Do you adjust your Humbucker Pole's and for what effect?

[Crimsontider]

I spent a good part of my life as a drummer, I played guitar, but never really learned the nuts and bolts like I have with drums and now computer's. That aside:

Do you adjust your poles, and how profound is the scope of doing so and how do you like yours set sound wise? I adjusted mine to even the string output. I actually like to have my D, G and B a little louder so they stand out on non major and open G chords. If I want to get more thump, I raise the pickup. When I look at guitars hanging on the racks, the poles position varies from guitar to guitar.. I would think that most guitarists never touch them, not you guys but the general public.

Is it correct to flatten them out, use something like a sound level meter, and get them all about the same level.

Any comments appreciated on your preference on poles and sound. And the scope of change you can get from a pup.

[murkat]

yes I do

for myself and clients.

I believe it is a profound adjustment in honing in a tone,

But, the adjustments are what is what of said pickup and what you want out of it.

can't make clam chowder out of oysters.

[Disturber]

Yes, on every guitar. Pickup height and screw pole height. Can take a lot of fiddling to get it exactly right. Sometimes I mess with magnets as well. I've had guitars that were really hard to dial in, took a loooong time and a lot of try outs - then you just get it right. Then just remember never to mess with it again.

[gorch]

It's only nuances and certainly depends on pickup and taste. Double D's of the Tally don't allow to adjust anyway.

If you want to know the difference then record one guitar on two settings playing the same pattern, lick or rhythm. Leave the recordings for a week or two to forget about emotional impressions. Cut the recordings to one song piece. Burn it on CD with another song leading. Then listen to the CD in the car.

[Armitage]

I've always adjusted my screws the same way the Gibson Custom Shop always recommended... to match the fretboard radius.

[Armitage]

[zzzdat]

Some people will go as far as using a volt meter and playing each string to measure the output of that pole piece/string and adjust for even voltage on all strings.

To me thats to much science vs does it sound good. I do a little fiddling if it doesn't sound balanced, sometimes lower or higher for more or less gain, after that I'm good.

Cool Beans

Gene

[ZR]

I usually do the radius thing for the most part but I'm a lot less of a gear-head lately. I thought EVH screwed his in all the way down and raised the PU to his liking...I may have remembered this wrong so correct me if needed!

[Ting Ho Dung]

I like to make mine all face the same way so it looks nice since I normally don't plug the guitars in anyway.

[aknapp]

I like to make mine all face the same way so it looks nice since I normally don't plug the guitars in anyway.

YES! But in which direction do the screw slots point? In-line with the strings or perpendicular to them?

[Ting Ho Dung]

I like to make mine all face the same way so it looks nice since I normally don't plug the guitars in anyway.

YES! But in which direction do the screw slots point? In-line with the strings or perpendicular to them?

Kind of a 1 O'clock 7 O'clock thing. Call me weird.

[Crimsontider]

Good information. I have a Duncan TB-4 and a single coil Dimazio HS-2 (Diablo stock). I never adjusted them in the past until I noticed that some strings sounded too prominent. So I just flattened them all raised them a little and used software to look at the signal strength when I plucked each string, and then made the middle strings a little louder. Not sure if this is the preferred approach, but I liked the results, and it;s easy to tweak.

Do they come calibrated or flat by default? And, how do you do this with a single coil that has no screws in the surface?

Have always adjusted pickup height towards the high end, but there seems to be a point that starts making the signal distorted.

[Submariner85]

I have never but that is because I wouldn't even know what I would be trying to do.

[Crimsontider]

I have never but that is because I wouldn't even know what I would be trying to do.

There is something to this. If you buy a guitar and it sounds good to you, why mess with it. I bet factory default is probably good.

I just did mine for the 1st time, and I wouldn't have even had the desire to inquire about it but it sounded bass heavy. Whomever owned the Hamer before me must have tweaked them to death metal or something I like the Jake E. Lee sound better.

[gorch]

What's the software you'd been using Greg?

[Hackubus]

[Caddie]

Magnetic poles strength, vibrating wires mass, distance between poles n wires, wire vibration frequency and amplitude, position of magnet with respect to wave node. The guitar being a plectrum instrument (the strings are plucked even if you are strummin') The guitar string wave starts as a square wave. As it decays….Hey Feynman, would you please channel that guy (father, grandfather, uncle) in your family tree who won the Nobel Prize in Physics, Surely that person could shed some accurate explanation of magnetism with respect to a vibrating wire.

caddie

[KH Guitar Freak]

Honestly, it's comes down to personal preference. Don't forget that each string has different intensities. So when you pick/pluck a string, then bend it up or down, wouldn't the adjacent polepiece be adjusted "incorrectly"? Then you'll need a bar style magnetic pole for your pickups then...

[Brentrocks]

i primarily do it on p-90s, because they are less adjustable than a humbucker

[Andrew]

Ted McCarty is quoted as saying the adjustable poles on humbuckers were a marketing decision and aren't really all that effective or necessary. In one interview he said that it looked better and that it was to get one up on the unadjustable Fender pickup.

It's nonsense - the other pole pieces are all flat on a PAF. At best you will throw out the balance between the coils by dropping out/in a string where you adjust the screw down or up. But I don't think you get that much change in the field anyway by moving the screw up or down a few milimeters. A lot of pickups are fully covered - no poles visible - if it was necessary to do this adjustment would they do this?

The only reason the PAF style remains popular is because of tradition, it is the cultural ideal of what a humbucking pickup should look like.

[hamerhead]

In 40+ years I've had one pickup where a string was way louder than the rest - it was an acoustic pickup and didn't have adjustable polepieces. Sold it. I hope to nobody here.

Otherwise I kinda eyeball that they're somewhat radiused, and there ya go. Raise/lower pickup to taste.

[murkat]

Ted McCarty is quoted as saying the adjustable poles on humbuckers were a marketing decision and aren't really all that effective or necessary. In one interview he said that it looked better and that it was to get one up on the unadjustable Fender pickup.

True. Seth Lover's original prototype humbucker had no adjustable pole pieces,

also true to the marketing ploy.

"It's nonsense - the other pole pieces are all flat on a PAF. At best you will throw out the balance between the coils by dropping out/in a string where you adjust the screw down or up. But I don't think you get that much change in the field anyway by moving the screw up or down a few milimeters. A lot of pickups are fully covered - no poles visible - if it was necessary to do this adjustment would they do this?"

true and false.

Some coils were hotter than the other. Balanced coils where extremely rare.

Adjusting the pole pieces can make a difference in tone, fidelity, a proven fact.

Pickup covers protected the coils and negated interference of radio frequencies, etc.

Humbuckers were designed back in the fifties, fifties logic has to be applied as to thought and application.

On a side note, Seth also made the P90 and staple top for Gibson, He was just a hired general labor with radio tech background from the military, (if memory serves me... or maybe not....)

[Crimsontider]

What's the software you'd been using Greg?

Soundtrax, it came with Nero Burning software. It's main function is to drop .wav files and make anything from stereo to 7.1. Unlike many wav programs, you can look at your signal in a large window. FL Studio also has something of the sort. I used this plus my ear to get my where I liked it. probably more ear that anything, but the program helped, especially looking at it after flattening everything.

[ZR]

I have never but that is because I wouldn't even know what I would be trying to do.

There is something to this. If you buy a guitar and it sounds good to you, why mess with it. I bet factory default is probably good.

I just did mine for the 1st time, and I wouldn't have even had the desire to inquire about it but it sounded bass heavy. Whomever owned the Hamer before me must have tweaked them to death metal or something I like the Jake E. Lee sound better.

Good idea about using the software but I'm not as much of a gear head tweaking this and that as I used to be. But when I did I would always just adjust it by ear.

You mentioned the factory default being good...I disagree for the most part. I'd be surprised if most guitars - except for the high end stuff - have pickups that are adjusted at all during the final setup. They're probably just installed as they are from the factory and left alone. I do think adjusting is a good idea in general though. Each guitar is different...type of wood used, density of wood etc. that could warrant such adjustment.

You guys might try Audacity. It's free and should have some basic metering and/or freq. analyser (no sex jokes please!) , spectrogram etc. to see the outputs of each string. If it's not included with Audacity then get back with me and I'll have some other suggestions. Have fun with it!

[ZR]

What's the software you'd been using Greg?

Soundtrax, it came with Nero Burning software. It's main function is to drop .wav files and make anything from stereo to 7.1. Unlike many wav programs, you can look at your signal in a large window. FL Studio also has something of the sort. I used this plus my ear to get my where I liked it. probably more ear that anything, but the program helped, especially looking at it after flattening everything.

How well does that Soundtrax program work? I never heard of anything like that before but it sounds interesting. Have you used it then played the results through a 7.1 system? How did it sound?

And, Greg...I noticed the capitalization of GL on your user name. Does that mean GL ass cock...like you are a G&L guitar fan with sex on your brain...or is it GLasscock as in some sex device...or your penis is very fragile... you just accidentally capitalized the L or?