How high do you set your vintage Mustang pickups

[glitchathon]

I have the original Mustang pickups on my 72 mustang. I have the treble side of the bridge pickup nearly touching the string. And it sounds very good (unlike my Strat which sounds best with pickups further away than Fender's specs). I'm starting to wonder if this is why a lot of people remove the pickup covers on the Mustang. So they can get it so close as to not be touching the string.

How do others with vintage Mustangs set their pickups?

[hotrodperlmutter]

if i were you, i'd pop them off and see if it makes any difference. i don't think it does, but i put a strat one on the brostang (aside from the fact it was from a strat) because everyone uses covers. for no other reason.

[glitchathon]

I did try without the covers but did not notice a difference. The difference would lie in the fact that you can get them a bit higher without touching the strings I guess. I'm wondering if many Mustang owners have their bridge pickups set really high?

[Mages]

the bridge pickup, yes. I have it raised pretty high as well. I think it's because the bridge pickup on a mustang is probably closer to the bridge than any guitar I can think of. so the string vibration is very low at that point. you either need to raise the pickup up quite a bit or use a pretty high output pickup.

[Will]

The plastic cover is magnetically transparent, so it shouldn't make any difference to the tone.

Most of my SC PUPs are cranked up until they touch the string, then lowered a hair. If they get too low, it sounds anemic to me. I've never noticed any real negative from having them too high, other than some higher-output ones sounding muddy. Raising the SCs that much also gives you a better signal/noise ratio.

[Leisureclub]

I'd start about 1/8 of an inch from the strings when they're unfretted. Just a shake closer on the high E and just a shake farther on the low E. It's a personal preference thing though. If you like how it sounds and plays that's how it should be.

[James]

I think people remove the covers so that it resembles the strat pickups they're more used to or because they think having plastic between the pole piece and the strings will make them lose some treble or something along those lines. Even if you take the cover off you'll only be able to get the pickup slightly closer to the strings and even then it'll be so close as to risk causing that 'magnet pulling' thing people talk about from time to time or just have the strings hit it if you strum too hard. I don't think there is any reason to do it other than aesthetics.

[stewart]

the bridge pickups on mine are both about 3mm away.

[weeping_moon]

I have the original Mustang pickups on my 72 mustang. I have the treble side of the bridge pickup nearly touching the string. And it sounds very good (unlike my Strat which sounds best with pickups further away than Fender's specs). I'm starting to wonder if this is why a lot of people remove the pickup covers on the Mustang. So they can get it so close as to not be touching the string.

How do others with vintage Mustangs set their pickups?

i tryed many many times to get better sound from my mustang pickups.. i was trying to get more sustain, but those pickups wont do it... i had the pickups almost to touch the strings. but then when that wouldnt change i putted in some dimarzio single coiled humbuckers!

if anyone wants to know the orginial mustang pickup dc resistance are about 5.20 K

[glitchathon]

I think people remove the covers so that it resembles the strat pickups they're more used to or because they think having plastic between the pole piece and the strings will make them lose some treble or something along those lines. Even if you take the cover off you'll only be able to get the pickup slightly closer to the strings and even then it'll be so close as to risk causing that 'magnet pulling' thing people talk about from time to time or just have the strings hit it if you strum too hard. I don't think there is any reason to do it other than aesthetics.

Yea that makes sense. it really does not let you get too much closer as you say. I actually like the look of the pickup covers so I guess i never understood the aesthetic reasons.

i tryed many many times to get better sound from my mustang pickups.. i was trying to get more sustain, but those pickups wont do it... i had the pickups almost to touch the strings. but then when that wouldnt change i putted in some dimarzio single coiled humbuckers!

if anyone wants to know the orginial mustang pickup dc resistance are about 5.20 K

Yea, mine are about 5.2K. For adding sustain, I noticed that tightening the tremelo and moving the tailpiece down (so that the strings barely can fit under there) helps sustain. Also I am considering getting threaded inserts for the neck so that I can really tighten the neck joint. I hear this helps a lot.

[James]

You might also consider shimming the neck so that you can raise the bridge. That would create a steeper angle from the bridge to the 'cigar tube' part of the tremolo and increase sustain a little.

[glitchathon]

You might also consider shimming the neck so that you can raise the bridge. That would create a steeper angle from the bridge to the 'cigar tube' part of the tremolo and increase sustain a little.

Not a bad idea. I actually raised the action significantly yesterday and noticed a difference in tone. Not just less buzz, but tone seemed to improve. Maybe that had to do with the angle. Shimming would allow this effect to be more pronounced. If I go any steeper, i will again have the buzzing issue with strings resting on screws so I may have to bite the bullet and flip the bridge around.

[glitchathon]

brought the tailpiece down as low as it will go and raised the bridge a tad more (now I have fairly high action and it feels ok, still).

I compared to my Strat and the Mustang actually sustains longer than my Strat now. I think the setup is finally about where I like it.