DiMarzio Stratocaster Pole Spacing

jaymenon

I noticed that the pole spacing on DiMarzio Strat pickups is 2.01” or 51mm.

Surely with a traditional 56.35mm bridge that would take the strings severely outside the polepieces for the bridge pickup..?

Their F-spaced humbuckers Are also 51mm - perfect for the modern Les Paul bridges with 52mm spacing...

Philly_Q

Yes, DiMarzio decided to plough their own furrow with their polepiece spacing!

The F-spaced humbuckers are a bit narrower than Gibson's 498T or wider-spaced offerings from the likes of Bareknuckle, Duncan etc but that makes them perfect for bridge position on most modern guitars from Gibson, PRS etc.  I don't know if they're too narrow for Floyds, I don't have any Floyds.

With the single-coils, they must be a bit narrow in bridge position but I don't know if the strings actually sit outside the polepieces.  They're good for neck and middle, though.  And of course you have to use DiMarzio covers!

jaymenon

I suppose that's a good reason to put one of their rails (Chopper / Cruiser etc) in the bridge position.

Covers: that's a bit of a shame isn't it...

Kinman do that too - 52.5mm, 51mm & 49.5mm spacing on bridge, middle and neck.

It does cosmetically improve string pole piece alignment, but replacement covers are expensive - and Kinman charges extra if you want them without the Kinman logo

Philly_Q

Kinman make good stuff but they are so bloody expensive and not easy to get hold of. 

I have one of their Tele bridge pickups and an old Strat set - before they offered the narrower polepiece spacings, so Fender covers fit although they're not as tall as the pickups.

One of my many never-to-be-realised plans is to put the Tele bridge and neck/middle Strat pickups on a modern Tele (I don't think the Kinmans sound really "vintage" but they'd be fine on an American Standard/Deluxe).

maltingsaudio

jaymenon said:

I suppose that's a good reason to put one of their rails (Chopper / Cruiser etc) in the bridge 

This ^^^^^

Kittyfrisk

Ibanez hardtailed bridge, DiMarzio pickups.
 Still sounds fine 

jaymenon

I think that's 54mm spacing (10.8mm saddles).

Being Far Eastern, it may even be 52.5mm spacing (10.5mm saddles)

When you go with the 11.3mm saddles - 56.5mm spacing overall, it'll take the two outermost strings quite outside the poles...

Kittyfrisk

54mm 

CasperCaster

jaymenon said:

I noticed that the pole spacing on DiMarzio Strat pickups is 2.01” or 51mm.

Surely with a traditional 56.35mm bridge that would take the strings severely outside the polepieces for the bridge pickup..?

Their F-spaced humbuckers Are also 51mm - perfect for the modern Les Paul bridges with 52mm spacing...

Hmm, that's odd, because the Dimarzio True Velvets in my Strat measure exactly 52mm centre to centre on the pole pieces, and they have covers from Axesrus, which are the Fender standard 52mm centre to centre. I have an SDS-1 in another guitar, which is also 52mm, though they do require a Dimarzio cover as the pickup is taller than a regular Strat pickup (as are the FS-1, HS's, Area's and VV's too). But as for width, they are the same as Fender. As for the strings aligning over the polepieces, well that's always been a compromise on a Strat, given the pickups are all the same, but the angle of the bridge pickup and the taper of the strings from the bridge means the strings can't lie directly over the polepieces of all the pickups, though they clearly lie close enough to sound okay!

jaymenon

It's interesting on the Axesrus website, they sell '52mm' covers that fit their own and Dimarzio pickups.

They also sell 52.5mm covers - which fit genuine Fender pickups (and interestingly Tonerider pickups which are 52.4mm spacing).

Does that extra 0.5mm make a significant difference? No idea...

jaymenon

Here it is on my Hardtail Strat. Photograph taken from far away with zoom to avoid parallax and creating a false impression of mis(alignment)

DiMarzio 51mm pole spacing. With the slant, perhaps works out to an effective 50mm. The pole pieces are 5mm wide.

String spacing at the bridge is 54mm - which takes the strings out quite a bit, but apparently within physiological limits since the 1st & 6th Strings are not perceptibly quieter.

https://i.imgur.com/CpFMn9l.jpg

ICBM

As long as the string is over any part of the polepiece the output level will not be affected at all - the magnetic field is just not that precise. It doesn’t even make that much difference if it’s not over the polepiece.

You can prove this very easily with any Strat-type guitar... select the neck pickup, play a note, and bend the string until it’s halfway between the two polepieces. How much does the level go down?

There’s a slightly bigger difference with the two outer poles since there’s no magnet further out and the field does start to fall off, but still not that fast.

jaymenon

That's correct John - but if you go to a traditional 56.3mm bridge, that takes the outer strings significantly beyond the polepieces, particularly on the DiMarzios (51mm, further shortened by the oblique orientation of the neck pickup).  

Then - I find that if I set the amp up on the 'edge' of overdrive, the 1st string is quieter in that it sounds cleaner, no matter how hard you play.  Big difference between the 1st string and the next few strings...