Adiksigitar Tips : CARA MENSETTING KETINGGIAN PICKUP GITARMU

ADJUSTING PASSIVE HUMBUCKERS

 

 

Adjusting for Balance

Balance in this case refers to consistent string-to-string volume. Ideally, with a balanced pickup, one can strum all six (or seven or eight) strings and hear each note ring out with even volume through an amplifier. Balanced string-to-string output is good. It makes our chords sound fuller, our runs and leads more consistent, and helps the guitar respond more evenly, like a higher-quality instrument.

 

Some guitars happily exhibit this trait acoustically, but even those that don’t can be adjusted so that they do through an amp, and that’s really what matters, right?

String-to-string balance is manipulated via the screw poles in the top of the pickup. Again, designs vary, but they all function about the same.

• If the pickup has flat-head screw poles, we’ll need a flat-head screwdriver.

• If the pickup has Philips-head screw poles, we’ll need a Philips screwdriver.

• If the pickup has hex key poles, we’ll need a hex key of the appropriate size.

• If the pickup has two rows of screw poles, or twice as many crammed into one row (I’m looking at you, Carvin), we’ll need a little extra patience.

• If the pickup just has two rows of non-adjustable slug poles, we need some better pickups.

The screw poles are named so because they are screws; they are screws because they’re meant to turn, and turning them is how we adjust the string-to-string balance of the pickup. Kind of like putting on pants before putting on shoes, I find it’s best to begin with this step so as to avoid messing up other adjustments we will have already made by doing it later.

So, plug in your guitar and turn them.

Tweak them just enough that the strings all sound like they’re ringing out at the same volume when each one is plucked individually. It’s fine to use a guitar amp to monitor this and trust your ears, but I prefer to use something that gives me a visual readout of the string volume (like an audio workstation or any other piece of equipment with a dB meter) as I make adjustments. I pluck a string, note what the dB meter reads, and adjust the screw pole until it matches the meter readings of the rest of the strings. This way I ensure that my adjustments are accurate and my results are not affected by any compression inherent in a particular amplifier.

The blue waveform on top was recorded prior to adjustment. Note how much smaller the output differential (highlighted area) is on the green waveform, which was recorded after adjustment.

If the screw poles in the pickup were already adjusted by someone else or are all wonky for whatever reason, “reset” them by screwing them all back to a position where they’re slightly higher than level with the surface of the pickup bobbin. This way there’s plenty of room to adjust up, but also a little bit of room to adjust down without sinking the poles too far below the surface of the bobbin (which looks weird and can collect gunk over time). The goal is to find a mean depth for all the screw poles, so that none of them wind up too high or too low relative to the function of the guitar when finished.

Adjusting for Output

 

Once we’ve balanced the poles for string-to-string volume, we can adjust the overall height of the pickup for the desired output level. Output refers to the strength of the guitar’s signal from the pickups. More output = a hotter signal. This typically equates to more volume in a clean setup and more overdrive in a dirty one. Raising the pickup increases the output and lowering the pickup decreases it.

There are other incremental tonal changes that accompany this adjustment. These can range in intensity between different pickup models, but generally speaking, a pickup will sound brighter and dirtier closer to the strings and rounder, darker, and woodier further away from the strings.

I find also that pickups set lower are more responsive to picking dynamics. Whether this is a product of decreased median output and hence, more headroom, or if the lower pickup position physically provides them with a larger “window” through which can detect finer detail in string velocity, I don’t know. Whatever. It works. Practical knowledge FTW.

Additional Considerations

While 95% of what you need to worry about during pickup adjustment is covered above, there are a few ancillary factors to be mindful of, specifically: clearance, sustain, and pickup-to-pickup balance.

Note the grooves worn into the P-90 housing from string contact

Pickups can be raised up pretty close to the strings without actually making contact while we’re testing out the adjustment, but actual playing conditions do vary and we may find that palm mutes or heavy picking causes the string to choke out some against the pickup. This is decidedly… undesirable. It sounds bad and can cause the strings to wear grooves into the tops of your pickups over time. If this happens, lower that puppy down a hair to get it out of the way.

This medium-output (9 kΩ) bridge pickup is nice and close to deliver a good punch, but a higher-output pickup would probably need to be lowered to prevent string-pull.

Passive pickups can also exert a small amount of magnetic pull on electric guitar strings. If the pickup magnet is particularly strong or set too near the strings, it can act as a dampening force on them, reducing sustain, and in extreme cases, actually cause the strings to sound out of tune. The latter is rare, and the former is usually an easy fix, so if you find that your guitar seemed to “sing” more before you adjusted the pickups, try lowering them down a little bit.

See the subtle emphasis on the bridge pickup in this picture? That’s known in the industry as “bad photography.”

The last thing to consider is the output ratio between bridge and neck pickups. This presents something of a balancing act between getting the pickup height just right for each of them so they sound their best individually while keeping their output as complimentary as possible. I find that I prefer a slightly hotter bridge pickup compared to the neck pickup and adjust their height accordingly, but tastes differ on what makes a good ratio between bridge and neck pickup output, so again, trust your ears.

(Indonesian) THE POINT IS :

Pergunakan sekrup diatas pickup pasifmu hanya untuk "menyeimbangkan" sound output dari senar per senar. Apabila sound output/volume setiap senarnya dirasa sudah seimbang dan kamu masih belum mendapatkan output yang lebih HOT/besar baru gunakan 2 sekrup yang berasa disamping atas/bawah pickup pasifmu untuk menyesuaikannya dengan seleramu.

• 6 Sekrup diatas pickup = untuk balancing output level per senar,

• 2 Sekrup di samping = untuk menambah/mengurangi output level keseluruhan pickup.

Tapi ingat, apabila pickup terlalu dekat dengan senar, dapat menyebabkan senar menabrak permukaan pickup/noisey , mengurangi sustain serta dapat membuat senar menjadi out of tune. 

BE A BALANCED GUITARIST !! :P

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