pickup height

[Dave Morrison]

What is normal pickup height I have always had mine about 3/16 below the strings,but I noticed on my friends zum that his are only about 3/32 away.

[Jack Stoner]

Depends on the pickup. The Lawrence 710's should be set at 3/16", however, many are set about a quarter thickness from the strings.

[Tommy Young]

I agree with Jack i once read that george'ls were supposed to be set about a quarter (money) thickness from the strings as george lewis told me himself but other pup's set much further away and they all set different to my ear i take time to set them when i replace and or tune up a guitar I go strictly by my ear, but most single coil pup's sound best around two quarters (MONEY ) away from the strings is a good rule of thumb hope this helps TOMMY

[David Doggett]

I heard two quarter height above the bare magnets, one quarter height if there is a cover over the magnets. The closer the pickup is to the strings, the more signal is picked up. This is especially important to minimize single-coil hum. The hum will be constant regardless of pickup height, but the signal can be boosted further over the hum by getting the pickup close to the strings. One limitation is that the strings will rattle on the pickup if it gets too close. Also, theoretically if the pickup is very close, the magnetic fields might dampen the string vibrations and limit sustain. I suspect the strings will rattle before you get that close.

[Jack Stoner]

My Franklin came with Lawrence 705 pickups (the blade type). They were set approx 1 "loose" quarter (maybe 2 quarters) from the strings.

I replaced them with Lawrence 710's several years ago (and sold the 705's). They are set to the 3/16" and work great. Mr. Franklin(SR) looked at my pickup set up and commented "You have them set to the correct distance from the strings", and went on to say that many were not setting them to the 3/16" and the reason they were having problems with the 710's.

[Clyde Mattocks]

Agreed, there is a "correct" height for certain pickups, but within that sweet spot is a small variation that can be used to tweak the sound, or more importantly, overcome certain overtone problems.