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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…

Most often it you need to support the floating pickup within a mounting ring by using a piece of foam rubber in the cavity of the instrument. I do this often to keep pickups from vibrating that can give you unwanted and annoying sounds if you accidentally hit the instrument hard when playing. The soft…

For most Gibson style pickups, make sure you are using a quality height adjust spring. It’s a compression spring and has a fair amount of pressure to hold the pickup firm. I also use a piece of foam rubber to help keep the pickup from moving around inside the pickup cavity. On Fender style pickup,…

There are a few things you can do. Make sure the height adjust springs are firm enough to hold the weight of the pickup in the mounting ring. If the pickup is adjusted low the compression spring become looser and can cause the pickup to vibrate or move more freely. I would use a soft…

Many of the older Fender instruments used a 6/32 x 1/2″ oval head, Philip screw. Many after market screws are often 6/32 x 5/8th” which will give you more area to lower your pickup. Make sure the spring or rubber grommet is not too long and putting too much pressure on the threads as the…

You need to remove the pickup from the mounting ring or pickguard. Sometimes the plastic in the pickguards can shrink, making it difficult to raise or lower a pickup. Many times the height adjust springs are too long for a particular position. You can reduce the length of a spring or rubber grommet that will…

You can try adjusting the height on the pickups and lowering the bridge pickup will generally help. Try adjusting the single coil pickups closer to the strings. I always press the high and low string down at the last fret and adjust the pickups to about 1/8″ on the bass side and 1/16″ on the…

The pickup height is important to the output of a pickup. The closer the pickup is to the strings, the magnetism in the pickup will magnetize the strings stronger. As the strings move back and forth over the pickup, the moving magnetic field through the coils in the pickup generates an alternating current. Having the…