How to Adjust Pickup Height on a Gibson Les Paul Standard
Adjusting the pickup height on a Gibson Les Paul Standard or other guitar is an easy and standard maintenance procedure. Pickups are adjusted to suit individual preferences in tonal quality and overall sound output. Gibson Les Paul guitars use two adjustment screws, located on either side of the pickup, which are spring loaded and attached to the internal frame of the pickup. No modification to your Les Paul is necessary, and no harm will come to the guitar even if the pickups are adjusted too high or low.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Plug your Les Paul into a guitar amplifier with a guitar cord, and adjust the controls as you would during a normal playing session. You may hold the guitar in your lap, or lay it on a flat surface while making the adjustments.
-
2
Place a ruler against one side of any of the two pickups, and note the measurement from the bottom of the pickup to the strings. Repeat this for each side of each pickup, until you have noted all four measurements. (Neck pickup low and high string side, and bridge pickup high and low string side.) You'll do this in case you wish to adjust the pickups back to their original position at a later time.
-
-
3
Insert the screwdriver into the adjustment screw on one of the pickups. Turning the screw clockwise will raise that side of the pickup, and turning it clockwise will lower it.
-
4
Place the ruler against the side of the pickup you adjusted, and note the measurement.
-
5
Adjust the other side of the pickup by turning the screw with the screwdriver, until it is approximately the same height as the previously adjusted side. You can determine this by placing the ruler against the pickup on the side you just adjusted, and matching it up to the measurement you noted.
-
6
Flip the pickup selector switch on the guitar to the pickup you adjusted, and play the guitar as you normally would. You may make small additional adjustments, as needed, until the desired tone and output level is reached.
-
7
Repeat steps 2 through 6 to adjust the other pickup.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Experimentation is the key to pickup height adjustments. There is no right or wrong adjustment, only what sounds best to you.
Avoid adjustment of the pickup's individual string pole screws at this point, until you are comfortable and adept at adjusting the pickup height. The individual pole adjustment screws will alter the tone in very small degrees, and you may experiment with them after you've perfected your guitar tone.
Don't adjust pickups too high. Although this will result in increased sound output, the strings are likely to contact the pickup when played in the higher registers of the fretboard, and the increased magnetic pull on the strings may hamper their natural vibration.
Don't adjust pickups too low. Not only will this decrease sound output to unacceptable levels, but the adjustment screw and internal spring is likely to disengage from the pickup frame, causing the pickup to flop around in its cavity. If this happens, it is a quick and easy fix at any guitar shop, or you may remove the pickup mounting rings and re-attach the screw yourself.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit guitar player image by bright from Fotolia.com
