The new Stratocaster FSR I just got has a pickup height of about 5 mm. I see that the setup guide at the Fender site recommends as a guideline:
Standard Single-Coil 5/64" (2 mm) bass side and 4/64" (1.6 mm) treble side. It appears that mine is way off.

Before I start changing the pickup height, I noticed that the pole pieces for the G and the D strings are higher than the others on all 3 pickups. Wouldn't these 2 pole pieces almost touch the strings if I set the height to the recommended guideline?

Your pickup height is what you like the best. Fender's guide is just that. a guide Too close to the strings and your sustain on notes decays badly. Tweak them up or down to experiment, just keep track of the turns you give them to return to the original setting if you are so inclined....Hope this helps. I have mine set pretty low and love em that way, but then that's how I like them. YMMV........ Mike

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

That is close.

I go:
1/8" bass 7/64: trebble

string pressed down at the last fret.




and balance each to the other from there if need be.

If you are unsure what you are doing take measurements of current settings and record them on paper. Then adjust to Fender spec and use that as a starting point. Try it for a while before making judgement. Then begin tweaking to suit your preference. If no amount of tweaking gets you what you want you can always use your piece of paper and go back to how it was. I say to use fender spec as a starting point because there's a reason they give those specs. It's their guitar, they know how to set them up and what is an average setup. An average setup is what you get with Fender specs.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Do a search on the Forum for "Nickel Method" and use that as a starting point.

Pickups closer to the strings will give you more volume, more distortion, but less sustain.
Pickups farther away from the strings will give you more sustain, but less volume and distortion.

Personally I have mine set almost even with the pickguard.

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Chet Feathers

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

Make sure you are following the guidelines...

"Using a 6" (150 mm) ruler, measure the distance from the bottom of the first and sixth strings to the top of the pole piece."

Use your first and sixth pole pieces for this on all pickups. Also, make sure you Edit: ARE fretting the instrument AT THE LAST FRET CLOSEST TO THE PICKUPS. Just the 1st and 6th string need to be used. That's for standard single coil pickups. If you have the Texas Specials then it goes from 3.6 to 2.4mm.

_________________
-Kirk

GUITARS
'12 Sonoran Acoustic - black (dated 10/31/12)
'13 Standard Strat
AMP
Vox ac4c1-bl
PEDALS
Compressor
Big Muff
Vox Stomplab 1G
Carbon Copy Delay

My dilema is that if I use the recommended height, what happens with the pole pieces for the G and D strings (3 and 4), since they are sticking out so much more than the other pole pieces? I've seen pickup that have all pole pieces at the same level, but the ones I have are not those. I have the Fender FSR Standard Stratocaster Electric Guitar. From what I understand it has the standard single coil pickups. It sounds good, but at this point I do not really have anything to compare with.

My pole pieces are like yours. The measurements work for me no problem.

_________________
-Kirk

GUITARS
'12 Sonoran Acoustic - black (dated 10/31/12)
'13 Standard Strat
AMP
Vox ac4c1-bl
PEDALS
Compressor
Big Muff
Vox Stomplab 1G
Carbon Copy Delay

Let me see if I can explain this. The Fretboard on your guitar has a radius of 9.5. It is not flat, it has a curve to it, with the center where the D and G strings are being higher. The strings go along with the radius (look at your bridge saddles and you will see this). The pickups are flat sitting on a flat surface. If the pole pieces are are all the same height then the D and G strings will be farther away from the pole pieces. By having the pole pieces higher in the center they are actually going along with the radius of the fretboard, making them all the same height from the strings.

_________________
Chet Feathers

Authorized TonePros Dealer
Authorized WD Music Products Dealer
F/A Official Southpaw Compliance Certification Tester http://faamps.com/

http://www.facebook.com/cafeathers


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

Thank you. That makes a lot of sense.

I love mine low just maybe a 1/4 of an inch from all the way down , I think you get better tone when there down low , well ido anyway

There is factory specs and then there is what works.

Take a measurement of the current settings just so you know where your at.
String up stretch the strings in and set the intonation.

Put you guitar on the clean channel. Turn the EQ to noon and turn up the volume. Turn your tone up on the guitar and flick to the neck pickup.

Start with the pickups down low and bring them up a turn or so at a time on each side while playing a few chords and listening close. If you get distortion you don't want set them lower. Play the high and low E especially and individual strings so you can ensure you have the desired angle. Be sure to play down the bottom of the guitar neck area as well.

Repeat for the other single pickup settings and double check the humbucking ones. Tweak if you need to.

I've never had a problem doing it this way as it always sounds exactly how I want it to.

Here's how mine look adjusted per the Fender guidelines.





Also, my strings are set per Fender guidelines as well. Hope this helps.

_________________
-Kirk

GUITARS
'12 Sonoran Acoustic - black (dated 10/31/12)
'13 Standard Strat
AMP
Vox ac4c1-bl
PEDALS
Compressor
Big Muff
Vox Stomplab 1G
Carbon Copy Delay

I always plug in my guitar and play it clean when adjusting the pickups. I bring them to the point where the magnets pull the strings, then back them back down. Some of my pickups are higher one E string then the other. It works well when using staggered poled single coils.

I tend to focus more on the sound on the bass side with the 6th string. I'll set it as close as I can before I begin to get that terrible (bleating) sound when the magnetic force of the pickup is interfering with the natural orbit of the strings' vibration.

I'll set the high side more to feel... does it feel (and sound) good.