What height are your BKPs?

[Piplodocus]

Hello,

Just wondering what height you have your pickups at? I'm especially interested in the Holy Diver bridge and Mule Neck, but also Alnico Nailbomb bridge and Mothers Milk middle and necks.

Obviously the good old "move it up and down til it sounds best" is the best method and there is no right and wrong, but anyone with direct-mount pickups knows what could be a number of quick tweaks and listens for regular mounted pickups can be a nightmare for direct-mount since you may have to pack out under the pickup sometimes, which is also under the strings, so they may need to come off too, and so you could lose a day doing this and still not remember if it sounds better or worse than you started out!!!

So I figure if people can list what they have as theirs it would be an interesting comparison between pickups, personal taste, if there's a generally perceived collective "sweet spot", etc, etc...

Feel free to add all pickups as this could become an interesting height "starting point" sticky thread too if enough people post and/or find it of interest, so hijack this thread as much as you like.

Also, I guess we best define said "height" first too: Do you hold the string down on the 12th/1st/top fret? Leave strings open? Then measure from the underside of the string to the pole piece? And I assume a pair of measurements from 6th string and 1st string?

Maybe any note your remember in why you liked that spot too (a little darker, more open, less harsh, not ideal but better level match to the bridge, etc)?

Cheers!...

[Piplodocus]

P.S. What amp you're running into could be of additional interest too since that could help decide...

[Piplodocus]

P.P.S. And I guess what strings you use since the mass an type of metal flapping about in the field is probably half the equation...

[Chris Rowberry]

Hi,

We recommend that you lower the pickups, play, raise, play and raise again until you feel you have it in a sweet spot you really like. Pickup height can be a personal thing and many people have their preferred heights.

[darkbluemurder]

I never measure. I set it where it sounds best to me - which can change from time to time, and it is slightly different depending on the guitar and pickups. I tend to set my bridge pickups closer to the strings than my neck pickups, and generally closer on the treble side than on the bass side but that's about it as far as general rules go.

Cheers Stephan

[Slartibartfarst42]

It's not something I'm precious about or anything but I find that in very general terms the bridge pickup is usually about 2mm from the strings when they're depressed at the last fret while the neck pickup is a bit further away. Certainly when I had a Holydiver I know that was 2mm away from the strings at the bridge. For me I always set the bridge pickup first and then the neck pickup is adjusted so that the volumes balance.