Adjusting pickup height

Adjusting Pickup Height to Get Appropriate Sound Output

It is apparent that an amp is required to enhance the sound output while playing an electric guitar. Adjusting pickup height has got a great deal to do with the final output from the guitar.

You need to adjust the pickup if one of them is much louder than the others and also if you want to increase output by the pickups in order to gain increased distortion. This distortion may not be much but pickups help you in getting some. Also, if some of the strings sound distorted when you strum, you can try and sort it out by moving the pickups around.

Pickup acts as a transducer that coverts magnetic vibrations emanating from the strings to electrical signals. It is made of both a magnet and a coil. When a string is picked, it is magnetized by the pickup. An electric signal is produced when this magnetized string moves repeatedly over the coil.

The electric signal produced by the pickup is then sent through a cable to the preamp. The preamp amplifies the sound by a small amount. It is then processed and then amplified to a much greater degree again and you get the final sound output.

You may wonder why this two-step amplification. Pickups produce the electrical signals that are much less than 1 volt and to process them you need to amplify them. The second amplification is done to produce power so as to be able to get the sound output through the speakers.

By moving the pickup closer to the strings, you can get a greater degree of magnetization of the strings thus increasing the output generated by the pickup. On the other hand, if you move the pickup away from the strings, the degree of strings getting magnetized is reduced. You ought to keep this in mind while adjusting pickup height.

A bit of research on amps and pickups can go a long way in your guitar sounding like that of a rock star.