Should You Adjust Your Humbucker Screws

[@betterl8thannvr]

So a couple of thoughts. 1. Just because Seth Lover didn't add the screws because he felt they were important doesn't mean they aren't. Happy accidents happen all the time. 2. You say that the field gets weaker because it's pulling the scrw up out of the bobbin, but that's just one type of humbucker. On some DiMarzios for example, the screws extend well past the bottom of the bobbin, so when you adjust them the length still in the bobbin is the same. 3. As someone pointed out above, field strength does not weaken linearly in space, so a weaker field closer to the string may still produce a stronger signal. Personally, I either don't adjust them, or I adjust them slightly to follow the radius of the strings and fretboard, but I can hear the difference when I do.

[@thomassawicki2065]

Thanks for explaining. My Les Paul came from the factory with 57 Classic p'ups and the pole pieces flush with the cover. I never touched the screws, just the pickup height. The tone is super excellent.

[@jmledesma88]

You can measure this any way you want but I can deffinitely hear a higher volume from the strings I screw the poles closer to. Usually end up with two three pole stairs from the low E to the D that's the closest to the string and the G, who is the furthest to the high E. I do this completely by ear. In soapbars I set them at the same string distance (fretting the string in the last fret, 2.5mm from the low E and 2mm, then testing overall volume ballance between pickups and making minor adjustments and lastly setting each pickup's poles to match the string ballance). You can 100% tell the closer you have the pole to the string it sounds louder. I guess it could change if the screw is way outside the bobbin which should not be necessary at all to balance them out.

[@jmledesma88]

you might be able to hear an EQ change depending on how far away the screws are from the bobbin, again not noticeable if you are just balancing the string volume whithin the pickup having the G string all the way screwed in.

[@jmledesma88]

lastly, for dog ear P90s you can definitely tell if you're trying to balance the lower sounding bridge pickup in some Casinos, for example, and you just raise the pole pieces it thins the pickup greatly and exactly what you are explaining happens, well, kind of, you do get a thinner sound but you get more volume. But, if you balance the output between neck and bridge with a shim and then just use the pole pieces to mildly balance each string's volume it works great and you can't practically tell the way the mildly closer pole string sounds thinner than the others in context.

[@Cody-my1yy]

Exactly, because you actually play the guitar instead messing with meters that have nothing to do with sound. The true test is a db meter. You will see a massive difference in volume with a db meter.

[@jmledesma88]

@@Cody-my1yy absolutely, also he measures touching the pole instead of at string distance. I do agree that EQ changes (the pickup gets thinner) if you raise the poles and lower the bobbin to match volume before and after. I also agree that people mess with things they don't understand. I myself used to slightly copy the radius of the fretboard without considering that wound strings need to be closer than plain ones, specially the D string as it's the one furthest away and the G (if it's plain) string sounds a lot louder. Leo Fender knew this and staggered the pole pieces but for a wound G...

[@abl9087]

​@@jmledesma88 exactly, Setting the screw Higher may result in weaker magnetic field, however that screw is closer to the string, making the net output or db in that string higher. The all the way around lowering the screw. I think Gibson was right asking Seth lover to put screws in the Paf pick ups. Other wise what a boring pickups 😅😂

[@MSirirat]

The way the probe tip was positioned . . . Those readings absolutely made sense . . . However, I like to see the readings from a static probe position . . . let say 5mm . . . to emulate the string distance from bobbin . . . from the two screw heights . . . I suspect that these will read differently . . .

[@demondrive147]

same, I would measure on the same string from the same heigh with screwed in and out. just to be sure

[@daisyquo3991]

Dylan Talks Nonsense? The higher reading on the lower screw is due to the probe being closer to the bar magnet compared to the higher screw. And the conclusion that raising the screw height doesn't work contradicts why they were added to P90s (remarks at 3:30 and 6:04) in the first place. If the measurements were at the same height above the pickup as MSirirat describes, we might actually have valid data. I know from experience that screw height makes a difference, but I also know that overall pickup height makes a bigger difference - maybe if the measurements were done properly we would be able understand why adjusting screw height seems less effective than we might expect, which is I think what Dylan is actually trying to demonstrate.

[@hiddenself]

I totally agree. In addition, I improved my LP strings balance a lot this way.

[@gringogreen4719]

I say trust your ears. If you like the sound of your guitar then leave it as is. If you are thinking of swapping pickups I suggest to play with the screws as you might get what you were looking for. Worse case scenario is that you just put the screws back where they were and you can make a choice from there. I've had pickups that basically "woke up" from factory setting with just a few minutes of playing with the screw. To my ear the pickup gets clearer, less muddy. I get a bit more twang and jangle so that suits me fine. I learned this from the screws of Filtertron pickups being pretty high off of the body of the pickups. Again, trust your ears.😉👍✨

[@SurprisedCruiseShip-ku9kj]

Yes..especially helps a muddy neck pickup

[@SurprisedCruiseShip-ku9kj]

Yes...especially helps a muddy neck pickup

[@michaeldique]

Exactly right! And if you have the option, record your sound before and after, so you can compare properly!

[@willjoe]

This actually explains pretty well why I like having them slightly raised. I find my burstbucker 2/3 combo to be a bit muddy and a bit hot on the output. Raising the polepieces up a few turns, lowering the pickup slightly, gives me a bit less output, a little more clarity, while still being VERY different from my tele and strat.

[@SandeSandex]

Exactly this. Cleaning up muddy humbucker by rising the screws on thicker strings.

[@garylaverty6607]

Yep, did this on the neck pickup on my Paul. Stopped it being boomy and muddy. Dropped the overall height then raised the pole pieces a smidge. Much better.

[@rhoff7272]

Took the same action with the same results on my LP as well

[@honkytonkinson9787]

I have an HSS strat with the humbucker adjusted this way. I think it sounds better split as well Nothing seems to fix how it sounds combined with the middle pup though. Eventually I’ll rewire it to combine with the neck instead and hope that it sounds better

[@Leo_ofRedKeep]

For a proper experiment, measure the magnetic field at string level on a mounted pick-up with slug up or down. The string will provide a stable reference distance from the magnet in the pick-up.

[@jordangibson695]

Adjusting pickup height will determine overall gross frequency response and output, and then adjusting individual screws adjusts the balance in output between strings to compensate for the different thicknesses of the core wire. I'm always amazed at musicians who reject a pickup without adjusting the pickup in the guitar.

[@frankwebster9110]

Thank you so much for this, Dylan. I unfortunately read on forums about this when I was trying to get the mud out of my P90 neck pickup in my LP special. Dropping the pickup down and raising the pole pieces was supposed to make the treble stronger and drop the mud out a little. It didn't do anything for me or at least nothing positive that I could hear. I got so frustrated with it that I just returned the screws to their normal height and dealt with it the mud until another solution came along.. At least now I know that it was bullshit all along and will never ever play that game again, LOL . Once again, you share great knowledge with those of us who really need and want it!

[@torstenbeckmann6513]

I adjust the height of the pickup to taste. I then use the screws, to adjust the loudness per string to get it even. Works for me.

[@picksalot1]

I've experimented a lot with Pickup Body height, and Screw height on Humbuckers with Screw Pole Pieces. Both make a difference. I adjust the body height to get the basic sound I want, and then adjust the screws to get the balance between strings I want. It's critical to use your ears, and not be swayed by your eyes. I've had a couple Pickups where certain Screw Pole Pieces made the particular strings they were under unmanageably hot. No amount or raising or lowering the pole pieces alone or in combination with the other pole pieces or with the body height or changing string gauges would allow me to get a balanced volume across all of them. I also tried some different types of screws/materials in the offending locations, and learned a lot from doing that, but matching threads per inch and pitch was not easy. I looked up the screw types, and determined they were called "Filister Screws," before I decided to Mod the problematic Pole Pieces, just in case I needed to replace them. I got out the Dremel, and started grinding off a little of the bottom of the screws where the threads are, putting them back into the Pickup to test if it was making them adjustable into a range that I could get a balanced volume. I worked slowly and carefully. After a several tries, I achieved a workable volume balance within the range of adjusting those screws up and down. I ended up removing about 1-1.5 mm from the bottom of the screws. I wouldn't suggest anyone do this who doesn't have a good idea what they're doing. I had never read about anyone doing such a Mod, but it seemed to me like it could work, and if it didn't it was reversible for a small expense. Luckily, everything worked out, and that made two of my favorite Pickups work the way I wanted. YMMV

[@irishmickeybambrick7222]

I started adjusting the pole screws based on the neck radius. I find it give more clarity but who knows. Eg. Outer- flat middles- half turn inners-full turn. Saw this ‘tip/trick’ on a page for a boutique pickup builder. Obviously adjusting the entire pickup height to string accordingly after, where I’ve always enjoyed the Gibson recommendation for heights

[@jutukka]

This is quite confusing because when I recently bought a new guitar with humbuckers, especially plain G was very loud compared to wound D when all polepieces were at same height, and I could get it very much to balance by adjusting those screws. 🤓 P.S. I checked what I in fact did, and I just turned G string polepieces 2 mm down.

[@joshcarter617]

Physicist explanation here: I think what is actually happening is that the screw being higher just makes the gauss meter further away from the bar magnet at the bottom of the pickup, resulting in a lower field reading. Still though shows that the screws have no effect on the field strength based on the their height. Great video as always!

[@GCKelloch]

Maybe it's that the weaker screw is so far up that there's much less contact area between the screw threads and the bar it's screwed into.

[@6stringcodger450]

Exactly! If you held the probe over a screw that was flush, then raised the probe up to the same height as the elevated screw, it would be the same reading.

[@joshcarter617]

@@GCKelloch the screw touching the bar magnet wouldn’t matter I don’t believe, magnetic fields exist in space, air, materials, etc. so touching or not wouldn’t make much of a difference I don’t believe. Not trying to prove you wrong or anything, just answering with the way I understand the physics of the process.

[@GCKelloch]

@@joshcarter617 I don't know either, but I do know the permeability of the Steel screws is ~1000x that of air, which has no magnetic attraction. So, the flux lines from the magnet below the coil are drawn up through the screws and slugs much more than directly from the bar magnet to the strings. The flux lines from the magnet would also exit/enter parallel to the strings from much farther below where they come out from the pole screw tops. Without a permeable core in the coil, the strings would be very weakly magnetized much further out from the coil. For those reasons, I do think less surface contact with the highly permeable Steel bar might be the difference. BTW, extending the bar magnet (via unscrewing the pole screws) slightly focuses the flux lines inward, but I doubt it makes an audible difference regarding the aperture window.

[@tapioaalto2656]

my thought exactly: the probe should've been at the height of the strings where it counts.

[@danielserrano343]

I have always tried to make these changes guided by my ears and how I think my guitar sounds better for me... I didn't know about these things before, but I found the bridge pickup sounded more punchy by raising the whole thing and lowering the poles, then I just moved some up or down depending on how I found the sound to my ears... And I'm pleased with it!

[@GCKelloch]

Raising the coil closer to the strings increases the attack & fundamental to sustain & upper harmonic ratio because the stronger vibrations are that more emphasized in relation to the weaker ones regardless of the magnetic strength.

[@peterschmidt9942]

That's very interesting Dylan that the gauss reduces as the pole is screwed out! Normally when I adjust humbuckers, I have them a little lower on the bass side, then start adjusting the pole pieces from there. But to tell the truth, it's pretty hard to tell the difference in output. I just adjust them until all strings sound even'ish.

[@jeshely]

The way I set them up is I turn off the amp, effects, eq’s and everything in my multieffect processor or DAW and use the input meter of the signal on each string. I then raise or lower each side of the pickup so that I can get the most even and similar signal on each string using the input meter. Usually the high E and D are a little off. I have found that raising the screw on those two helps further even the signal. I like it that way.

[@richiebricker]

They were designed so well that theyre still used today and nobody has been able to improve them, even active pickups, some like em but most want the standard humbucker. Has it been 75 years now? Thats really something, there may never be an improvement to the original design. People keep trying but not yet anyway

[@Raggo12345]

I adjusted the one humbucker screw up to bring it closer to the thin E-string, and I *could hear* that the sound for that one string got louder... 🤣🤣🤣 Thank you so much! I loved this!

[@sheldonlangston8002]

I have a Gibson Dirty Fingers pickup in the bridge position on my Les Paul. I lifted the poles more so on the high E to G and lightly lifted them on the D to Low E. It just simmered the pickup down some because it’s such a hot pickup. It definitely sounds better on Cleans now and still chugs like a beast.

[@donald-parker]

I get what you are saying. But I'm not 100% convinced that the Gauss meter reading translates directly to impact. For example, even if the field is weaker at the top of the screw, it is also true that this weaker field is closer to the string. And I think electromagnetic fields tend to weaken in proportion to the cube of the distance. To me, the only way to really assess impact is to measure the signal the PU produces with the screws at different heights, in a controlled test where you can reliably reproduce the "string pluck" (I envisage some sort of "mechanical plucker"). Or measure the frequency spectrum of plucking all 6 strings and see how the spectrum changes after PU screw adjustments.

[@iamgumbydammit2217]

Exactly. His test isn’t valid. Well meaning, but not valid for how a pickup is used.

[@bruzanhd]

Bass side lowered with poles raised, treble side raised with flush poles. Makes for a thicker sound on the high strings and a bit more articulation on the low strings. Just my preference.

[@jonbuckner4467]

Interesting. So many variables!!

[@xenod1066]

That's exactly what I do too.

[@iagobroxado]

That's what I do too. All trial and error.

[@GreenDragoon-gg6fg]

Well done. I've always left mine alone. I will and have adjusted the pickup height to address tonal issues/desires, but not the individual screws. PS- I'm a USCCA Instructor and IDPA S.O. I like your t-shirt. My main competition piece is a NH Custom.

[@ericv7720]

I adjust hb screws for balance, with the one for the third string below flush. I like having a balanced sound, with no string dominating. I turn the neck pickup around so that the pole pieces are on the bridge side to make it brighter.

[@RiloRox]

So all these years Ive been talking crap about my SGs Pickups and it was just the screws beeing to far out... THANK YOU SIR

[@zmix]

I often adjust the screws to balance the output of the wound and unwound strings - I was surprised that I didn't get the sort of "magnetic distortion" as I moved the screws quite close to the strings. Now I know why. Thanks for the follow-up video.

[@Gr8FriknApe]

Yes, YOU do make a difference. All the differences that are watching that don't make a difference by not letting their difference be known, are the ones that can't complain when the facts don't fit. Great video. I've not had a need to mess with my pick ups. I now know something new. Thanks for the information.

[@NicholasGreenwood]

I've raised the screws in humbuckers in the past and have been happy with the results. Typically I would raise the whole pickup height as high as it would go without my palm mute causing the low strings to hit the pole pieces. From there, I would leave the low E and high E flat, and start to raise the A-D-G-B pole pieces to match the curve of the strings over the pickup. Doing this to a Seymour Duncan SH-6 Distortion pickup always sounded great to me. Even string response.

[@scozz6139]

I've been playing guitar, Les Pauls, for over 50 years, and I've never adjusted the individual string screws on the pickup,..... until a few weeks ago. I'll likely never do it again!

[@GabrielSkolderblad]

I adjust the screws both to get even volume between the strings and to get more of a single coil sound from a humbucker.

[@iamgumbydammit2217]

A flat single coil is very UN balanced.

[@DevInvest]

Opening is genius. Well played

[@toobyoolaar]

Yup, I liked just for that. But also the demonstration that the mag strength gets lower when you raise a pole piece was surprising and interesting. So double like there I guess. ;)

[@bldallas]

I was trying to figure out how to skip, before Sarah M started tearing at my heart strings.

[@bldallas]

Time stamps would help. Just want to know if it’s a bad idea to turn those damn things.

[@APMTenants]

The screws DO adjust the string balance, just like they do on a p-90. They are not there just for marketing. Most of Fender’s original pickups had staggered pole pieces to compensate for the differences in output from one string to another. When Lover designed the wide range humbucker for Fender, he again included height adjustment screws. When Seth Lover specified his ideal humbucker for Seymour Duncan, he once again included height adjustment screws. While it was his opinion that Gibson only wanted the screws for marketing, I would assume they wanted them for the same reason they had them on the p-90: to adjust string balance. Seth Lover did not play guitar, so he probably didn’t understand the importance of this feature immediately, being more concerned with the hum canceling aspect.

[@chrishodgson4290]

I agree. They weren't part Of SL's original spec but that doesn't mean they weren't found to be useful by loads of players and almost no pickup manufacturer doesn't spec them.

[@APMTenants]

@@chrishodgson4290 guitar sound a lot better without the B string ringing twice as loud as the high E

[@lumberlikwidator8863]

@@APMTenants You sure got that right. Check out my comment about my crazy way of getting the high notes loud and fat, and the lows crisp and clear.

[@andybedford7889]

The staggered poles on old strats show that Leo was mostly trying to follow the fretboard radius except for the "B" string which must have been louder than the others because it's slug is the lowest. I'd say it's ok to lower the screw for the B string a little or raise the others slightly and see how that affects the string-to-string balance. Everything in moderation! As for myself, I seldom adjust the screws for individual strings.

[@lumberlikwidator8863]

@@andybedford7889 Thanks for your reply. I might agree that Leo was trying to match the neck radius but for the appearance of some photos in books that I own. There are pics showing that players like Chuck Berry, Django Reinhardt and others had their pole screws adjusted a lot like the Fender Strat magnet stagger. (Yes, Django played a Rio brand electric archtop in his later years.) And if you take a good look at the so-called Charlie Christian pickup the blade has a sizable notch machined into it under the B String. When I was a teenager I thought that some players used to file that notch into the blade to tone down their too-hot second string. I didn’t know at the time that filing the blade would probably heat it up and ruin the magnetic strength. Back when Charlie, Django and Chuck were in their prime most electric guitar strings were made with steel cores and nickel windings. Nickel has some magnetic properties, but not nearly on the order of steel, which is used much more often these days. I believe that this is the reason why the magnet slugs on Stratocaster pickups are taller under the G, D, A, and Low E strings. The vintage stagger has been used by Fender and other pickup makers as a selling point for a long time, but it doesn’t make sense tonally or musically nowadays when most players are using an unwound third and wound strings that are about 92% steel with a nickel plating that comprises only about 8% of the wrap material. I mean, really, why put the tallest magnet under the loudest string? In the nickel string era (during which I first learned to set up and play guitars and basses) the plain strings were usually louder than the wound ones. But nowadays take a look at the composition of a typical set of.010-.046 “nickel wound” strings. The term nickel wound is misleading unless you purchase what they call “pure nickel wound.” If you do a little geometry, keeping in mind that a guitar string is basically a cylinder, and allowing for the air spaces between the windings, the typical nickel plated wound low E string contains FIFTEEN TIMES the steel as the high e, with a correspondingly greater influence on the disturbance of the pickup’s magnetic field. This is most easily observed when playing a humbucker-loaded guitar straight into an amp with nothing else in the signal chain. Some people hardly notice this, but it drives a few of us batcrap crazy. That’s why I’m glad that cooler heads prevailed and Gibson’s sales force convinced the company to keep the adjustable pole screws. Ideally, they should have put them into both coils so the player could balance the output of the new lighter strings that were just coming into use, often with a plain third that was way louder than the wound D. When you raise the pole under your weak high e to balance it with the G string you are cheated out of the full humbucking tone and you get more of a single coil sound from the first string. It was a giant improvement for a lot of players when pickup designers like Bill Lawrence and Larry DiMarzio started putting adjustable screws in each coil. This gave savvy players even more control over the balance and tone of their strings. Shortly afterwards, Carvin came out with their excellent M-22 Humbucking Pickups, which had 22 adjustable screws, eleven set in each coil. This was another huge improvement, and it gave birth to what I consider the finest humbucking pickup of all time, the Carvin M-22SD. This was a very impressive pickup and tonally an improvement over the DiMarzio and Lawrence designs. It was about as loud as the SDHP, but tonally superior in that it had thicker magnets of Alnico 5 instead of the ceramics used by DiMarzio and the sort of oddball Alnico 8s used by Lawrence. With the Carvin M-22SD you could achieve the optimal balance and tone, and the double rows of eleven pole screws ensured that there was no falloff in volume when bending strings. I put these pickups in many of my custom builds and I have just one pair left, brand-new and unpotted, that I’m saving for a very special project. Nowadays it seems that most players have so much tone-sucking crap connected between their guitar and their amp that they don’t notice much difference when they adjust their pickups. I know guys and gals that have never even touched the height screws, let alone the individual pole screws. If they’re satisfied, that’s fine by me, but I’ve been after a specific tone for about fifty years. Back in the late 1970s I figured out how to make my Ibanez Deluxe 59’er Model sound great through a Pignose that was run into a Peavey hundred-watt head and a special cabinet that I built myself. That cab was loaded with a fifteen-inch full-range guitar speaker that I bought from Carvin. The Peavey head was just basically a slave amp-all of the tone came from the Pignose and the guitar. The sound I was chasing was the sound of Duane Allman’s Les Paul on ABB at Fillmore East and Eat a Peach. I got pretty damn close to it back in about 1978, and though I blew up the Pignose and sold the Peavey rig I can still get the sound I want from an Epiphone Les Paul Prophecy and a Marshall Valvestate combo. If you like the sound of Duane Allman’s guitar on the albums I mentioned, take a look at my long comment given about two weeks ago on this video. It requires modern-not Fifties-wiring and very specific adjustments to the pole screws, pickup heights, and the slant of the pickups from the treble to bass sides. And if you try it, start with the strings off the guitar in case you lower the bass side of your neck pickup too far and it drops into the guitar body. (If that happens it’s not the end of the world. If you lose the height spring it’s probably sticking to the bottom of your pickup.)

[@dspinka]

I raise the middle screws up to match the radius of the neck, thinking that would make them a little stronger, but as you just showed us, it does the opposite! Thanks for all the great info you give us.

[@rexmiguechidoto]

Connect the guitar to the PC interface. Put a VU meter in the DAW. Adjust till its close enough. It usually follows the single coil staggering. (G string down. D string up. E string up a tiny bit. E and A can be controlled by lowering the bass side.

[@uptownphotography]

Interesting video and well done. I think for more information, you can test all the pickup screws down with the meter test probe approximately at string height distance..... and then retest the same pickup with all the screws adjusted up (again with the test probe at about string height distance from the pickup). I would be curious to see what type results you get. Thanks for doing the video. Interesting stuff...Gave you a sub. Phil

[@victormarinelli5660]

I've often thought about experimenting with the screws in my humbuckers. Without the necessary equipment to graph the changes, I couldn't see a benefit to it. Now that you've pointed out the history behind the screws, there's no point in adjusting them. The one's I have and the way I'm using them sound fine to me. What's interesting is, I've always wondered why all the screw slots were set in the exact same direction or in a pattern if minor adjustments made that big of a difference.

[@jakeallama22]

Fascinating as usual! I like mine flat on the bridge and I raise the neck screws a few turns and lower the overall pickup. I find it makes the neck pickup less muddy. This makes sense now that I know how it works!

[@petec4302]

Great discussion, I have always wondered how much difference it really made. I have played with adjusting those to help balance the individual string volume but never knew for sure what was actually happening.

[@v.k.7463]

For single coil pickups, US Fenders use staggered height slugs, while G&L & MIM Fender use radiused-height slugs. I don't know if it's psychological, but I prefer the radiused-height slugs. Therefore, for humbuckers, I adjust the screws to match the radius of the strings, while keeping the screwheads as close to the bobbins as possible. And I like to move my pickups really far away from the strings, like deep into the body.

[@BlindTom61]

Here's a tip from an old guy. The two long screws that hold the pickup in the frame. Bend them very slightly in the middle. What happens the is, as you turn the screws up and down, the pickup will wobble. You then get the pickup where you want it and adjust those two screws so that both bobbins are exactly the same under the strings, Usually, the dummy bobbin is lower than the screw bobbin. YMMV, but it works for me.

[@paulpaquette1961]

I adjust every humbucker that exact same way. Set all the screws so only the round top is proud of the bobbin. A and B string get a 1/2 turn out, then D and G get a full turn out. Then set the pickup height to the High and Low E poles. Your pickup will go from dead to screaming for vengeance!!!! Works EVERY time, then you can play with the Pickup Height adjustment to suit your tone.

[@MegaChoo2]

Flipping the hummies does change tone. Not huge but I can hear it. Also when you metered the screws, one up and one down, it would have been nice to see the readings before you adjusted them. Enjoyed the video man.

[@zanzabar4ky7]

The P90 history has the big difference in construction. The original had a bar magnet instead of poll pieces or screws, like a blade pickup, then when it got the bottom mounted bar magnets or staple magnets they went to screws with a quick stop for polls. I would love to see some one make them with a similar coil and see how the construction differences sound.

[@chriscampbell9191]

Adjustment is necessary in some cases. If you've got ceramic magnets, thicker strings, and use open tunings -- if you don't adjust your pole pieces, a lot of your chords will sound like crap. If you have a pickup with no adjustable pole pieces, and the same thicker strings, ceramic magnets, etc., being a little creative with individual string height and overall pickup height can also compensate. Being that a lot of players use light strings and don't play a ton of full chords, pole piece adjustment may not be as crucial, but believe me, all my guitars have ceramic magnet pickups, and I play 50-12's, and pole piece adjustment is crucial. Otherwise, you get a string or two that drowns out the others, sticks out like a sore thumb, which really sucks musically and sonically. I also agree with the other poster who says that the gauss is probably better measured at string height, because even if there is less gauss at the head of the pole piece, the closer proximity to the string, and increased interaction with the string, will probably counteract the decreased gauss. And then you also have to take into consideration that at string height (especially if your pickup is more than a few millimeters from the strings -- some guitarists have their pickups set further away from the strings than others) any individual string is being 'seen' by more than one pole piece. So when you're adjusting pole pieces, it's really adjusting just one part of the whole magnetic field. If that makes any sense.

[@stevervi]

Dylan, shouldn't it make sense to install screws of different lengths in each slot, that would have the affect of compensating for differences in common string outputs?

[@silvestrslusis]

I have adjusted the screws on previously dull sounding pickups and it helped some of them. Some were too far gone in the mud to clean up.

[@DDWyss]

I set my pickups low in the rings and unscrew the screws a bit to a point where I like the sound best. I prefer bright pickups to warm pickups. I know that lower wound pickups tend to be weaker and also brighter than high-wound pickups. So it kind of makes sense to me that I would like the sound of raised screws, because even though it weakens the signal, I just really like that brighter, less warm sound. Great to know why that is. Thanks for the video!

[@SlavaGen]

It absolutely makes a difference. On my bridge 15k HB If those raising screws gives it sharp nasal quality I really don't like in high output HB, so i leave screws as close to slugs level as possible. But i mess with screws on neck HB, I possition pickup realy low and rising screws as reletively high, so I have rounded yet clear, more dynamic signal without hum and pleanty space for picking in that area.

[@lumberlikwidator8863]

Neck pickup: high e and B poles raised about 3/32 inch above the cover. G flush or slightly below the cover. D raised slightly so that weaker string balances with the G string. A and low E flush or slightly below the cover. Entire pickup slanted so the high e is 3/32 inch below the string fretted at the highest fret. Bass side of pickup about 1/8 inch below the top of the mounting ring, but will vary depending on the neck-to-body angle of the guitar. Bridge pickup: high e, B and G as on the neck pickup. D raised so that the entire screw head protrudes from the cover. A and low E strings slightly lower than the D string. Pickup the same distance from high e string as for the neck pickup. Bass side of pickup a lot closer to the strings than the neck pickup, adjusted by ear so that the wound strings are in balance with the plain strings. Both pickups are on all the time. In fact, whenever one of my toggle switches starts acting up, I simply connect all three hot lugs so that the switch is inoperable and both pickups are always on. This setup sacrifices a little bit of output to create a balanced tone where the highs are very big and fat, but the wound strings are clean and tight, almost a single-coil sound. If you want to get some idea of the result, listen to Duane Allman’s bridge pickup tone on Live at Fillmore East. I’m not sure how Duane did it, but I’d guess that he adjusted his volume control quite a bit, turning it down when playing low notes and turning it up on the high notes. I’ve also heard that he was using bass amp heads towards the end of his life, as well as Fender 150 Rock and Roll strings, .010-.038. The relatively thick high strings and thinner wounds were an important part of his strong treble response. An important thing to note is that my setup works well with modern Les Paul wiring, but not very well with so-called 50s wiring. I’ve modified a couple of my guitars so that there is a master tone and a master volume, in addition to individual volume controls for each pickup. This makes volume changes a lot easier when blending the pickups at different volumes to color the tone towards one pickup or the other.

[@helmsmns]

Great video! I never move the screws, always the whole pickup. Not for any specific reason... just never seemed necessary.

[@Brykk]

The beauty of the current pedals and amps is that w can get the same (or at least extremely similar) tones than if we jack around with the screw heights.

[@timrod1984]

The segment video about hitting the subscribe button is hilarious. That sense of humor is why I became a subscriber years ago

[@erickleefeld4883]

I guess the question is, does the screw’s closer proximity to the string make up for the loss in Gauss? Also, how does this apply to pickups with just one row of pole pieces, and no fixed slug coil, such as those dog-ear P-90s? I had a bass years ago with a DiMarzio P-Bass pickup, featuring individual screw pieces in a row, and raising one of them up individually definitely made a string louder.

[@mikehewett4393]

Well, here is my personal experience. Many years ago, when I was much younger and I could only afford one guitar at a time (irrelevant but sets the scene 😎) I owned a Kay Thinline hollowbody guitar with P90 style pups (great tone, by the way) known as the Kleenex Box style as they had a plastic cover that looked like the Kleenex dispensers in hotels of the day!! It had a set of strings with a wound 3rd which I stuck with as I fitted a Bigsby rocker bridge with the bigsby style trem (probably licenced in those days) which was compensated for a wound 3rd. This set up resulted in large variation in volume from string to string with 1 and 3 being the weekest. The pole pieces had turret-like cross-slots in them, clearly to facilitate adjustment. Using these I was able to even out the volume of each string much like a compressor would but I didn't have access to such high level electronics back then (late 50s early 60s). So, it works counter intuitively to your measurements. Maybe the proximity effect outweighs the power of whatever you were measuring (I'm no expert) but the effect was very noticable. I have never felt the need to adjust any humbucker, by the way. I toyed with the idea of putting a modern adjustable saddle on but decided to go back to the original mahogany bridge and saddle. Great for jazz!

[@frankwren8215]

For years now I've raised the pole screws because I like the brighter, clearer sound. It makes sense that this slightly lowers the output. I'd imagine doing this also slightly improves sustain, though probably not a particularly noticeable amount.

[@andrew.tchebotarev]

Very interesting 🤔 the first thought that strikes me, "I've been adjusting humbuckers the wrong way all the time" and the second thought was: "Wait a minute, and what about the soundhole acoustic guitar pickups? They have the screws so that you can LOWER them on the 1 and 2 string , because they sound louder than the wound strings (brass or bronze)" The same principle is with the resonator guitar pickups (such as Krivo)

[@tweedcouch]

I have a PRS that noticeably had a drop in volume with the B string. I raised that pole piece and could hear the B string much better. I say all that to say that either I had a placebo effect or something in the magnetic field inhibited that screw, at that height, using that amp, from cutting through the mix of strings. Either way. Great video that makes great sense. Another guitar I changed was my White Falcon with filtertrons. It just sounded muddy and I couldn’t get the guitar to brighten up. I raised the pickup and the screws all the way up. Everything brightened up and it sounds great now. Final one was the wide range humbucker of a reissue fender where I raised the poles on one side and lowered the poles on the other. Cleared that pickup up too. Interestingly enough my actual 73 Tele Custom Wide Range needs no such adjustment to sound clear.

[@BrentAdams]

They used to raise those "Dog-Ear" P-90's by putting a shim between the pickup & the guitar body to be real honest..... I've only adjusted the pole piece screws on one guitar (out of 23)...instead of switching out pickups, which I don't like the idea of doing, to be real honest...it did make enough of a difference for me to be happy with the sound after adjustments. (I didn't make as drastic of adjustments to the screws as you are showing...and it did matter.) THX

[@steverhinefrank5589]

D, another helpful and great video, thanks. question... why do you bother with using screws at all ? i was a little surprised you did not give us the gause measurement of the slug coil. thanks, steve

[@gmwien]

I try to get the "loudness" of my strings as even as possible. That may sound picky (pun intended), but I love to have control over how the instrument reacts to my playing, without having to memorize which string rings out louder and which weaker when I pick a note on it. Not all string sets are equal, so as soon as I find a specific set I like best on a respective guitar, I first adjust the pickups with their outer screws to give me the sound and volume ratio between high and low strings I prefer, and then fine-tune individual strings if necessary (more often than less). I always buy 2 identical spare sets min. and put 1 into the gig bag. In most cases the G screw goes in, and the D screw out a bit (from 1/2 to 1+1/2 turn) to have them at the same volume when I pick them with equal strength. In case I switch to another string set (gauge, material, brand, …) on that guitar, I always do the dynamics test again and adjust accordingly, because there is always a change.

[@Talisk3r]

I Never experiment with those screw but I had a jazz boxe that the previous owner raise the screw for the plain/top string. That guitar had a really nice string to string balance. If I ever find that a string is too loud or not loud enough in a set (like a wounded G string) i'll give it a try. I don't own a humbucker pickup at the moment. All fender single coil.

[@RandyFricke]

I just keep my screws so the edge of the crown is flush with the bobbin. Some guys sink their pickups down almost level with the bezel. The Late Great Gary Richrath of REO Speedwagon claimed that's what gave him such a rich, woody tone. And you can't argue with his tone. It was one of the sweetest.

[@stanesposito2664]

Maybe it's just me, but I definitely hear a difference when adjusting the screws on a humbucker. I start with the high E polepiece screwed iin and evel with the top of the pickup at 3/32 away from the string. The low E is done the same, but 4/32 away from the bottom of the strings. The remaining strings are adjusted to match the radius or until I'm happy.

[@roncollins6259]

Spot on as usual. Personally, I don't care what the science is behind it. Often, it pays off to experiment. Raising pole pieces has given me the opposite effect of what I was shooting for, but found I liked it better. Yes, I've screwed up some guitars "tinkering" but that's how we learn. Incidentally, to anyone interested... I highly recommend fender wide range pickups. My personal favorite for lots of gain. Not what most think of for loads of gain, but they scream like nothing else, while remaining clear. Expensive, but totally worth it in my opinion. Great channel! I don't think I've disagreed with anything on here. Including the didgital depth guage!

[@frank19142]

Thanks for the info, and for confirming something I first observed decades ago and always found counterintuitive. I adjust poll screws to modify the output balance across the six strings which, to my ears, is clearly a thing and something I've always been sensitive to. I play with a relatively clean tone and an unwound G string (I'm old enough to remember when "wound vs. unwound third" was a raging debate). I'm also fussy about the amount of percussive pick noise I get, especially while strumming, and will use the mount screws to adjust the overall pickup height. If you can disprove my perceptions, it would blow my mind but I'd be very interested!

[@jarrettfinney4882]

It made a gigantic difference on my guitar. Difference between sounding muffled and going out of tune all the time, to legitimately being one of my favorite pickups and never going out of tune. Definitely adjust your screws before trying to get some new pickups. Also, try stuff out and learn for yourself. That’s how these KZbin guys learned. Too many people take a lot of this as concrete, and almost none of it is. Explore, have fun, play standing on your head if you want

[@jasonbates2687]

Adjusting the pole pieces on your pick-ups has NOTHING to do with keeping your guitar in tune. Do you even play?

[@eunlyrics7227]

That subscriber PSA-Style thing was funny lmao

[@MaartenFranken]

Youve really given me something to think about... Modern guitars and amps have so much gain, Im not afraid to loose some, here and there. Im getting pretty curious about what I can do with balancing volume and tone between strings, coils and both pickups

[@slimmosessixround]

Wow thanks man! I always thought the exact opposite but that totally makes sense that the further away from the body of the pickup the screw is the less powerful it'll be. Time to re-adjust some pickups! Man i wish i had youtube back when i started playing, even better ive got it when im 40! Lol

[@dw7704]

When I got my first electric guitar, even though I am not normally a take things apart type of guy, I did just that. I adjusted anything that could be adjusted other than the truss rod (that came later to practice for adjusting one on a different guitar) But yeah, I moved those screws all over, before finally putting them level. I later swapped out pickups on the guitar, and don’t mess with them It was fun, and I didn’t ruin it, but I did mess up the intonation

[@superlead1002]

I never adjust those screws, but your explanation was completely opposite of what I would have expected; the more you know...

[@2000SkyView]

no - pickup high adjustment is a must for good tone

[@mastergelo_rg550rfr]

thanks for this vid. I don't mess with the pole pieces, because I fear that I might damage the pickups. my usual setup is the higher strings are closest to the pickups and the lower thicker strings farther. to my ears to have a balanced output :)

[@DanielBobke]

I have not ever adjusted the pole screws on any pickup. I do have a P90 guitar, but it is mounted into the body and has an adjustable height for the whole pickup. I have never found any need to adjust the pole screws.

[@josephbenz4913]

I like to raise them a hair. It tends to make the pickup sound brighter to me, which would make sense if it’s making them weaker. I have a bare knuckle Warpig set in one guitar where both sides have adjustable screws. You can get some cool tones with that.

[@akraboa3687]

Dang ! Somehow i read an Article about this Topic, where the Author stated, that adjusting the screws could make a huge difference if one is Not happy with the Tone.Actually, before you but new pickups, adjust the damn screws. What i surely did😂 But…i only put the pole pieces down. Sigh…anyway. Thanks for the explanation. Subscribed and liked….😊

[@magdowich]

lowering pickup into the body then raising the screws up makes my les pauls neck up less muddy gives it more like tele style punch

[@mikepretorius6350]

Yes, worked for me as well, if it sounds right it is right, my 10cents 😆

[@sashafury2422]

Weaker magnetic pull, but closer proximity to the string will have a greater impact on overall signal strength, no? For me, the benefit of moving individual poles is on guitars with either a low radius (so that the poles are uniformly distanced from the string) or with larger string gauges on the bottom (ie, my baritone setup means the strings on the bottom are huge and much louder compared to the top strings, but pulling back on the bottom strings can help here).

[@honkytonkinson9787]

I’ve been messing with my HSS strat pups for a long time trying to get the humbucker to balance more with the singles. I tried raising the pole pieces and lowering the pickup in the humbucker a few years ago, seemed to like the results and didn’t change it back. Makes sense now

[@EisensteinPrime]

Reverse mounted pickups seem to make a difference to pinch harmonics. I find they happen a lot easier with a reverse mounted neck pickup than a correctly mounted one. Unless I've just suddenly learned how to do them correctly...

[@thegrandpencil4374]

Could this be why my 90's Strat, flat-pole pickups are my favorite? I think YES! lol

[@rockerbuck967]

Fantastic video! I have all of my pole pieces raised - but I shall experiment. I have a Gretsch Electromatic, and I'll experiment with them too. The neck doesn't like to be higher than flush with the body and that doesn't seem right to me. I've noticed that on some of Joe Bonamassa's some of the pole pieces are quite low, almost gone - I'm sure he tinkers too.

[@GCKelloch]

Raising the pole screws will generally increase the magnetic strength in the strings more than the potential ~10% loss depending on the col height. The screws under the middle strings could easily be raised up to 1/2 original the distance. I've experimented with many pickups. Raising the middle screws up increases the output of those strings. The loss in this case may actually be because the pole screws measuring ~10% weaker have lost almost all surface contact with the Steel bar they screw into. DiMarzio makes a PAF-style HB model with gap between the bar magnet and pole screws specifically to decrease magnetic power to the strings.

[@manoskf]

I usually adjust the screws higher when I want more clarity and less bass and gives an almost single coil tone

[@travel101E]

I just leave the pickup alone but 1 time I did have some fun with adjustments on the pickups. The guitar is made good.

[@Trenchant463]

I gave up on messing with pole piece adjustment for same reason - little if any appreciable difference in the sound. I just adjust the entire pickup.

[@markpell8979]

I see the pole piece height adjustment as a tunable focus for the sweet spot of a given string vibrating within the pickup's induced magnetic field. There may be sonic pros and cons to adjusting this. Admittedly the difference is usually neglible or even inaudible to most folks but you can sure affect how a particular string is communicating information to the coil as it vibrates and modulates the signal by small voltage fluctuations in a given frequency range. And if I as a player think it helped something about my sound to adjust one or two poles of a pickup, that's reason enough to do it. But on 3/4 of my guitars the pickups sound fine and work well as they came and I leave the pole adjustment alone. Why bother? Mainly, on all guitars just adjust the overall height and slope of the pickup for best string/pick clearance and overall output balance for how and what you play. If you wanna adjust the poles there's no harm really- just keep notes so you can reverse your changes back to where you started. Have fun with it.

[@randysteffes97]

After many years of working on guitars, I started messing with this out of curiosity. I matched radius with the strings on my PRS Mira. I like it. Maybe I was just turning down the middle strings. I’m going to fuck with it more. I want to see if I can affect string to string volume. I’d like to get a better balanced volume string to string.

[@Teddy-Cool]

Good talk. I leave 'm alone. Only according to string gauge, hb height is adjusted. Say for 009 the height is increased (compensating lower string mass moving) , and for say 011 the height might be decreased somewhat (to optimize harmonics). Slugs, screws: no go. Single coils, well that's a different story. Staggered or not. But humbuckers: I leave them be.

[@lucasleite1559]

Interesting, there's a asian luthier, his channel is called Sixircle (really awesome guitar builds there), and during his guitar build and settup he always adjusts the pickup screws heigh using a DOW and a interface to show the gains and the volume of each string. It's a very interesting way of balacing the tone of the guitar, 1) adjust the heigh of the pickups in a way that they have the same volume, 2) adjust the heigh of each pole checking the volume of each string so every string plays the same volume. At the same video he shows the theory why this happens and I thought pretty convincing, I haven't tried it yet on my setup altough I have experienced myself many times strings with different values and the solutions didn't get everything sounding at the same volume on the output.

[@leeholbrook5278]

Try taking all of the HB's Filister Head screws OUT of the both pickups. It will surprise you how this sounds. This will not damage your pickups but the sound is something to try. I'll say no more and not ruin the surprise for those who try it.

[@ourladymetamagic]

I have two guitars and one bass I can adjust the pickups on without making serious alterations to the guitars. The other is a Wolfgang Special. I'll trust Eddie's judgment on that one (for now). Seymour Duncan's website suggests 3.2~mm away from strings for pickups. I don't touch the screws on the pickups. There aren't even screws on the pickups on my Ibanez guitar (the guitar I've learned most of what I know on over the last 20 years) or my bass. That 3.2mm height what mine two guitars with pickguard rings are set to. My Wolfgang is factory standard (though I want to find a way to get the neck higher without a pick guard ring). I'm going to be looking at my bass tonight. In short: I don't mess with pickup screws. Only pickup height.

[@dalgguitars]

I've never liked your channel. But this is a good video. Thank you. I'm glad KZbin algorithms sent it to me.

[@ericheder777]

What is your opinion on the direction of the screw slot on the adjustable PU? I had a Certified Gibson Luthier, who I went to one time, tell me the slot heads had to be parallel to the direction as the strings. Sounds like a marketing gimmick to me.....

[@KozmykJ]

An interesting experiment. What equipment set-up would you use to test the difference in frequency response when the pole screws are moved ?

[@eMKayJR]

Interesting. For me it's been the opposite, just by listening - when I raise the polepieces the signal gets stronger. However, what I have been doing is adjusting the individual polepieces according to each string's volume, which is based on it's core diameter. That way, lowest E is loudest, then A and D. When it comes to G, again, it's louder (actually loudest out of all strings on 6 string guitar), then B and high E. As such, I have adjusted the polepieces so that the one under low E is flush, then A a bit higher and D higher again. Then the one under G is flush again (even lower than low E), then B a bit higher and E even higher. I have found that way, just by listening that it balances out all the strings and all of them become audible. But again, I did this by ear, not with a gauss meter. I have also checked that my polepieces go way below the pickup (I use Dimarzio Transitions). The problem is that many people adjust the polepieces according to guitars radius. I also used to do the same. What happens it that it sends the whole guitar out of whack, making it unbalanced, as the G string, which is very loud by itself, becomes even louder. In that case it's better to leave the polepieces flat and don't worry about that. IMO the polepieces make for some fine adjustment when it comes to the strength of individual string volume and gain - I have not experienced any tone change (like more treble, less bass or whatnot) as some people claim. It's different than moving the entire pickup which fundamentally changes attack, response, compression, may add more bass, may add clarity etc.

[@mikeybeazley3]

I tried to adjust them on a guitar once years ago and I felt like I only made things worse, so I put them back where they were and now I only touch the overall height. So glad to know the screws were just a marketability afterthought 😂

[@marcavus1]

I had an Ibanez with muddy pickups. I lowered the pickups and raise the screws really high and all the sudden they sounded like PAFs. They sounded really good but it was some extreme adjustment to get them there. In that case it worked out.

[@MayfieldCreations]

I played around with the pole heights. Stuck with lower position and raised pickup height. Sounds best to me.

[@jeffdoyle1554]

Interesting stuff. I appreciate this video...its an aspect that I haven't seen much discussion about. I wonder if there's a significant difference between tube amps and modelers with respect to screw adjustments. I never messed with pickup screws with tube amps...like you, I adjusted pickup height and played. However, I do get worthwhile results in my modeling rig (I no longer own a tube amp so I can't compare them myself). So, in light of your video, I am interested in why I hear those changes...wound strings have better clarity and unwound get brighter when I raise the screw in relation to the slug. I wonder if the reason is that it is changing the interaction between the slug and screw coils, re: changing which of the two is gathering more energy from the string. It may be that I was thinking that raising the screw was making the screw coil brighter when, as you point out it is decreasing gauss, and thus emphasizing the slug? Does the type of magnet and amount of winds matter? I use A5 overwound bridge pickups, fwiw...how might a humbucker with A5 /5000/42 gauge wire versus another with A2/4000/42 differ on this subject? Another thought, and this might be idiotic (I acknowledge that I only know enough to be misguided LOL) but is there something going on with phasing? In the end, I can make the guitar sound better by adjusting the screws, and that is really the only bottom line for me.