Very interesting thing he said about Allmans setup. Sounds like he was trying to drop the pickup then raise the poles up. If you did this on one coil only would that be a way to balance a humbucker between noise reduction and single coil tone? Has anyone tried this?
Very interesting thing he said about Allmans setup. Sounds like he was trying to drop the pickup then raise the poles up. If you did this on one coil only would that be a way to balance a humbucker between noise reduction and single coil tone? Has anyone tried this?
No but I'm gonna try now lol
Very interesting thing he said about Allmans setup. Sounds like he was trying to drop the pickup then raise the poles up. If you did this on one coil only would that be a way to balance a humbucker between noise reduction and single coil tone? Has anyone tried this?
I have done this with neck pickups but not to the extent or extreme he was talking about with Allman's guitar. I have lowered the pickup to eliminate some of the bottom end and then raised the screws for the G, B and high E strings a bit to bring up the highs. I have not noticed any reduction in noise canceling when I have done this.
I used to think the screws were to hold the pickup together and the smooth top HB's were glued together. This is actually the first time I heard of someone raising the screw instead of the whole pickup.
I used to think the screws were to hold the pickup together and the smooth top HB's were glued together. This is actually the first time I heard of someone raising the screw instead of the whole pickup.
Probably the most common time someone will raise a screw is if you have a string that is a little quieter than the others. If you raise the screw under it a little it will help bring the volume up on that one string. If there isn't really room to raise that one screw you can lower the whole pickup just a little then raise that one screw to achieve balance in volume across all of the strings on that pickup.
There are always two strings that give me the most difficultly dialing in; Low E and A. I am always looking for a certain "growl" on those two strings without changing the tone on the rest. I am going to try raising those two pole screws and see what happens.
I agree, a lot of profiles are too bright on the top 4 strings and not enough on the lower strings. So you play a lot of games trying to make them work. Curious how you make out.
Thanks BT! Interesting vid, I admit that after 35 years of playing it’s something I hadn’t really considered.
I’ve never been one to mess with pickups too much - these days it’s too easy to tweak other settings to achieve similar results…. BUT this has merit as it’s your “raw sound” going in.
Next time I change stings I may just have to pull out my screwdriver.
Thanks BT! Interesting vid, I admit that after 35 years of playing it’s something I hadn’t really considered.
I’ve never been one to mess with pickups too much - these days it’s too easy to tweak other settings to achieve similar results…. BUT this has merit as it’s your “raw sound” going in.
Next time I change stings I may just have to pull out my screwdriver.
It may not be necessary for live play but when doing recordings you want your tone to be top notch so you have no excuses for making a bad song.
Once I bought a Kemper, I really started to learn more about good sound. And pickups were the first thing that made the most difference. I immediately noticed how bad some of my pickups sounded and how some strings were deader than others. I swapped out some pickups and adjusted pole pieces on others.
I read an article on Eric Johnson ages ago where they talked about how much he adjusted pole pieces. I just dismissed it since I had no quality gear to even expose the changes that could be made. Now I do, the Kemper.
I estimate 90% of the humbucker guitars I've worked on have had the pickups too high. I have to admit that I've never played with the individual screws other than a long time ago when I decided they didn't make a noticeable difference. I'll have another go.
...or not. I believe Tom Anderson doesn't rate adjustable poles either:
Lundgren Pickups neither. Well most of them but not all. Don't know why.
It was until a couple of years ago I found out about screws on pickups. Most guitarists don't know and will never know. But it's not our fault. Pickup brands should include an instruction when selling their third part pickups and enlighten guitarists.
This is actually the first time I heard of someone raising the screw instead of the whole pickup.
