pickup height adjustment on bridge or neck?

hi all ... I'm new here (so please bear with me) :)

i've been reading different opinions on setting up pickup height. Do I start adjusting the bridge and balance the neck or is it the other way around?

i just want to make sure I'm on the right starting point, and yes, I will use my ears after that :)

thanks guys (and gals)

FWIW, I would get the pickup you use more to a good height w.r.t. signal/noise ratio, output level, and bass/treble balance.

Then I would adjust the other pickup to balance the first one. But I am no tech; YMMV.

Hi and welcome to TDPRI! I usually begin with adjusting the PUs to stock specifications as found on Fender's webbsite. If that sounds ok good but I rarely stop there. I then begin the everlasting chase for the sweet spot for the PUs. I usually begin at the neck for no specific reason other than that IME is a bit easier to find a nice tone from the neck PU but that is just ME. I then go to the bridge (pun not intended) and try to find its sweet spot. When done I compare the levels switching back and forth. I like the bridge to be more protuding for solo and fills. Last I listen to how they mix in parallell and in series if I use a 4 way switch. Usually when both sound ok separatly I am satisfied with how they mix. But at last, this is all subjective. I usually like it for a month and then I start over ;-) so there is no specific order you need to perform adjustments in. Play around with it and good luck on your quest:-)

I chose whichever pickup I use the most and then adjust until I find where I like it. I then adjust the other pickup to match output. It' snot scientific, but it works for me.

Just beware getting too close to the strings and you'll figure it out.

I use a combination of the methods already described, depending on what the intentions are with the guitar.

I always start by setting each pickup so that it sounds as good as it can. Sometimes, you need each pickup to sound as good as it can on its own (particularly for recording), and if that's the case I stop there.

Most players tend to prefer one pickup over the other and lean on it for leads. If that's the case, then I keep that one set to sound as good as it can and adjust the other to match. This involves a series of compromises, and I find a lot of times that I have to reduce the output on the bridge to match better with the sound of the neck. Even if the output level is the same, the bridge cuts so much more and sounds disproportionately louder.

On most of the Tele's I play, I sorta live in the middle pos. I search for a beefy yet sparkly sound. When I get there, neck alone is fine but the bridge is usually a bit too shrill on it's own. However there's a clever remedy for sorting that - the tone control.

thanks for the welcome and for the replies ... that's actually a great advice on making the pickups sound their best and that might work for me. I hardly use the middle position but always switch between bridge/neck within a song so this is a very sound advice. thanks again!

Thanks for asking this question, rhoydotp. I was just about to ask the same thing. Got a new CV Thinline today and the bridge pickup sounds nothing like the CV 50 (yes, I know they're different pickups). It's got twang, but is thin and the volume is way down. The bass side is 1/16, just like Fender says for single coils. Hmmmm. I'll try taking it up just a teeny, I guess. The neck pickup sounds great-- very Strat-like-- but has half again the volume the bridge does.

It is a very personal thing of course. I find the Tele bridge pup to be the 'sensitve thing' and it took me a couple of years to even figure out how to enjoy it. I've honestly never played a Tele neck pup that I couldn't get pretty happy with quickly.

So...I adjust the bridge pup to get the bite and such I want, run it all over the place with amp(s) and the tone knob etc. and then start messing with the neck pup height and mid-position balance. But from that point I rarely touch the bridge pup positioning again, just the neck because I don't want to mess up the good thing I've got going on down there by the bridge.

IME pickup height is typically a very important thing to mess with if you're not happy with yer sound. Some pups never respond much, most do.

Should add that I am not a great player, this is just how I do it.

Thanks for asking this question, rhoydotp. I was just about to ask the same thing. Got a new CV Thinline today and the bridge pickup sounds nothing like the CV 50 (yes, I know they're different pickups). It's got twang, but is thin and the volume is way down. The bass side is 1/16, just like Fender says for single coils. Hmmmm. I'll try taking it up just a teeny, I guess. The neck pickup sounds great-- very Strat-like-- but has half again the volume the bridge does.

If after adjusting you're still having a problem with significantly reduced output it may be caused by a broken coil wire on the pickup itself and the pickup will need be replaced.

This isn't a common problem but there have been reports of some issues just like you describe with Squier Alnico V pickups. I had a similar problem with my CVC but with a neck pickup instead of a bridge.

If you can't find a solution by adjusting take the guitar back to the vendor and have them repair the guitar or replace it.

Which one would you most likely use the most?

If after adjusting you're still having a problem with significantly reduced output it may be caused by a broken coil wire on the pickup itself and the pickup will need be replaced.

This isn't a common problem but there have been reports of some issues just like you describe with Squier Alnico V pickups. I had a similar problem with my CVC but with a neck pickup instead of a bridge.

If you can't find a solution by adjusting take the guitar back to the vendor and have them repair the guitar or replace it.
Thank you!