And what did you do exactly? I own a MM Luke II with EMG's that's why I'm asking. Unfortunately you can't adjust the PU height on the Luke unless you use some washers. But this only brings the PU nearer to the strings. If you want them further away you have to cut some body wood...
That is exactly what I did. I found that the SA single coils respond much better to playing dynamics when lowered (but I do not recommend that you cut down your MM guitar ) I have the 89 Humbucker close to the strings for all gainy stuff, like EMG suggests for all pickups, in single coil mode it delivers nothing special. The neck single coil is at the lowest position possible (6mm distance) , the middle pickup a little higher (5mm). The sound opens up when more distant to the strings, much more overtones, maintaining the very, very good string separation and the lack of any noise. The sound is not exactly vintage strat but something more balanced, dynamic and noiseless. I also added a resitor to the Humbucker output of the EMG 89, to lower the high output of the humbucker mode to the level of the other pickups. In combination with the guitars swamp ash body I love the sound!
A couple of weeks ago I had a job to substitute the only guitarist in a 70s cover band, playing also "Sweet home Alabama " (rythm at position 2, solos at position 4, with the bridge pickup split). I used a slightly modified version of the famous Morgan AC 20 and after the song the sound guy adressed me via my inEar to compliment the "best ever heard" guitar sound (It was not my playing though and I´ve no clue what equipment the other guitar player has used )
So, sorry to hear that you can not lower the picks. If you want to experiment the effect you could raise the bridge to a higher string position. If you fall in love you then would have to "shim" the neck to maintain playability (or play only slide... )