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-------------------------------- What is Strat-itis -------------------------------- Pickups are made from magnets. Strings are made of metal. As such, the pickups exert a magnetic force on the strings. If the pickups are too close to the strings, the effect of this force on the vibration of the strings is audibly perceived as intonation problems. Strats have 3 single coil pickups exerting force on the strings. Dual humbucker guitars have 4 coils (in two humbuckers) exerting force on the strings. Some super-strats (humbucker-single-humbucker) have 5 coils exerting force on the strings. For some reason, the pickup height intonation interaction is more prevalent on Strat, even though there are only 3 coils involved. Presumably, it is because people compensate for the lower single coil pickup output by adjusting the pickups very close to the strings and increasing the magnetic force exterted on the strings. As such, the problem has come to be known as Strat-itis on the newsgroups. =========================================================================== Digest of pickup setup articles =========================================================================== From collins_jim@tandem.com Sun Dec 19 09:52:52 1993 Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar From: collins_jim@tandem.com (Jim Collins) Subject: Re: HELP! Adjusting pick-up height Followup-To: rec.music.makers.guitar Nntp-Posting-Host: 130.252.1.138 Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc. Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1993 00:37:08 GMT X-Disclaimer: This article is not the opinion of Tandem Computers, Inc. In article <CI729t.375@freenet.carleton.ca>, aj154@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (John Charlesworth) wrote: > I just replaced the pick guard on my Strat and realized once I'd taken the > pick-ups off that I didn't record how high they were set. From what I > recall, some were mounted on more of an angle than others (i.e. closer to > the Be strings than to the EA strings). > > Is there an easy way to set these heights properly again? Also, I just > put a SD Hot Rails in as a bridge pick-up and was wondering how you set > the height for that (I've got it wired so that I can run it single coil > for when I'm using the bridge/middle pick-up combo setting). > > Thanks, -j The following according to the Fender manual. Let's assume that the floating bridge is set up the way you like it, whether floating or blocked, and each individual saddle is set to its appropriate height. Press the low E string at the last fret. The bottom of the fretted string should clear the top of the pole piece of each pickup by .024 inches. Then, press the high E string at the last fret. The bottom of the fretted string should clear the pole piece of each pickup by .020 inches. These are, of course, guidelines. I always set up Strats this way, and I've never had complaints about Stratitis. It is pretty easy to come up with some quick feeler guages for these two thicknesses. I found a couple of nails that are right on the money. (Is this why nails are always specified in "pennies"? Sorry.) I use these measurements whether I'm setting up single coils or humbuckers, and they've always worked equally well for me. It seems as reasonable a starting point as any for the Hot Rails pickup. Of course, your mileage may vary. Jimmy --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: seymourwd@aol.com (SeymourwD) Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar Subject: Re: Adjusting Pickup Height Date: 17 Oct 1994 18:06:04 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) In article <bcoreyCu9FHy.90M@netcom.com>, bcorey@netcom.com (Brandon Corey) writes: Press the strings down on the last fret and the Bridge pickup should be adjusted about 1/16" from the strings. The neck pickup should be adjusted 1/8" on each side. If the bass is still too full, just lower it another 1/16" to 1/8". Let go of the strings (from the last fret) and it should work pretty good for you. good luck. Seymour W. Duncan --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar From: collins_jim@tandem.com (Jim Collins) Subject: Re: Q. Pickup height? Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc. Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 18:28:13 GMT X-Disclaimer: This article is not the opinion of Tandem Computers, Inc. In article <3fi6a4$prd@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, sefner@aol.com (SEFNER) wrote: > > How does the distance from the top of the pickup to the strings effect the > sound produced? > Thanx, > Sefner In many cases, it depends upon the pickup. Fender Lace Sensors, for instance, seem to sound better the closer the pickup gets to the string. (Fret the string at the last fret, and adjust.) To my ears, getting the Lace Sensors very close seemed to counteract -- a little -- the sterility of the pickup. On the other hand, one friend who used these pickups briefly complained that the high middle pickup hindered his playing. (He rarely uses a pick.) Standard single coils, on the other hand, don't like being too close to the strings. A strong magnetic field can dampen the string's vibrations. It can also cause Strat-itis, a condition whereby it becomes difficult to distinguish different notes fretted way up on the neck. Lowering the pickups helps, here. Even on a guitar that does not suffer from Strat-itis, pickup height can make a big sonic difference. On my Strats, I always noticed a pronounced brightness whenever the pickups were higher. Lower them a tad, and I got a less tinny sound. Some pickups seemed to be more sensitive to this than others. I learned to make use of this. My Strats are vintage reissues, which means there is no tone control for the bridge pickup. When I set pickup heights according to Fender's manual, I got good enough sound, but the bridge pickup alone was too tinny for me. By lowering the bridge pickup, the sound improved, but the volume of that pickup dropped in relation to the others. Here's where calibrated sets helped. The bridge pickup is slightly hotter than the others to begin with, so it can stand to be lowered a bit. Now, on my Strats, the bridge pickup alone gets a lot of use. For humbuckers, I don't notice as much of a tonal shift as a volume shift. (I'm sure it's there, I'm just more tuned to single coils.) This is where adjustable pole pieces help. It is easy to get all of the strings in balance within a pickup, and then balance the two (or whatever) pickups with each other by adjusting the overall height of the pickup. Of course, this is all like adding salt and pepper to your meals. Season to taste. Jimmy --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From sefner@aol.com Mon Jan 23 14:41:26 1995 Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar Subject: Re: Q. Pickup height? Date: 21 Jan 1995 17:18:55 -0500 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) I took my original question to the local guitar store and was told that a good height is to depress the first fret and use the thickness of nickel to get the propper height from string to pickup... Sefner --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From jstemwedel@pomona.edu Sun Feb 12 19:47:40 1995 Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.builders Subject: Re: Pickup Placement Theories? Date: 12 Feb 95 15:07:54 PST Organization: Pomona College In article <D3qnrs.MoH@nntpa.cb.att.com>, abennett@mlw006.mlm.att.com (ml310-Bennett) writes: > 2 Are there any rules/theories about placement of pickups > (apart from the usual increase in high-frequency content > nearer the bridge). Especially with narrow aperture pickups (single coil size), the placement in relation to harmonic nodes in the strings will effect their tone and a bit of their performance. For example, the neck pickups on strats and teles will not do well at reproducing a 5th fret harmonic because they fall almost esactly under a node. G&L has moved the neck pickup on their ASAT Classic to avoid this. It isn't too dificult to do the same. Basically, figure out what harmonics you regularly use, figure how they divide the string (12th fret into two sections, 7th fret into three, 5th fret into two, etc.) and figure out where the nodes will be on your scale length, and don't place pickups under these. This isn't particularly necessary on multi-pickup instruments. In some cases, it might be undesirable. The "in-between" tones on a strat result from the particular physical placement of the pickups to eachother and in relation to the string and the various nodes. Besides, if I want the fifth fret harmonic on my strat, I got 4 other sounds to choose from to get it. Not too bad. j.p. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: James_Van_Loon@babylon.montreal.qc.ca (James Van Loon) Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar Subject: Re: Pickup alignments (close/far from string) Date: 23 Feb 1995 19:45:35 GMT Organization: Babylon, Montreal, Canada Ideally, the pickups should be as close to the strings as possible. This gives you a hotter signal and a higher signal/noise ration. It also tends to make the gain on your amp sound way better! The constraint is that the magnetic pole pieces of the pickups can have a major impact on the way the string vibrates if they are too close. The string should be free to vibrate in all directions for proper tone, and if the pickups are too close, the magnetic field will not allow the strings to vibrate side to side, only up and down. What you have to do is start with the pickups way low, and gradually crank them up while playing the guitar and closely watching the vibrating strings. If you start to notice negative changes in the tone, stop and back off a little. If you get to the point where you can actually see the sting vibrating more vertically than horizontally, then back off a couple of full turns of the screw. You may find that you can have the pickups higher under the treble strings, since they are smaller, contain less metal, and require a larger magnetic field to deflect their vibration. Some players like to have the high strings really hot, some don't. Most of the information that you could ever need to maintain your guitar, including how to do set-ups and dress frets and all that kind of stuff, is available in a wicked book, which I can't remember the title of right now (I'm sure there are more than one, though). Will get back to you on that when I remember. jvl --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: devans1@osf1.gmu.edu (David A Evans) Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar Subject: Re: Pickup alignments (close/far from string) Date: 25 Feb 1995 07:03:35 GMT Organization: George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA : Hey, I got an EpiStrat guitar...and I was wondering..I know that I can adjust : the pickups, but are there are any ideal settings (angle or height-wise on : the pickups, you know, lower higher, that will give me more of a metallish : sound?) Any input would be appreciated... The further you move the pickup from the strings, the less power you get, but since there is less magnetic pull, the sound is sweeter, with more warmth and sustain, and more acousticness. Move it closer for increased power and a harsher sound. I generally leave my rhythm pickup on my Les Paul quite a distance from the strings, with the tone all the way backed off, so I can get that sweet, creamy tone that Slash gets, and get the treble pickup as close to the strings as I can, for those searing leads and extra punch on the attack.