Strat pickup height

[surfnorthwest]

Got in a bit of an argument with my guitar tech over the weekend while he was working on one of my Strats. I typically have my pickups set a quarter inch from the strings he says it should be about at least a half inch. I find you loose that Fender spank if you set them to far

[LivewireBlanco]

I set up my fat 50s at about 1/8th inch. In fact I setup my humbuckers about that high too.

[Kongels]

I think it depends on the pup, set it about 1/8 and adjust from there is how I do it.

Lollar FAQ-

How close to the strings should I adjust my new Lollar pickups?

That depends a little from pickup to pickup. On a Lollar Vintage Blackface® set or a Lollar Special S Series® we recommend that you start approximately 1/8" from the top of the pickup to the underside of the string (when the string is un fretted). Go a little closer for the high e, and a little further for the low e. On a Lollar Vintage Blonde® or a Lollar Vintage Tweed® you can actually start a bit closer to the strings to begin with. On Lollar T Series pickups 1/8" is also a good starting point. For P-90s, start at around 1/8". Humbuckers work well when you adjust them as close to the strings as possible, without any string interference. Remember, all of these are starting points. The next step is purely up to you. Don't be afraid to adjust pickups closer than you have been told—it won't hurt anything and you may like them as close as they can get and you can always adjust them farther away if you don't like it. Many of our pickups have magnets that are not fully charged in an effort to make them perform more like vintage pickups- with weaker magnets you'll need to raise the pickups closer to get the best dynamic performance. Take time to listen and tweak until you have the pickups set up where they sound best to you.