With most Fender and Fender type pickups, there's the vintage polepiece stagger which sports a high G string, the modern stagger with the low G string and then there's the level polepiece configuration with no stagger at all. Which do you prefer and why?

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You dig?

Voted vintage... I like it best

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Hey, Boy Blue is back!

I prefer the stagger (or lack there of) that provides the most even output across all six strings.

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Bill

Howdy!

I've found that with a vintage stagger the B string lacks output and become annoyingly unbalanced next to the unwound G & E strings. This is also pretty much impervious to the height adjustments. I've next to no experience with the modern stagger so can't comment.

I don't do this often so please permit me a brief rant. I get it whole vintage spec thing, but can someone explain why the majority of Fenders current Strat models have a vintage stagger, yet no one I know uses a wound G string? I also don't see the alleged benefit staggered pole pieces have in relation to fretboard radii. Rant over!

For me level pole pieces are the way to go. I reckon the pickup height adjustment screws do a better job of balancing string output than any of the listed staggered options do.

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Andy,

Believe it or not, what you've said above is exactly the criterion which prompted me to create this thread! See, yet again, great minds think alike!!

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You dig?

I felt the same. So I took a vintage staggered fender pu and ground the pole pieces even across the top. This had a negative impact on the sound and performance. It lost articulation and dynamics. Just wanted to put that out there to save anyone the trouble. I think I unbalanced the pu by removing part of the pole. I may have screwed with the magnetic fields relative to each string. However, screws could be raised and lowered without changing the mass of the pole. Can solid pole pieces be replaced by magnetic screws?

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My ability to spell is in direct proportion to the amount of coffee I've had.

By grinding whichever polepieces, you weakened their magnetism and unevenly at that. And yes, you definitely altered the magnetic field.

Depending on the construction of the pickup, you MAY be able to replace the polepieces with magnetic screws. In most cases though, a scant few are made in such a way to where you'd have that option. Here too though, you will never find screws made out of alnico or rare earth materiel. Consequently, the threaded screws would ultimately have to come into direct contact with (or extremely near to) some sort of bar magnet.

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You dig?

I like the modern stagger for a more even tone. Fender is known for a loud G note of the Vintage Stagger. I played with the height of the G pole piece and decided to lower it by about half. That lets me lower the tone of the G without totally blending it in with the rest of the mix. Works for me!

I also stagger the pole piece screws on my humbuckers to match the neck/bridge radius. I prefer the Old Gibson way, but I don't Zig-Zag the screws. This actually assists with getting that mud out of the neck pickup a bit. JMO.

Yea, I don't know why I did not just pop the polepieces down and let the stagger be at the bottom side of the pu. I might order some new ones to play with.

A couple of ideas come to mind for modding a normal pu to a pu with adjustment screws. I could use a bar across the bottom and a steel spacer like half a humbucker. Or maybe tap and thread some poles to add a small screw. Not sure about any of that though, it might work, it might not. I won't be experimenting on anything for a couple of weeks as I drove a screwdriver into my left index finger last night taking off some frets. Now it's all swollen and numb. I do the dumbest stuff when I get tired. It's amazing I have fingers at all after the dumb mistakes I've made working on stuff.

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My ability to spell is in direct proportion to the amount of coffee I've had.

Dito!

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Kindest regards from Germany, Dee
My recordings --> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_mu ... dID=564337
STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!

Hi Martian!

HA! Glad it's not just me.

As I understand it, Larry Thomas (CEO of FMIC) is a huge vintage Fender nut. One wonders if he's influenced the widespread "Vintage" aspects in Fenders current models. These days your hard pushed to find a Fender Strat bridge that comes with modern saddles (bar the Am Dlx).

It would be nice to see a return to 2009 (I think) American Standard which IMO was a great spec for a modern player looking for a classic Fender Strat sound. Something which I feel is sadly missing from Fenders current lines.


Dude!

Despite reading several successful attempts at levelling staggered pickups you still run the risk of completely mullering the coil in the process! It really doesn't take very much to break a piece of 42 AWG wire. One break and the pickups deader than a dead man's dead bits.

Andy

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Pending Greatness

You are correct, I would not try it on anything expensive. These are old cheap pu's I have been experimenting on. I was thinking of ordering some pole pieces and wire to play with, not more pu's. But, this might be a project I get part way through and wish I had not started (like a refinish). It's all fun picking out the color, but the sanding sucks!

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My ability to spell is in direct proportion to the amount of coffee I've had.

Cool beans!

I too had plans to build a few pups. Got as far as making a winder out of an old sowing machine. Twice it tried to set fire to me during testing!

I did however successfully make a counter out of an old calculator...



...And so far it hasn't tried to burn me! Never got round to ordering any parts though. Ah well, just another project on the ever growing list.

If you do have a go, keep us posted (that goes for the re-fin too)!

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Ah-ha! I have been known to enthusiastically support that rant's point of view!

Still. When I was new to electric guitars I was frustrated by the unbalanced output from the strings, though I didn't at the time understand the cause. But in time (without telling me what was going on) my fingers learnt to simply adjust their picking strength of their own accord, to achieve a balanced sound. And they learnt to do that guitar by guitar, compensating for whatever type or absence of stagger the pickup poles presented, so I can switch between instruments without problems.

One day I realised something was up and asked my fingers; "Hey guys, what's going on?" They replied; "Don't worry, man, we've got it covered."

So I left them to it.

In other words, I'm not much fussed about pickup stagger and certainly wouldn't bother to replace the vintage spec single-coils on my '57 Strats to put it right.

Then again, I do fondly remember the beautiful day Lace Sensors came into my life...

Cheers - C

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