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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Musician »

Permalink Best HSS pickups for surf guitar

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I recently purchased a Guild Surfliner Deluxe which I generally love except for one thing. The humbucker in the bridge position and the middle single coil are both raised close to the strings and are placed 1” apart so that when i either use a thumb pick or flat pick, it’s hitting the pickup.

So my question is should I see if I can lower both pickups so that they lay flatter against the body or should i get a different set which have a higher output (since they’d be further away from the strings?

Thanks in advance.

I believe your pickups are mounted to the pick guard. You should be able to lower or raise them easily. Surf music is usually played with low output pickups so no need to spend money.
Lots of information online for recommended pickup height. I'd start there and then adjust to what's out of the way but still sounds good.
Be careful not to lower them too much as you'll risk the screw coming out of the pickup and have to remove the pick guard to put it back together again.
Congratulations on your new guitar!

Agreed. Just lower them slightly.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Does the Surfliner have a coil split for the humbucker? If not, you might want to look into that...

Surf_Skater wrote:

I believe your pickups are mounted to the pick guard. You should be able to lower or raise them easily. Surf music is usually played with low output pickups so no need to spend money.
Lots of information online for recommended pickup height. I'd start there and then adjust to what's out of the way but still sounds good.
Be careful not to lower them too much as you'll risk the screw coming out of the pickup and have to remove the pick guard to put it back together again.
Congratulations on your new guitar!

Thank you, Surf_Skater.

Last edited: Dec 17, 2024 19:38:52

AgentClaret wrote:

Does the Surfliner have a coil split for the humbucker? If not, you might want to look into that...

Great minds think alike! I had Sweetwater install one. The guitar really sounds great through my Princeton.

Thanks for your reply.

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