How to Adjust the Pickups on Fender Electric Guitars
Adjusting the pickup height is one way of fine-tuning the tonal quality of an electric guitar. Lowering and raising the pickup is easily done with a screwdriver, however, finding the right tone is a slow process that requires patience. Minute adjustments affect the sound quality of the pickup. The procedure involves making minor adjustments to the pickup height and comparing the sound with the previous height. Finding the right tone usually requires raising and lowering the pickup several times.
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Instructions
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Set the action on the guitar before adjusting the pickup height.
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Fret each individual string and measure the distance between the bottom of the string and the pole piece of the pickup. Fender pickups have six individual poles in the pickup for each of the individual strings. The distance should be between 3/16 and 1/4 of an inch.
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Plug the guitar into an amplifier. Set the volume and tone levels to your ordinary playing style.
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Select the bridge pickup with the pickup switch. Experiment with the height of the pickup and the tonal qualities of the guitar. Stay within the 3/16- and 1/4-inch height level. The tone qualities of the string change as the distance between the string the pickup poles change. Adjust the height by turning the pickup mounting screws with a Phillips head screwdriver. Fender pickups have one screw on the left side and one screw on the right side of the pickup. Turn the screw clockwise to raise the height of the pickup and counterclockwise to lower the height. Play the string and move the pickup up and down until you find the best tone. The closer the pickup is to the string, the more distorted the sound becomes. Repeat the process for the neck pickup and for the middle pickup if you are working on a Stratocaster.
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Tips & Warnings
The gauge of strings that you use on the guitar affects the relationship between the strings and the pickup height.
A pickup that is too close to the strings can produce unwanted overtones and distortion.
Lay a soft cloth on the guitar next to the pickup to protect the finish. Screwdrivers can easily scratch the finish on a guitar.
