Bought Another Guitar- Need Advice on Pickups

[silverfox]

I picked up an Epoch model Guitar made by Gibson in China. The neck PUP was set all the way down and the guitar sounds off- Although I think it has real potential. How do I go about adjusting-checking the pickups to see if someone moved the coils with those screws that are on the pickup cover? How do I determine the best hieght for the pickups under the strings?

Is there an article here somewhere covering this topic?

Thanks all for the assistance.

Silverfox.

[big_teee]

Not sure of your model, I think it is a LP type guitar.
Humbuckers in LP type guitars, you start with the neck pickup level with the rings, and the pole adjustment screws adjusted low.
The bridge pickup is usually adjusted higher than the neck pickup.
The pickup height is a trial and error adjustment process.
Try to adjust both the neck and bridge pickups so you have and even volume, when switching between both pickups.
Use the pole screws to make the pickup sound brighter or darker.
GL,
T

[Lyrebird Steve]

From the Gibson Website (Customer Service -> Tech Tips)

Adjust the height of the pickup to find the sweet spot, the height that sounds best to your ears. If the pickup is too close to the strings, it will sound muddy and distorted (in a bad way). If it is far away from the strings, it will sound weak and you will lose tone. Take your time and use your ears.

[big_teee]

After you work on guitars a while, it gets to where you know about where to Adjust the pickups at the start.
Then a little tweaking after you play a while.
GL,
T

[Lyrebird Steve]

I start my setups by setting the initial pickup heights like this :

Firstly set the adjustable pole-pieces to match the radius you set your bridge saddles to.

Then, press down the E strings (Low and High) to the last fret on your guitar.
Set the distance between the strings and the Neck pickup pole-pieces to 1.5mm
Set the distance between the strings and the Bridge pickup pole-pieces to 2.5mm
I use a Stew Mac String Action Gauge

Once I have these heights, I adjust the Neck pickup to find a spot where I like how it sounds, then adjust the height of the Bridge to balance the output. I do go back and forth quite a bit making tiny adjustments until I'm happy. You will probably revisit these after playing a bit