I really like the pole spacing on Kinman pickups, makes the pole pieces line up rather nicely with the strings...
52.2mm Bridge
51.0mm Middle
49.5mm Neck
I recently however, encountered a Strat with 'proper' single coil pickups - and it sounds really amazing.
I don't know the relative contributions of body, neck, bridge and pickups to that tone, but I'd certainly like to try out a set of good strat single coil pickups.
Many Strat pickups however, come with the standard 52.5mm spacing on all three pickups - and it looks fine if you're using a traditional 56mm string spacing at the bridge, they do align rather reasonably. But mine has the slightly more narrow 54mm bridge spacing.
Would someone please advise me as to Strat pickup manufacturers who incorporate different pole spacings for their pickups please?
Comments
If the strings needed to align with the polepieces then whenever you bent a note the response would drop off when the string wasn’t over the polepieces. The only place it can make some difference is if the E strings are substantially outside the end polepieces, but having narrower string spacing will actually help with that.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
From my understanding, the vintage stagger (G and D pole pieces raised, was done to compensate for the intrinsically lower volume of the wound 3rd string, and also since the tighter fingerboard radius of 7.25" raised the 3rd and 4th strings further away from the pickups
With a plain 3rd string and a flatter radius, I always believed that that vintage stagger is now obsolete in that it makes the 3rd string too loud...
I agree completely about the ‘vintage’ stagger - I have no idea why some people still like it, with a plain G string. I’ve always preferred flat polepieces, and not just because I always break my fingernails on the raised ones!
Many pickups are now made with a ‘modern’ stagger with a lower G pole though, if you prefer that.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/OO5BaIS.gif)
On My Strat:
[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/0zW6vC0.jpg)
I had honestly never noticed before .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
if one one lowers the pickups away from the strings, then does it follow that the effects of any mismatched stagger would be minimised?
I don't have my pickups too high so to get a good balance I tend to just slightly lower the G and D string saddles a bit. It only takes a tiny bit but I can hear it, especially on Tele bridges.
It doesn't effect playability.
Even though I often play a Strat through a ‘very’ clean amp, vintage pole piece staggers have never posed me any problems either - even on a couple of guitars I’ve owned with very flat boards.
Flatter poles are perhaps more relevant to 12” and flatter ‘boards
I have just had a Tele made with 9.5 radius and it has a flat bridge pickup. I find I can dial it in to give a very balanced sound from string to string.
String preference plays a big part in it too. I use Pyramid round core pure nickel and the wound strings have slightly less output than regular strings so I always hear the D string as being a bit quiet. Actually, I always hear the D string as being a bit quiet regardless of brand of string!
When you dial the pickups in make sure you really listen, don't do it passively and twist away with the screwdriver. Every guitar and every make of pickup has a sweet spot in that guitar and it often has nothing to do with "manufacturers recommendations" at all.
Good luck and enjoy the tone journey.
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