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Stingray Pickup Advice


bakerster135
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Hi all,

I've been adjusting the pickup height on my Stingray, and usually go by the factory settings using my 6" metal ruler (i.e. 8/64 bass side, 6/64 treble side) and adjust from there...

As the Stingray pickup's quite wide however, I've been slanting it slightly towards the fretboard (so front to back, not top to bottom) so it follows the line of the strings, and is at an angle to the body when you look down at it from the top.

I just wondered if this is the correct thing to do, and whether other Stingray players do the same, or if the pickup should be in line with the body, i.e. straight and not at an angle?

Would appreciate some advice. Please do let me know if this doesn't make sense, and you need some further clarification on what I mean!...

Cheers,
Alex

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I angle my pickup close to the G and further away from the E to try and even out the sting volume. Im using an Aguilar pickup with flat pole pieces but still find it has a better balance than the original pu, even though i still angle it.

I will take a pic and stick it up in a bit

Edited by mrn1989
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[quote name='mrn1989' timestamp='1458127514' post='3004901']
I angle my pickup close to the G and further away from the E to try and even out the sting volume. Im using an Aguilar pickup with flat pole pieces but still find it has a better balance than the original pu, even though i still angle it.

I will take a pic and stick it up in a bit
[/quote]

Thanks mrn1989!

I do that too, top to bottom, but here I'm specifically asking about whether anyone angles their pickup towards the fretboard (front to back) so it follows the line of the strings when you're looking down at it (i.e. when you're looking at the pickup from the top, it leans towards the fretboard and away from the bridge).

Do you do this with your pickup, or keep it straight?

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[quote name='bakerster135' timestamp='1458128201' post='3004906']

Do you do this with your pickup, or keep it straight?
[/quote]

No props!

I have it straight, inline with the body not the neck. I don't see a reason why you can't angle it with the neck I just don't see what difference there would be.

I will check mine but I believe the pickup is straight with the body and the strings are an equal height on the E left and right side.

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[quote name='bakerster135' timestamp='1458123202' post='3004826']
...I've been slanting it slightly towards the fretboard (so front to back, not top to bottom) so it follows the line of the strings
[/quote]
I know what you mean but to be honest I don't think it makes a lot of difference either way. I have mine set up parallel to the body which I guess means there's a slight bias towards the neck coil, more so as you fret up the fingerboard. The SR pickup is pretty aggressive anyway so that set up works for me. There is no right or wrong though, do whatever sounds right to you.

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Alex,

Musicman's setup instructions have changed slightly. They now recommend you drop the bass side of the pickup right down to the pickguard. Scroll down a bit on this link:

http://www.music-man.com/faq

I've set up mine following that and is does help with evenness across the strings.

On the front to back, can't really help as my strings are pretty much parallel to the bass body. I have a low action and my frets have been dressed down over the years (by an over enthusiastic tech) , so not as tall as new.

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[quote name='No. 8 Wire' timestamp='1458292397' post='3006258']
Alex,

Musicman's setup instructions have changed slightly. They now recommend you drop the bass side of the pickup right down to the pickguard. Scroll down a bit on this link:

[url="http://www.music-man.com/faq"]http://www.music-man.com/faq[/url]

I've set up mine following that and is does help with evenness across the strings.

On the front to back, can't really help as my strings are pretty much parallel to the bass body. I have a low action and my frets have been dressed down over the years (by an over enthusiastic tech) , so not as tall as new.
[/quote]

Ah, thank you!

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[quote name='bakerster135' timestamp='1458128201' post='3004906']
Thanks mrn1989!

I do that too, top to bottom, but here I'm specifically asking about whether anyone angles their pickup towards the fretboard (front to back) so it follows the line of the strings when you're looking down at it (i.e. when you're looking at the pickup from the top, it leans towards the fretboard and away from the bridge).

Do you do this with your pickup, or keep it straight?
[/quote]


I keep it straight. I doubt it makes much difference to the sound... but ultimately it is a matter of: do you like the result? the it IS correct :)

The only angling I do is to make it closer to the G string and farther on the E string.

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Re the Musicman FAQ on setting pickup height below:

"If you have a single pickup bass set the pickup height to 6/32" from the plastic pickup cover to the bottom of the G string. Adjust the bass side of the pickup to be level with the pickguard."

Are they seriously saying to set it as indicated by the red line in the attached pic? Looks a bit extreme to me!

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Yeah, it is pretty extreme, also it doesn't take into account the height of your action. So on different basses the height from e string to pickup could be quite different.

In practice, my pickup doesn't get as low as the pickguard on the bass side. So it not as extreme as the picture above.

I guess the only solution as always is to try it and see what works best for you. On mine it helps with string evenness, but it wasn't shocking in the old setup either.

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[quote name='ikay' timestamp='1458758922' post='3010622']
Re the Musicman FAQ on setting pickup height below:

"If you have a single pickup bass set the pickup height to 6/32" from the plastic pickup cover to the bottom of the G string. Adjust the bass side of the pickup to be level with the pickguard."

Are they seriously saying to set it as indicated by the red line in the attached pic? Looks a bit extreme to me!
[/quote]


It's very similar to how I have it in my Stingray... perhaps a tiny bit higher (I don't have the bass in front of me right now) which I set by ear, not measuring.
I would not bother with measurements but take that as a visual guideline, and then adjust by ear, until you're happy with the string balance and sound.

Edited by mcnach
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