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Author Topic:  How close should my pickup be to the strings
Wade Branch


From:
Weatherford, Texas, USA
Post  Posted 2 Aug 2005 5:18 am    
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I have a Bill Lawerence 705 humbucker in my S-10 BMI.It has a great sound, except I notice the other night sitting and playing across from my steel teacher (Ted Solesky)That his lower strings like the 10,9,8 have a real clear twangy bite to them,mine is real muffeled sounding.Iwas wandering if I need to raise my pickup up, it looks like its about a 1/4" or so off of the strings.How far off should the pickup be from the strings? Ted is playing a carter ,he said it has a Bill Lawernce pick up in it, but Iam not sure which one.
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Hook Moore


From:
South Charleston,West Virginia
Post  Posted 2 Aug 2005 5:52 am    
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Wade I use Bill Lawrence pickups set at about 3/16 to 1/4. Slight adjustments can make a difference with these pickups, thats part of what I like about them. I have 710s on my Emmons P/P and XR-16s on my Carter. Experiment a little with the height and you`ll get the bite you want.
Hook

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www.HookMoore.com
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Jack Stoner


From:
Kansas City, MO
Post  Posted 2 Aug 2005 7:51 am    
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The 705 can be much closer than a 710. 705's came on my Franklin and they were about the thickness of a quarter from the strings.
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Wade Branch


From:
Weatherford, Texas, USA
Post  Posted 2 Aug 2005 8:51 am    
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Ive never messed with a steel guitar pick up,Ive only played with pickups in my tele.Do they or should they have a rubber spacer of some kind between the pickup and the guitar.I was just curious how these steel guitar pickups mounted and the proper way of spacing them.
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Jack Stoner


From:
Kansas City, MO
Post  Posted 2 Aug 2005 9:34 am    
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Steel pickups (all that I've seen)mount directly to the steel - usually some type of aluminum rails or plate. The mounting has height adjustment screws to raise/lower the pickup. My Franklin, which is the "Emmons wide mount" type of pickup has three adjustment screws - one in the front middle and two in the rear near each end.

The exceptions are the Sierra and new MSA Millenium which have modular slide in "changeable" pickups similar to the old Dan Armstrong guitars.
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c c johnson

 

From:
killeen,tx usa * R.I.P.
Post  Posted 2 Aug 2005 10:49 am    
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A quarter should slip comfortably between the strings and pu. cc
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Donny Hinson

 

From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
Post  Posted 2 Aug 2005 5:21 pm    
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Or two.

I guess it goes without saying that new strings, especially the stainless steel ones, have a lot of "twang".
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