Pickup Pole Piece Adjustment

[Klatu]

How much does the height of pole pieces affect the pickup's volume balance?

I've attempted to correct slight imbalances by raising and lowering certain pole pieces but have found the changes in response to be minimal and insufficient. By the way, the pickup in question is an adjustable floater in my Eastman 810.

One of the reasons I'm interested in replacing the pickup on one of my Heritage Eagles to the Kent Armstrong 12 Pole is the promise of superior balance adjustability, but if the adjustment range is as limited as what I've experienced in my Eastman pickup, the results might leave me wanting.

[rpguitar]

I find that it's completely unique to each pickup. I have some pickups where a 45º turn is very significant, and others where a full turn is barely perceptible. So don't be put off. I wish it were something one could generalize and say it's "always" this way or "never" - but it's pretty variable.

For the record, I'm obsessive about pickup height and pole piece adjustment, and I'm known to turn one a tiny bit in the middle of playing (not in public of course) . I can hear and feel the subtle changes in sensitivity and harmonics. Others would say it's B.S. - but that's what makes the world go 'round.

[vinnyv1k]

I can only speak on Gibson and SD pickups and the pole screws will balance the volume but you have to find a happy pickup height first.

[barrymclark]

Like Vinny said, I find a good pickup height then dial in the pole pieces.

[neatomic]

exactly! set the pup height first and then adjust the polepieces…the polepieces are not magnets, they are screws…the magnets are below the bobbin…the screws are a connecting link between strings and magnets…so you want to get the magnet proximity to the strings right and then fine tune individual strings with the screws…and you never really want the screws too far out of the pup top, better to raise the whole pup

cheers

[Klatu]

I find that it's completely unique to each pickup. I have some pickups where a 45º turn is very significant, and others where a full turn is barely perceptible. So don't be put off. I wish it were something one could generalize and say it's "always" this way or "never" - but it's pretty variable.

For the record, I'm obsessive about pickup height and pole piece adjustment, and I'm known to turn one a tiny bit in the middle of playing (not in public of course) . I can hear and feel the subtle changes in sensitivity and harmonics. Others would say it's B.S. - but that's what makes the world go 'round.

I would call BS on the on whomever claims not to worry or be affected by pickup balance. When a player is in the heat of performance, the goal is combine their knowledge and inspiration to produce the finest music possible, not to fight their instrument in order to overcome technical obstacles.

I'm not what I think of as a naturally intuitive player. When I get down into the act of music making, it takes all of my concentration in order to pull off a worthy result and don't have the luxury of musical surplus that I can dedicate to changing my picking pattern or force in order to smooth out the volume.

[Klatu]

I can only speak on Gibson and SD pickups and the pole screws will balance the volume but you have to find a happy pickup height first.

Like Vinny said, I find a good pickup height then dial in the pole pieces.

exactly! set the pup height first and then adjust the polepieces…the polepieces are not magnets, they are screws…the magnets are below the bobbin…the screws are a connecting link between strings and magnets…so you want to get the magnet proximity to the strings right and then fine tune individual strings with the screws…and you never really want the screws too far out of the pup top, better to raise the whole pup

cheers

I'm with you guys. Raising, lowering, or slanting the pickup would be my first move before adjusting the pole pieces in most circumstances. However, the guitars I'm currently concerned about are fitted with floaters, so adjusting the height isn't an easy option.

[barrymclark]

I'm with you guys. Raising, lowering, or slanting the pickup would be my first move before adjusting the pole pieces in most circumstances. However, the guitars I'm currently concerned about are fitted with floaters, so adjusting the height isn't an easy option.

You are definitely hemmed in a bit. You may be able to shim it a bit depending on how it's mounted. If it is bracketed to the neck, you may just have to do what you can with the pole pieces

[Spook410]

Yea.. what Barry said. You can move the pickup around a bit but you have mounting points and guitar geometry in play that limits some of your choices.

They may just be screws, but on some of my pickups they matter quite a lot. I have a Sunrise pickup, designed for a flat top where the strings are much closer to the body, mounted in an oval hole archtop far away from their source. The pole pieces are raised 3/8" on some strings and could go higher (lot of adjust-ability there) and the pickup sounds great.

I just finished lowering the pole pieces on an Armstrong 12 pole floater to adjust to a new speaker in an amp. Worked like a charm to get a more open acoustic sound that's a better match to the EV speaker.

[neatomic]

apparently the eastman 810 comes with a kent armstrong pup…alnico v mags and a 7.9k output..so i'd suppsoe 43 wire…by spec it should deliver…unless you are willing to gingerly bend the arms to get the actual pup a bit closer to the strings..your other option is to drop the polepieces down into the pup and raise the ones that are below the rest in volume...


btw, what strings are you using??

cheers

[bigdaddyguitar]

When adjusting pole piece screws ,remember two points : pickups respond better to a plain string than to a wound one , and the response increases as string gauge increases . For an even response the B string screw should be slightly lower than the high E string screw . If a plain third string is used , the G string screw should be lower than the B . If a wound G is used , the G string screw would be highest , low E would be lowest , and the D and A will be intermediate between the E and G . That's way Fender pole pieces are staggered . Leo did his homework . It takes some trial and error with the pickup height and the pole pieces to get a nice even response . And if everything is too close to the strings , you could have a problem with tone distortion . The tone may get worse moving up the fingerboard . Intonation could also suffer . Just my two cents .

[AlainJazz]

When adjusting pole piece screws ,remember two points : pickups respond better to a plain string than to a wound one , and the response increases as string gauge increases . For an even response the B string screw should be slightly lower than the high E string screw . If a plain third string is used , the G string screw should be lower than the B . If a wound G is used , the G string screw would be highest , low E would be lowest , and the D and A will be intermediate between the E and G . That's way Fender pole pieces are staggered . Leo did his homework . It takes some trial and error with the pickup height and the pole pieces to get a nice even response . And if everything is too close to the strings , you could have a problem with tone distortion . The tone may get worse moving up the fingerboard . Intonation could also suffer . Just my two cents .

Bigdaddy, thank you so much for posting this. I have searched far and wide for descriptions of a standard ideal, ie starting point, for pole piece adjustment. This seems to be it.

[SamBooka]

When adjusting pole piece screws ,remember two points : pickups respond better to a plain string than to a wound one , and the response increases as string gauge increases . For an even response the B string screw should be slightly lower than the high E string screw .

I am not disagreeing with you BUT I will add, this would make sense for a flat fingerboard. Because usually the FB and hopefully the bridge is radiused, take this into account as well.

[Klatu]

Thanks to you guys, one issue has been resolved. The problem of low bass output from my Eastman cleared right up when I shimmed the pickup with a piece of cotton. It now sounds balanced to the point there any issues would be minor enough to be taken care of either by the pole pieces or the amp.



However, the Heritage Eagle is a bit trickier since I need to find a way to lower the bass side of the pickup. If you'll notice, the only way I'll be able to lower the bass side will be to raise the treble, and I can't figure out a good way to do this. Any ideas?

[barrymclark]

Where it attaches to the pickguard, you'd have to shim near the fasteners closest to the pickup and tighten the ones furthest away to get the desired angle. Won't be fun.

[neatomic]

could raise the whole pickguard with a rubber grommet and and a washer

cheers