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Lowering the neck and middle pickup on the bass side of the strings helps reduce the “Strat-itis”. I remember needing a pickup for the center position of an old Strat and I ended up putting an old Duo-Sonic pickup that was reverse wound and reverse polarity (RW/RP) from the existing bridge and neck pickups. I…

If a compression spring is used for height adjustment there can be several problems associated with them. If the springs are loose especially when the pickups are adjusted lower as in the neck position on typical Stratocasters the springs can vibrate and cause a howling feedback. When playing at higher volumes or in close quarters…

Screws used for height adjustment are usually made of a ferrous material that is plated with nickel, chrome or gold. The height adjust screw used on instruments such as Fender Stratocasters, Telecasters, Gibson humbuckers etc. can attract the magnetic field from the pole pieces or bar magnet and can act like a pole piece. The…

This is a trick I’ve seen Jeff Beck do on a guitar I built for him during the 70s. It was nicknamed The Tele-Gib. He used in on songs like “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers”, and he was seen playing it on the “Secrets Policeman’s Ball” video. He would lower the bridge pickup about 1/4″…

It is basically a amber surgical tubing made from a gummed-rubber that had been commonly used for medical purposes. It has measurements of 1/4″ OD, 1/8″ ID with a wall thickness of 1/8″. It is now commonly used with many types of exercise devices and commonly seen on sling shots. I like using the rubber…

Adjustable screws are used to adjust the balance from string to string. At times you may need to adjust the output on a particular string because it may lack the output for your picking or playing style. You may need to lower a pole to decrease the output on a particular string when the output…

Mounting rings are used for mounting the pickup and allowing height adjustment up or down for the desired pickup position. Mounting rings can be angled to fit the desired area from the neck to bridge position. With mounting rings, the pickup can be adjusted lower on one side and higher on the other. Usually the…

Some players remove the covers from their humbuckers to get the pickup slightly closer to the strings. Some older humbucking mounting rings were higher and allowed for slightly higher pickup adjustment. Some companies fasten the pickups to the cavity of the instrument and you would need to shim the pickup for desired height. I like…

In some cases such as in Stratocasters with 3 pickups, having the pickups too close will cause unwanted harmonic overtones on the lower strings especially when playing way up the neck. The strings become magnetized from the 3 pickups and the notes become very indistinguishable. At times repairman and builders use height adjust springs made…

I find that lowering the adjustable poles in a humbucker flush with the top of the pickup and moving the pickup about 1/16th inch from the strings helps get maximum output with stock pickups. You can use a shorter adjustable polepiece if it extends out the bottom of the pickup. Using a shorter pole will…