How to set Humbucker Polepiece Height - Uncovered Humbucker

The purpose of adjustable pole pieces was originally to balance the overall output between strings of different diameter, and to balance the output between the plain and the wound strings. Generally speaking, a plain string will sound louder than a wound string of the same diameter. A thin string will not be as loud as a thicker one. A string wound with pure nickel wrap will not be as loud as a string wound with stainless or nickel-plated steel. Some people mistakenly believe that pickups only sense the core wire of a wound string. This is demonstrably untrue, or you could put bronze wound strings on an electric guitar and get as much volume as is possible with nickel or steel wound strings. In a set of strings with an unwound third, the G string will almost always be the loudest string. The wound fourth string will usually be the weakest string. A lot of guitarists using high gain and a lot of effects may not notice the difference, and they may not bother to set their pole piece heights. But someone playing clean may hear a lot of difference in output from one string to the next, and an adjustment will improve the overall sound quality. If you’d like to balance your strings output here is a good way to start. Lower your pickups so the covers or the tops of the coil bobbins are about 1/4 inch (approximately 6mm) below the strings when they are fretted at the highest fret. Raise the pole pieces under the strings that sound weaker than the rest. When I do this I always end up with the screws under the high e and the D strings set the highest. The plain G and the low E will be set the lowest, and the B and A strings will fall somewhere in between. After the string outputs have been balanced, then the overall pickup height can be set. If you’re after a sound with a lot of clarity and good string definition, keep the pickups down low. If more output and a thicker sound is what you want, then put the pickups closer to the strings, being careful not to bring them too close, which can hamper intonation, sustain and muddy the sound. If you want your bridge pickup to be dominant, set it closer to the strings than your neck pickup. If you bring the pickups way too close to the strings the strings could actually make contact with the pole pieces, which would be very bad indeed. There is no need for expensive tools or for measuring things to the nearest tenth of a millimeter. That is ridiculous overkill for a job that only requires the proper size screwdrivers, your ears, and a bit of common sense.

After 3 decades of playing, I never attempted adjusting pole pieces (only the entire pickup height). This pole piece adjustment is good to balance the output of the wound strings to the unwound.

This is hands down one of the best / accurate / easy ways to properly adjust the screw heights...works like a charm and matches up with angle on neck / bridge piece. This is how I was taught by close friend who has been an acoustic & electric guitar player since he was a youngster ( now he's retired and free to play anytime ). Great video - keep up the good work.

It's the diameter of the core on wound strings that affect the magnet. Even though the 4th string on set of 9s is .024, the core is more close to a plain .009 gauge like the high E string. The best way to balance the pole pieces from string to string by relying on a wave form. In that way you can clearly see which strings are loud and which strings are weak. Then adjust accordingly. You will be amazed at the clarity.

I just adjust the pole pieces by ear, thinking about Yngwie Malmsteen's tip on sound "if it sounds good, it is good" and the clarity and punch is amazing! I'm a rocker and play mostly 80's hair metal and I'm using a cheap ibanez gio modded with fender locking tuners and a seymour duncan hot rodded humbucker set.. simple yet very effective 👌plus I use a practice amp (vox mini 5 rhythm) and a boss me 20 multi effects unit, nothing fancy, but boy does it rock the house or the street or wherever I'm playing 😁 simplicity, a bit of knowledge and tons of practice make wonders! Now keep rocking and be fn' happy!

What would be the actual pole piece height for covered humbuckers?

Can a radius gauge be use to give the pole pieces it’s proper hight?

I have used the Pole pieces to fine tune my pickups but I adjust it every string to sound as even as possible so that 1 string is not louder than the other I'm a little confused with why you would adjust pole pieces and make Them level You want a balanced sound

If your pole screws are too long can you swap them for lower ones?

I am a new player. I got a used guitar just before the pandemic. It has HSH set up. As I got a little better I realized the tone was quite “flat” for lack of a better term. I took out a ruler and the pickup and polepeices are quite low to the strings. I ordered myself a more accurate ruler and caliper and am going to give this a go!

What if there is a height difference between the polepiece and slug bobbins? Great video by the way :)

G strings on my 7-string guitars always seem to have lower volume than other strings doesn’t matter how high I set pole pieces for those G strings. I gave up on adjusting pole pieces and have been using Boss Equalizer GE-7 pedal to for tuning the string volumes.

the strings don't generate the same amount of energy from one to the other so setting the pole pieces to the same height seems rather silly to me

This video is spot on. You are actually adjusting the pole pieces to the 12" neck radius. When I got my first Gibson [ ES-125 ] this is how I was taught to adjust the pole pieces. For the starting point, adjust the pole pieces so the screw head is almost flush with bobbin top and screw driver slots above the bobbin and accessible. Adjust all six screws to this pattern [ / \ / \ / \ ] then give a 1/2 turn to 2 and 5, then a full turn to 3 and 4. Now give the guitar a sound check.

Can I change polepiece screws without rewaxing pickup?

Imo the purpose of the pole pieces is not to follow the fretboard radius but to balance the output when the pickup is flat, which is affected by the fretboard radius, but mostly from the diameter of each string and if they are wound or not. The correct pattern is something similar to the one fender is doing in their single coils but with the G pole piece much lower as their pattern is the vintage spec with a wound G.

Uhm...is it ok that on my guitar the rod gets magnetized to the pickups? I'm scared of them de-Gaussing but I don't know if an unmagnetized piece of iron can really do damage to them even if it is magnetically attached

Is it the same method used on Dimarzios?

It's a vernier caliper!😉

Thanks