software

Me and my guitar buddies are always arguing over pickup height, personally i tend not to go for the close as you can get it technique, i tend to back off as i believe you get more characteristics of the pickup and guitar together, rather than just the pickups when they are really close. On my custom strat i also do adjust pole piece height to compensate for the neck radius. What do other go for?

i agree with you, iMO i can't stand it when my pickup is so close to the strings, especially when you palm mute and your strings stick to the poles.

I usually adjust mine to get a nice balance in output between pickups. If you get it too close the pickups can actually pull the strings out of tune.

I personally have the Height adjusted differently for every guitar I own (or have ever owned). I don't really try to get em Close to the strings, Or far away. I Just Set the selector to one pickup at a time (neck bridge, whatever).
I'll play the pickup alone for a few minutes just LISTENING and decide weather I like the Tone or not. Then Just do some adjusting (either up or down) to suit my tastes. And keep going back and forth between Listening, and adjusting till I get that ONE pickup sounding exactly how I want it.
Then once I've got that one Precisely where I like it. I switch to the Next pickup in the guitar, and do the same thing. Till I have every pickup sounding how I think it should sound.

After I've got em all set where they sound right To ME, then I go and do tiny adjust ments to work out the volume balance issues.
I've never really understood disscussions like this quot;What Height do you set your pickupsquot;? and the like. The Distance between the strings and the poles really shouldn't matter as long as you like the sound.

DON'T ADJUST WITH YOUR EYES.
ADJUST WITH YOUR EARS.

Ed

p.s. Since adjustments can't really be done with eyes or ears alone. I suggest useing your hands to actully work the screwdriver. Cause ya might get a nasty infection if you use your ears or eyes.