How To Properly Set Pickup Height

Learning how to set your pickup’s height correctly is probably the most overlooked step in purchasing a set of pickups. It would be like buying a new car and not inflating the tires. Pickup height is a critical element of your guitar’s tone. Set too low, and your pickup is inefficient and weak. Set too high, and your pickup will cause all sorts of problems for you. Let’s delve into why pickup height matters, and how to set it correctly!

Why Pickup Height Matters:

Set to the correct height, your pickup’s magnets create a strong magnetic field that gives your guitar the tone that you love. Set too high, and your pickups can push and pull your strings out of tune. The Magnetic Field is not optimized when the pickup is set too low.

This article focuses on pickups that feature Alnico Magnets – think Stratocaster or Telecaster. P90-style pickups really benefit from the entire pickup being raised to the optimized height, and then fine-tuning the string balance with pole pieces. Split Blades are a different beast: check the video below to see Lindy adjust some Split Blades.

Follow this guide for Bass Pickups as well. Be aware that the strings on a Bass have a larger oscillation pattern. If they interfere with your pickups physically, lower your pickup height

How To Measure:

Start by pressing the Low E String (Bass Side) down at the highest fret, and hold it while you measure.
Measure the distance from the bottom of the string to the top of the Low E Pole.
Do the same thing on the High E String (Treble Side).

Correct Height:

Let’s clear something up: there is no 100% accurate height. That said, here is a great starting point:

Correct Pickup Height Starting Point — Correct starting point for setting pickup height

The reason why there is no “100% correct” height, is that every guitar, player, and playing style differs. One guitarist may play harder than another guitarist, and one guitar may have thicker and heavier gauge guitar strings than another!

Common Mistakes:

1.) Setting Pickup Height Too High:

Setting your pickup height too high will cause your magnets to push and pull your strings out of tune. Here’s a quick way to tell if this is happening to you: play the Low E string at a high fret (15th fret is a good one to start at). You might hear a “warbling” sound. That sound is your magnet fighting your string. Back the pickup away until the “warbling” sound disappears!

Setting the pickup height too high can cause interference with your guitar strings

2.) Setting Pickup Height Too Low:

Setting your pickup height too low would cause your pickup not to be optimized for your guitar. Your magnetic field “floats” above the pickup, and if your strings are out of the field, you won’t get a rich, full tone. That said, backing off on your pickup’s height will cause your bass to thin and your pickup to sound a bit “sweeter” – you might like it! Experiment!

Fralin Pickups Setting Pickup Height Too Low — Setting the pickup height too low saps your pickups of power

3.) Wrong Orientation:

The correct pickup height orientation is lower on the bass side and closer on the treble side. Your Bass strings have more mass and will disturb the magnetic field more than treble strings. Reversing your pickup height orientation will provide you with “warbling” bass strings and thin treble strings – not good.