Are there any disadvantages to having the pickups too low? Like weak sound or something?

It depends on the pickup and what your using it for. I have scns on my guitars set at various heights to suit the styles i use the guitars for.

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No no and no

i seem to remember reading somewhere that at some point hendrix had his pups flush with the pickguard..

i think lower pups would just make you have to drive your amp more.

In this case they would be custom 54's, do these sound good low or high?

No disadvantages that I can think of.

Why don't you try it to find out what it sounds like. You may like it.

What kind of amp/sound chain do you run?

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I have the pickups in all my Strats almost even with the pickguard. I love the tone. I have slightly less volume and distortion, but I have more sustain.

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

I was reading an article about string and pickup height and it says "Too low and you’ll loose much of the lower frequencies and attack", that's why I thought it was a bad idea to set them really low.
This is the article: http://www.gilmourish.com/?p=288

It depends what your using it for. speed metal, neither. It really comes down to how YOU play and what YOU play. Not what I or anyone else thinks. Find what your comfortable with. I tend to set the height of my bridge pickup to how I want it to sound, based on how i play that guitar (ex. My red and rosewood strats fingers only. My tele used for rockabilly is played with a thick brass pick that i belt the strings with. My hotrods used for classic metal sounds. My partso's used for blues.) and balance the neck and mid pickup volumes to that. Those guitars are all set differently for their different uses.


Its why you should spend a bit of time watching someone play before you adjust their guitar for em. As a general rule i set the bridge pickup around 1/4" off 21st fretted low E and 1/8th off the 21st fretted highE. Balance the other two pickups on a strat. On a tele i dont look to balance, its damn near impossible. I go for a good rounded sound with both pickups on.

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No no and no

Ok try to think of it like this...

If you hold a mike right up to your mouth and make a sound it will sound very loud. Now make that same sound and move the mike 1 foot away from your mouth, the noise is a little distant. Same thing goes for the pickups. You also have to take in to the equasion that the magnetic field will stop the string sooner if it is closer to the magnets, hence less sustain.

Pickup height is a personal choice for every player. You just have to adjust them like you want them. I always start out with Fender Specs and adjust from there.

RK

Thanks for the replies, guys, I've settled with a pretty low pickup height, the thing I noticed the most is increased sustain.

'Personally like them set about midway-ish between guard and strings on a Fender. "Adjust to taste."

The guidelines are really just "in a perfect world" setups. Sometimes they need lower, sometimes you can have them higher. I just set them low enough to get rid of the Stratitis.

I set my pups at different heights on different guitars. Generally I use Bill Lawrence's "Nickel Method" (introduced to me by CAFeathers -forgive me if I'm wrong) to attain a starting point before final pup adjustment. Do a search on the Nickel Method and you will find it explained precisely. Generally I go from there and adjust as needed to find the sweet spot which may be close to the original settings or a good bit off. Keep in mind all pups are different so adjustment is neccessary. Hope this helps.

Russ

I came to realize -- because of this forum -- that alot of people have their pickups too high (and not just Strat owners).

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

Me too. Amazing what you learn here isn't it?

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.