Pickup adjusments

[Triple-o]

I was reading the Fender specs for setting up meeting my Am Pro telecaster pickups.It said the distance from the pickups to the strings was 5/64 at  the bass and 4/64 for the treble. (I saw on a tele forum where two of its members called Fender and one was told the starting measurement was 8/64 and treble 6/64.) It then said the distance will vary according to the amount of magnet pull from the pickup and the given measurement was just a starting point. So, I am assuming it’s all about sound and how hard you pluck or strum the strings that really determines the height. High enough so that the vibrating strings don’t hit the pickups. I assume the bass is set higher because the low E  vibrates more. I would have assumed that magnet pull would be the same on every American Professional tele.

Mine came from factory set at 8/64 and 6/64 . When I lowered the height I couldn’t really tell if it sounded different,but it may have been a little “brighter” at the higher setting.

I also found on a YouTube site where someone was saying  you should non magnetic measuring tools.

Edited July 2, 2018 by Triple-o

[Greg Voros]

Hey Hey,

Ok, here it is in a nutshell.

In order to accurately take a pickup height measurement you would first hold down the guitars string one at a time on the two E's at the last fret and measure the distance between the string and the pole piece of the pickup. On a single coil pup it should be 3/32nds and a humbucker at 1/16th. That's a great place to set them before plugging in the guitar to hear the balance. If at that point a pickup is hotter than the rest, then that pup would get lowered to match the others. If you raise the pups beyond that point, the magnet is likely to pull on the string somewhat and cause funky fret buzz issues.

Cheers,

Greg Voros