Hello again everyone!

I have another question for the Strat forum. Again, I've now been a strat owner for almost a month, and I'm loving every minute I play on it! Last night I did some adjustments to the pickup heights and now had one more question. On the newest American standards, the pole pieces are staggered based on the individual strings. My pups have great tone on five of the six strings, but on my B string, all 3 of the poles are almost recessed into or level with the top of the pup. Is there any way to individually adjust these pole pieces? It is the only string that's really lacking anything now, and I was just curious. I know on Les Paul Humbuckers they have flathead screws on the top, and can be adjusted a little bit. Any similar way of doing this on a strat?

Thank you all so much! Looking forward to the replies![/img]

As far as I'm aware, you're stuck with the pole pieces as they are.

In this day and age, when guitars have bigger neck radii and wound 3rds are all but history, i just don't understand the need for staggered pick-ups - unless it is to replicate a vintage look. Every one of my gtrs that has staggered p/ups has some sort of minor string volume balance issue.

I've heard of people trying to tap the poles up with a tool of some sort - sounds like a good way to destroy a pickup to me..

Welocme to the world of Strat! It's a great place to be

The pickups have a "Vintage Stagger" to them. That's how they come and are not adjustable. Well, at least not without taking a risk taking them apart and breaking them.

If the pickups have the plastic bobbins, it is possible to safely adjust the pole pieces without breaking the coil. That's because the pole pieces sit in a plastic tube and don't contact the wire. How freely the pole pieces move can vary. (In fact, pushing them all the way out and installing them flipped around is one way to change the magnet polarity.)

If pickups have the fiber type of flatware, trying to adjust a pole piece could break the wire. So that's not advised. It's not worth the risk.

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My other guitar is a Strat.

John, welcome!

What model Strat do you have and are the pickups the originals?

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Thank you all for the responses! I was just curious, and wanted to check on that:-) Someday I'll swap out the pups for either a hot noiseless set, or hopefully by the time I'm ready to do the swap, Fender will have the Big Dippers available for purchase!

Martian- Thanks! I'm so glad to be in the Strat world now! I love it! My strat is an American Standard, I believe an 08. I'll check the dating on my SN. I believe it is, because it came with the new SKB case, and all of the updated features. I also say this because the store where I bought it (Woodwind & Brasswind) still had it tagged at the old price point ($999) and I got the rebate! So I'm really thankful! Plus to top it all off, it's the strat I've always wanted. 3 Tone Sunburst, Maple neck and fretboard! It's a beaut. I need to take some pics of it with my camera, and Post them.

The Pups are the original ones that came stock, and I love them, with the exception of that weak B. Maybe I could invest in a good EQ and boost it in that signal area?

Thank you all again for the warm welcome, and for all of the helpful info!

Blessings!

John, congrats again and just to let you know, your pole pieces ARE adjustable in your guitar, no need for an EQ!

To adjust the polepieces, simply push them up from the bottom of the pickup or push them down from the top of the pickup as required.

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Good. That's an honest shop that didn't hike the price on stock they bought at the old price. Nice people in there? Might be worth establishing an ongoing relationship with them. Good folks are worth cultivating in this business...

Cheers - C

So the pole pieces are friction fit, not epoxied in place? Interesting....

Friction and wax.

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C-

I would definitely recommend WWBW. I've purchased everything from strings, to accessories, my first electric (an Epi Strat copy), to my Taylor and now my new strat. They are really helpful, and will negotiate prices too. On my Taylor (614ce) I was able to get 10% off because they mailed out promo coupons, and when I bought my strat I asked the sales guy if he could come down anymore on the price, and he would have too, but then he saw that it was tagged at $999 when it rang up $1249, he said that was all he could do. Plus on all guitar purchases they offer a free setup any time within the first year after purchase, so I will be taking them up on that in a few months:-)

It's a great place, with a large inventory, and if you can get to their retail store in South Bend, IN, you won't be disappointed. They have all kinds of guitars and amps out in the showroom- from a wall of just Gibsons, and a lot of Fenders, along with Gretches, Epis, Jacksons, and any other number of brands.

Sometimes I just like to go over there and sit and play.

Well worth it. Definitely!

Martian (and any others that may have done this),

In order to make the said adjustment, do I need to take the pickguard off to make the adjustments? I've never done that before, and am just kind of curious how to do it. Do I need to loosen my strings? How is the input jack connected, and do I need to worry about that in removal?

Any other advice, tips would be great! Thank you so much!

blessings!

Thats the wax from when you pot the pickups you start pushing the poles in or out with force you will need to repot the pickup. You loosen them and you will start getting weird microphonics! The wax is there for a reason.

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There is no need to repot the pickup. With these particular pickups, Just like the polepiece screws on a full sized humbucker, the magnets are isolated from the coils which in fact, is what makes them adjustable. If you want, you can give a quick burst of heat from a hair dryer to the adjusted polepiece(s) just to resolidify the wax but again, the coils remain untouched and unstressed, consequently, they will not become microphonic by any means.

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First you have to make sure the pickup is waxed, many now days have been poted with epoxy or a plastic filler. If thats the case forget it and if its wax and a older pickup it will crack even with a hairdryer now the newer wax potted pickups that have had a small amount beeswax added may not
the beeswax is supposed to make the pickup last longer without the cracking problem. Either way you are shortening the play and stability of that pole without repoting it. Makes you think they should all have screw adjustable pole pieces. That would just add another issue for people to have problems with at adjustment time. Good for some of us though!!!!

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson