Can anyone provide a baseline or recommend pickup height for stock American Standard single coil pickups? I changed pickguard recently, and unfortunately did not record the height of the 3 pickups. I know Fender site states initial setup is 5/64" on bass and 4/64" on treble side. Is this for all pickups or just neck pup.? Any help or comments on this topic would be appreciated. I loved the tones I got from original factory setup, but now I cannot duplicate them. Thanks

Hi topolino47, welcome to the Forum.

This question has been asked A LOT, so don't be surprised if people tell you so.

But anyway. Start with those recommended heights, found whilst pressing the strings down at the last fret.

The next bit depends entirely on your particular pickups and your musical tastes. You need to adjust the heights of the pickups relative to one another in order to get them to give similar output (volume) as you move through the selector switch positions. Or you might want to adjust them so that the bridge pickup gives more output than the others, if you use it just for solos, for example.

You also might want to raise or lower the treble side relative to the bass in order to balance the output across the strings. And you can also set all of your pickups jointly lower or higher, on the principle that the higher they are the more output they will give, the lower they are the more sustain they will transmit to the amp. But if you set them too high the magnets will interfere with the vibration of the strings and you will get nasty "wolf notes": be careful.

And all of this will be affected by whether you have a "calibrated" set of pickups or not, whether they have staggered pole pieces, and how your amp relates to your ears. It's all to do with personal preference.

You could also do a search in this Forum for previous posts and threads by Forum user Chet Feathers concerning his "nickel method" of setting pickup height.

Looks like you're going to be busy...

Cheers - C

Ceri,
Thanks for the reply. I set all 3 pickup heights to 5/64" bass side and 4/64" on treble side. Neck pup had slightly less volume so I moved it up 1/64" (6/64" & 5/64"). Guitar now sounds great. Even better than factory setup. Thanks for the input. Just one more ? if you will. What determines overall volume when switch is on 2 pups? ie: positions 2 & 4? Thanks again

What are you measuring?

Those distances are supposed to be the distances between the string and the pole pieces. If you set that distance on your neck pickup to be 5/64 and 4/64 and then moved the pickup up 1/64, the distances would be 4/64 and 3/64.

You've got me confused.

_________________
Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Must be measuring the actual pickup body from the pickguard up.

_________________
The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

Orvilleowner.
Sorry for the confusion. Yes you are correct with the 4/64" & 3/64" dimensions. Measurements are from top of pole pieces to bottom of string w/ strings fretted at last fret. Thanks

Whew, I'm glad to hear we are on the same page now.

_________________
Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.