassed and he sounded great. It also depends how high your speakers are off the floor .and are you one who goes to the back of the hall with a long cable and listens to your self . It all personal preference but if the sound is good Great and if your awsum Great Very interesting Points good vid

Very helpful advice. Thank you.

pickup height effect output for sure. well if it too close the string hits the pickup when vibrates. how person picks depend how much it moves too. for treble that what tone knob to reducing the treble. I have my tone knob at three.

What shall I say, I followed your advice and... Ta... Tahhh: I brought the PU's down and my LP sounds perfect - still have to check it with the band!!!

You are right, the pick-up breaths better when you lower it

“More trebly sound” - I find the opposite, and if you think about it, it makes sense. Bass frequencies require more energy to travel, and as you back the pickups off, you lose bass frequencies first. Backing off tends to have more of a treble and “focused” (piercing) sound. That being said, I like the way you set them and tend to do about the same

I feel ya brother! Thank you very much! You helped me more than you know! You are spot on!!!

yup...i take mine down a bit..for less pronounced pick attack output...if that makes sence...it seems to pull some mids out?? i like it...

i get more low end with the pups closer to the strings......and get more treble and lower output. when lower pups from strings and palm mutes sound horrible.....i found with my di marzio evo bridge pup....one time i experimented lowering the pup, but raising the pole pieces gave me tons of treble almost like a single coil.....had to do that with my black winter neck because it was too muddy.....helped it a lot

Hi Dave im getting new high to my pickups! The measurement its fron the top of the pull piece or the cover of the pickup? Thanks!

He's not wrong here folks, when you play live and the pups are too high the guitar will actually sound muddy, however in a practice low volume environment high pickups will sound better and brighter.

I adjusted my bridge pickup and got more sustain. I know some people say it should be the other way around, but I measured the thing and indeed there’s more sustain. (stock cheap humbuckers with cover)

I never liked the tone i had in my telecaster. The tone of the single coils was way to bright and cold sounding, specially in the bridge position but also in the neck position. I read somewhere about pickup height regarding telecasters that they recommend to lower the pickups so they got furthers away from the strings to get a more balanced tone. They where totally right. The tone of my telecaster had much more sustain, more dynamics, more balanced sound it was so much more fun to play. Yes, it will give you lower output, but you can always add more gain. So i didn't need to swap the single coils as i thought.

I'm adjusting my humbucker, but after doing so it's not level. Any idea what could be causing that?

You have change the tailpeace and standart brigde to this pecular bridge. How did you did it? You went to luthier, or it is possible to make it your self?

I agree, i got a sd invader attached to a bc rich mockingbird with a mahogany wood, at first it was darker sounding fat and bassy which i dont like then i lowered the pickup about half an inch to the strings and lo and behold!!!

My pickups are tightened as far as they can be and there's still 3/4" space between the pickup and the string. Any solutions? Different springs or height screws? Deeper cavity? Anything? Pretty sure it's the pickups because the old ones had no problems.

For some reason my pickups keep popping up and down (Not the metal bit) But the plastic part, what can I do ?

Great wisdom from Eddard Stark. :)

The magnetic pull on the strings is a real thing. Get your pickups close and then check your intonation. With a standard clip on tuner you'll see the needle jump up and down real hard if youre too close. Back it off until it stops and then you'll know how close you can get said pickup. There's a lot of variation for this region, some high output pickups, like hotrails, have to be pretty far from the strings. Adjust by ear from downward from this point.

it works. thanks a lot.

I like that tone

another thing to do is record yourself from the back of the room or next to your amp then play it back out of your amp remember the more you drink the better you sound to your self personal preferance

Dude! Dont trust Littlefinger!

Nice vid! :)

I set my pickups to 3mm or 2mm on like a strat but my Dean Vx Flying V I set my neck pick up 1mm under the fret board height an the bridge to 3mm sounds good for both types of playing live or home so I don’t have to keep moving them. An like EVH said if it don’t sound good then turn up the volume to 10 😂

Great videos

Another point to add here is the type of pickup. A pickup with massive magnets like a Seymour Duncan Invader or Iron Gear Hammerhead needs to be set lower into the body. Too close and the magnetic field can actually affect the string vibrations

"The Boys Are Back In Town Down At Dino's Bar And Grill " :)

Dave you kick ass for a limey haha love ya bro

Great vid bro...when you change dynamic on pups do u need to re do intonation? ☠️🎸☠️

Cool vid, Dave -- I'd never really given this aspect much thought, thanks!

I just got done building a couple of DYI guitar. I popped off the chrome covers. They didnt match in colors ...So I mounted 2 fronts on 1 guitar...and 2 rears on the other.hahaha I like the way both of them sound.lmao They sound slightly different..about as different of comapairing a Gibson to Cibson.lmao

@jerry D that is right but also wrong, there are certain type of pick ups and pick up heights that match a certain genre

I've just brought a new Les Paul style guitar (Cort CR200) and i was very very confused about these pickup heights, and after watching your video, i decided to give it a try. First i thought that higher pickup means better distortion and higher gain, but after tempering with the pickups for awhile, i've come to a conclusion that; maybe lower pickup is indeed the best way to go, not too low to the point where the pickup literally sinking into the body, but just reasonably low. Its hard to explain why, but i guess what you say might be the case here, about the "dynamics" and stuffs...So yeah, your video helps a lot, thank you! (And i have a question! Is it normal for the pickup to be pretty loose? Its easily going back and forth with just a slight wiggle, is there's a way to make it tight? Or it supposed to be loose like that?)

Great video I’ve always had my pickups nearly touching the damn strings . What I wish to know is , was the 6 ahd 8 mil away from the bottom of the string or raised from the top of the cover , surely it’s the measurinejt between strings and pickups right , excuse my naive comment , sometimes we just do what every one else does

Dave, thanks for your thoughts on the subject. I found this video after watching one of Dickie Betts and noticing how low his pickups are. I'll give it a try.

For PAF-type pickups, I completely agree, but for high-gain pickups I like to go a bit closer to the strings. If I have high gain pickups, I'm not going for subtlety.

Thanks Man !! Nice video . What brand is your V shape guitar ?

I like your videos.

Please tell me how much is the hieght of the two humbucker guitar neck & bridge?

Should humbuckers be straight or angled ?

Dave thanks for the information, made me think of a question thought also. Would lowering the pickup height mean I have to crank the volume on my amp higher to get quiet clean sounds? I guess.... Can i play quietly at home with this and still have the full tone of the notes? Seems like I would need a decent amount of volume for this trick, but well worth it. Thanks again

I should've watched this before i had guy install dimarzio dp220 in bridge. The Guy raised the pickup but it sounds like💩💩now im to scared to adjust it.

Intro song sounds like Pantera's I'll Cast A Shadow

I want that scatchplate on my Gibson Les Paul Junior

So...I just ordered a set of strat pickups from Iron Gear. They owe you money. Without your vids, I would have never considered them.

Another cool thing to play around with is to keep the pickups low but raise the pole pieces high. Very dynamic sound. Pushes things to sound more chimey and single-coil like the more extreme the height difference between pickup and pole pieces. It's not for everyone but it can be fun to try if you're not quite getting what you want from your humbuckers, like if it seems like they're just too muddy sounding no matter what height you have them set at.