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Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on September 24, 2018 at 7:12pm

It can vary a bit due to different strength of magnets, but usually around 6 mm or a 1/4", raising or lowering it will strengthen or weaken the signal also. It is an advantage to be able to raise and lower the pup a little to fine tune it after stringing up, some pups have adjustable pole pieces that help there. The main thing you should try to avoid is having it too close as the magnetic force will "grab" at the strings robbing them of sustain quite a bit. You can make a test bed just using a bit of board and a couple of tuners, string it up with a bolt each end for a nut and bridge at the scale length you are using, then just wire a jack socket to your pup and experiment, raising and lowering the pup with shims, till you find what works best.

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on September 24, 2018 at 7:29pm

Hi, also bare in mind that the bass strings, due to the fact that they have more movement when plucked, are often higher off the pole pieces. The height is measured with the string fretted at the last fret.

The specs for Fender guitars are different to each other depending on the model you are looking at. As an example: Clapton Strats are a suggested 1/16 bass and treble, SRV model Strat 1/8" bass and 3/32" treble. Of course these are single coil pickups.

Taff

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Permalink Reply by William Wright on September 25, 2018 at 7:49am

Thank you all for the information.

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on September 25, 2018 at 9:50am

There is no real set distance. I like to keep mine low. So on a strat style guitar they would be even or a bit lower than the pickguard. Played with a guy who had his Less Paul pickups down below the mounting rings. I've seen players with them almost touching the strings. It's all about sound and what you want out of them. 

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on September 26, 2018 at 1:10pm

Hi William, just to expand a little bit on Cause's fine comments. The why?.

Pickup closer to the strings = more [higher] output and more treble sound

Pickup further away from the strings = less [lower] output and a warmer sound. 

What you want is a balanced output from all strings, whether on the treble side or the warmer side. 

So it's good to set up by ear and  get what sound/tone suits you. Just set up with the string fretted at the last fret.

Taff

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on September 26, 2018 at 10:59pm

It also effects your effects. Pun intended. Like turning your volume down to get a bluesier tone out of a distortion or overdrive pedal. The guitar players reason for having the pickups that low was to make his tube amp work harder. Gave him a very rounded smooth distortion. 

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