Your pickups are too high.
Well, if you're like most guitarists and bassists, your pickups are too high. Sure, it's all about the power but there are a number of drawbacks to setting your pickups too close to the strings.
Check it out…
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After setting up a Precision Bass, I frequently get asked about the pickups. Players notice I've done something different there.
Well, it's an easy job to balance out the string output on a P-Bass. Check it out…
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The (possibly) weird, but (definitely) good method for adjusting your pickup pole screws…
If you've got adjustable pole-pieces on your pickups you can balance the output of individual strings so that none is too loud or quiet as you play across them. That's a great advantage.
Find out how to do it well. Check it out…
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I thought it’d be useful to look at some of the other ways a radius gauge can be not just useful, but indispensable.
Radius gauges should form part of the toolkit of any guitar setter-upper… Setupper… Setterer-upperer… Anyone wanting to work with guitars.
Here's some of the ways to use radius gauges.
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Ever have a loose output jack on your guitar or bass? Ever tried to tighten it and been frustrated as it spun round and round inside the guitar?
Then, oh boy, are you going to like this. Check it out jack-spinners. 😉
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While most guitars have a single radius along the length of the fingerboard, a compound radius instrument has a radius that gradually increases/flattens as you go further up the neck.
Some players find these a godsend but they do require some different methods to set them up and to perform fretwork on them.
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That’s what players usually want.
I want it really low, but no buzzing. As low as possible without buzzing.
But, it's just not that simple…
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Getting the top of an acoustic instrument moving is vital to getting the best tone from it. You have to make sure you're transferring as much of the strings' energy as possible and a too low a saddle can mess that up and really kill your tone.
Find out more…
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What we generally refer to as the ‘offset’ Fenders (Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Mustang, Jag-Stang) can sometimes be a quirky bunch and one of their more common annoyances is the bridge.
Often, notes can suffer from a lack of focus and sustain. Strings can ‘jump’ from their slots if played even a little too hard, and the bridge itself can be buzzy and rattly. Sometimes you’ll even have saddle height screws vibrating loose and rattling, or even falling out.
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For the last while I’ve been rambling on about string angle over the nut. Now, I’m going right down the other end. Let's talk about how the angle your strings break over your bridge saddles can impact your Gibson (or Gibson-style) guitar.
Specifically, let's talk about collapsed bridges…
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You know the string retainer bar? Also known as the ‘dammit-I-forgot-to-put-the-string-under-it bar’.
It’s that little thing on the headstock, between your nut and tuners. The strings install under it.
You’ll find them most often on guitars with locking tremolo systems like Floyd Rose and Ibanez Edge bridges, and, on these instruments, it's important that it's properly adjusted.
String break angle can cause problems if it's not correct. Too shallow an angle, in particular, can be a source of buzzes, rattles, and general tone-sucking.
Get the skinny on sting angles and avoid sucked tone.
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