What should be the height of the pickups on my
Pickup height on electric guitars is an oft debated subject. It's more about personal preference, ..BUT there is a bit of science involved , and here is some real simple "String Theory" for electric guitars. Your pickups are magnets essentially, with little winds of copper wire - this is how a transducer (pickup) picks..up (hence PICKUP) the sound of the strings. Strings are steel , most brands have Steel wrap around a Nickle core, ..it is ALL attracted to magnetics. You've played with magnets before , right? What happens when you put a magnet close to metal? It...PULLS it , right? Now , here's the deal about THAT , for guitars. The closer you get a vibrating string to the pickups , the more signal the string will produce , BUT if you get TOO close, the pickup will start pulling on the string too much (remember..magnetics) and that will reduce the amount of sustain on a string(s), and may even hamper actual tuning depending how strong the pickups are. Of course there is the "Duh" factor - having your pickups so high that your strings actually rub them as you play , ...don't do THAT! Best advice: Keep the pickups about mid-way. Not high enough to cause any noticeable problems, but not too low to sink them below the pickup rings (the plastic rectangulars that surround the pickups.
