I've seen people post advice to lower the pickup if someone finds it too trebly. Do most people agree that lowering a pickup reduces the treble? I've never noticed any difference. The only thing I notice when lowering a pickup is that there's less bass.
Does lowering a pickup reduce treble?
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bluesky636
Tele-Holic
Yes, lowering a pickup will reduce treble. That's why pickups are set to different heights on the treble and bass ends - to balance the sounds. I had the SCNs on my Strat set at 10/64" on the bass side and 8/64th inch on the treble side. I replaced the stock bent steel saddles with stainless steel saddles from GFS and found that they made the treble brighter. I dropped the treble side to 9/64" and all is perfect.
UserNotAvailable
Tele-Afflicted
:Lowering definitively _Increases_ the Treble - but lowers volume
:Raising increases bass - and raises volume -
Treble may be hard to get rid off, because raising it makes it louder, sorta a catch 22.. here, I can see where its confusing folks..
you may want to try a .1 tone cap ( over your .022 or .047) this is to knock down the systems treble a bit - via~ Load,
It works because even when your tone is wide open the cap still knocks things down, and a .1 would make a quick improvement.. and very expensive to test
:Raising increases bass - and raises volume -
Treble may be hard to get rid off, because raising it makes it louder, sorta a catch 22.. here, I can see where its confusing folks..
you may want to try a .1 tone cap ( over your .022 or .047) this is to knock down the systems treble a bit - via~ Load,
It works because even when your tone is wide open the cap still knocks things down, and a .1 would make a quick improvement.. and very expensive to test
photoweborama
Friend of Leo's
I found that with humbuckers, lowering the pickups increases the treble and the crunchyness.
Humbuckers have less treble... What about that!
Humbuckers have less treble... What about that!
jefrs
Doctor of Teleocity
How does a pickup work?
The magnets create a magnetic field through the coil and around the string. The vibrating string interrupts the magnetic field, or otherwise causes it to fluctuate, this causes a current to flow in the coil. Ok so far?
Now if the string is very close to the pole it may cause the field to fluctuate to its maximum extent i.e. the fluctuation cannot get any greater no matter how hard you pluck the string: we have reached magnetic saturation (for the string). We do not have strings that close because they hit the pickup, but we often identify a lesser effect as a form of 'natural' compression. At saturation the coil will generate a certain maximum amount of current, as the string vibration decays from saturation the amplitude of the signal initially remains high but the current lessens, as the note decays further, the current lessens too, and the timbre of the note changes because the waveform changes: we hear this as picking dynamics, the initial heavy attack and decay of an overdriven power chord, yet still being able to pick individual clear loud notes by picking lightly.
If we however move the pickup away from the string, we increase the dynamic range. No longer do we reach saturation on any but the most violent attacks, we can achieve clear chord work by picking more lightly, individual string take on a bell-like ringing quality. Move the pickup too far away and the notes become rather anaemic.
It may be noted that bass strings being thicker cause a greater disruption of the magnetic field than do the treble side. This means that the bass notes should be louder than the treble. This is compensated by: the way we hear - we require bass notes to be louder; the way the pickup is wound - as an inductor in a resistive circuit it is more efficient towards the treble; by the way we adjust the pickup poles or slant the pickup - we are familiar with staggered poles and compensating for wound vs plain 3rd strings.
In practice we adjust the pickup height to compromise between the close in sustain and frissance, and the far away quiet sweet clarity.
It should also be noted that magnetism is known as a weak force, its effect drops off very rapidly with distance, something like proportional to inverse cube of distance (actually rather complicated), so small changes in distance have a lot of effect: the pickup needs to be within a few millimetres of the string.
The magnets create a magnetic field through the coil and around the string. The vibrating string interrupts the magnetic field, or otherwise causes it to fluctuate, this causes a current to flow in the coil. Ok so far?
Now if the string is very close to the pole it may cause the field to fluctuate to its maximum extent i.e. the fluctuation cannot get any greater no matter how hard you pluck the string: we have reached magnetic saturation (for the string). We do not have strings that close because they hit the pickup, but we often identify a lesser effect as a form of 'natural' compression. At saturation the coil will generate a certain maximum amount of current, as the string vibration decays from saturation the amplitude of the signal initially remains high but the current lessens, as the note decays further, the current lessens too, and the timbre of the note changes because the waveform changes: we hear this as picking dynamics, the initial heavy attack and decay of an overdriven power chord, yet still being able to pick individual clear loud notes by picking lightly.
If we however move the pickup away from the string, we increase the dynamic range. No longer do we reach saturation on any but the most violent attacks, we can achieve clear chord work by picking more lightly, individual string take on a bell-like ringing quality. Move the pickup too far away and the notes become rather anaemic.
It may be noted that bass strings being thicker cause a greater disruption of the magnetic field than do the treble side. This means that the bass notes should be louder than the treble. This is compensated by: the way we hear - we require bass notes to be louder; the way the pickup is wound - as an inductor in a resistive circuit it is more efficient towards the treble; by the way we adjust the pickup poles or slant the pickup - we are familiar with staggered poles and compensating for wound vs plain 3rd strings.
In practice we adjust the pickup height to compromise between the close in sustain and frissance, and the far away quiet sweet clarity.
It should also be noted that magnetism is known as a weak force, its effect drops off very rapidly with distance, something like proportional to inverse cube of distance (actually rather complicated), so small changes in distance have a lot of effect: the pickup needs to be within a few millimetres of the string.
So far... one person thinks lowering the pickup reduces treble, two people think it increases treble.
jefrs, that sounds to me like you're saying that lowering the pickup would decrease both the treble and the bass. Is that right?
jefrs, that sounds to me like you're saying that lowering the pickup would decrease both the treble and the bass. Is that right?
donh
Tele-Afflicted
Everything is a tone control.
move it and listen. if you can't hear the difference, it doesn't matter!
+1 Thanks for typing it all out, mate.
I only ever adjust PU height by ear and the feel and response I get, I've never measured a PU's height in all these years, and I can't see that I ever will. What's in a number? It's the result that counts. I only ever go with what I like, and what feels right to me.
boneyguy
Doctor of Teleocity
I've always experienced that lowering the pickup makes it sound more trebly. Whether it actually increases treble frequencies or not or simply cuts bass freq's I don't know(that's my guess) but it definetly makes them brighter and thinner sounding.
This is my experience too.
jefrs
Doctor of Teleocity
Not really.
Lowering the pickup will decrease 'presence':- the notes become 'sweeter' and 'cooler'.. Raising the pickup increases 'sustain' and 'compression': the sound will be more 'in yer face'. A tele bridge pickup will icepick if too high, screaming treble, but the bass is also goes louder. It's all to do with that magnetic field.
In the simplest view, a pickup is a microphone. If you stick a humbucker in an acoustically bright guitar, the humbucker will sound bright. If you stick the same humbucker in a more dull sounding guitar, the same humbucker will sound brown. (my Epi Joe Pass is bright, my Ibanez Artcore is brown: it's not the pickups). You adjust the pickup to get the best sound out of it on a given guitar. Changing or adjusting a pickup will not alter the tone of the string, which is what generates the signal in the pickup in the first place.
You have to try adjusting your pickups to find out what happens, they vary quite a lot. Once you get an idea of what is happening, you can adjust the pickup to obtain the sound you want.
I'm not saying pickups are all alike, but you can put the best pickups in the world in a complete turkey of a guitar, and it will still be a turkey.
gitlvr
Friend of Leo's
The closer the magnet is to the string, the louder that string becomes. The farther away, the quieter. That's why you see pickups, especially single coils, with slanted heights.
Want more bass? Move the bass string poles closer to the string(or the treble pole pieces farther away). Need more highs? Do the reverse.
Raising the pickup evenly will give it more punch and make it louder. Consequently, it will boost whatever inherent tone the pickup has. If it's inherently bright, it'll seem louder and brighter. More heavy on the low end? You get the idea. If you have really hot pickups, you can really push the front end of an amp by raising them.
Lowering a pickup evenly will reduce volume and IME give it a lot smoother tone. It will also, again IME, tend to let you get away with lower action(within reason) without buzz being picked up by the pickups. You might hear the buzz unplugged, but it won't translate through the amp. You can also reduce the tendancy of really hot pickups to push an amp into overdrive at high volumes.
Playing around with pup height can offer a lot af variation in tone, and is just one of many things at your disposal to shape your sound.
Want more bass? Move the bass string poles closer to the string(or the treble pole pieces farther away). Need more highs? Do the reverse.
Raising the pickup evenly will give it more punch and make it louder. Consequently, it will boost whatever inherent tone the pickup has. If it's inherently bright, it'll seem louder and brighter. More heavy on the low end? You get the idea. If you have really hot pickups, you can really push the front end of an amp by raising them.
Lowering a pickup evenly will reduce volume and IME give it a lot smoother tone. It will also, again IME, tend to let you get away with lower action(within reason) without buzz being picked up by the pickups. You might hear the buzz unplugged, but it won't translate through the amp. You can also reduce the tendancy of really hot pickups to push an amp into overdrive at high volumes.
Playing around with pup height can offer a lot af variation in tone, and is just one of many things at your disposal to shape your sound.
Fender says the height from the top of my humbucker poles ('72 thinline RI) to the string should be 4/64". At that height the treble is so shrill it's like jamming an icepick in my ears and the pickup was so hot the strings made a mass of sound. I had to lower it considerably to get reasonable treble levels and cool off the sound. I know it is a matter of individual taste, but why am I so far off from the Fender recommended specs (probably 16/64" on the treble side)?
giantslayer
Tele-Holic
+1 on Jefrs.
Lowering the pickup lets it breathe more and have a more airy quality. More delicate details in the highs are apparent.
What people are probably referring to when they say to lower the pickup to reduce treble is probably to just lower the treble side of the pickup, not the whole thing.
Lowering the pickup lets it breathe more and have a more airy quality. More delicate details in the highs are apparent.
What people are probably referring to when they say to lower the pickup to reduce treble is probably to just lower the treble side of the pickup, not the whole thing.
JKjr
Tele-Afflicted
You need to listen to what sounds best in pick up height adjustment. Too high you get overtones, too low you get an anemic tone. However, generally lower is cleaner until you hit the anemic point. Different guitars and different pick ups require different adjustments to get to your desired tone. On my Tele, the base side is lower on both pups. I primarily play in the middle position, so I keep my neck treble side higher than the bridge treble side which for me on my Tele helps to eliminate the "ice pick tone"
Fearnot
Poster Extraordinaire
Also known as 1/4"?
