Hi, i've noticed that on quite a few fender guitars, the pickup magnets/pole pieces are set in different patterns. Some, tend follow the string radius, some do not. I realize that having them closer to the strings make things louder, but i'm wondering why there are so many different setups around. Here's a pic of how my American standard strats are configured:


And here's a shot of another strat's setup:


I'm hoping some of you will have some advice on this, thanks very much indeed!

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I believe in Christianity as i believe that the sun has risen. not only because i see it, but because by it, i see everything else. C.S. Lewis

Ive been curious about that too...My 06 American Standard has the B pole piece low like your white strat. Kinda weird.

I think the individual heights of the polepeices is for string volume balance. My problem is some polepeices are not right under the string.

I'll try to keep this as brief as possible:

Once upon a time...

All guitars used very heavy gauge strings in comparison to what most of us use today, even the G string was a wound string (vs. today's plain one). So (and I shall confine myself to Strat pickups here), because there was such a difference in gauge from string to string and that means even in the same set, coupled by four out of six of the strings being wound, the staggered polepiece (magnet) configuration was based on Mr. Fender's assessment of the optimum height of each respective string's magnet for each respective string to pickup evenly, each one among the rest. Why stagger them? Wound strings do not pick up magnetically as well as unwound strings. Of course, the more mass be it wound or unwound, the easier the string will pick up magnetically. Hence, this 'traditional' Strat pickup stagger has four incrementally higher polepieces and two incrementally very low ones. The highest was for the thinnest wound string (the G) and the lowest was for the thickest unwound string (the B). This worked very well for years and years and life went merrily on in the Cleaver, Mitchell, Stone, etc. households.

With the advent of lighter gauge strings in the mid 1960s, this polepiece stagger was never challenged although it was sliding into not being the most efficient in terms of the light gauge strings as gauge wise, each string's gauge in a lighter gauge set was becoming much closer to each other's. The more discriminating players who used these lighter gauge sets were beginning to realize that their strings weren't picking up evenly, especially the G string being WAY too loud by comparison as it was now a plain string, no longer wound due to the lightness of these gauges. Ironically, what was the highest standing polepiece should now be the lowest.

As many players switched to lighter gauges, many players equally didn't. So, the 'traditional' stagger was still appropriate for the latter. A dilemma was beginning as many light gauge string set players wanted that G polepiece lowered and of course, the heavier gauge players didn't. And then there was a faction among the light gauge group who felt that even polepiece spacing would be best because as stated above, they were hearing more than the G string being unevenly picked up. Truth be told, for them, they were correct in this respect as it does balance the strings better and at the same time, enhance the frequency response of the pickup or to put it more technically, readjusting the polepieces altered the magnetic window. Here again, because it altered the magnetic window, there was yet another faction of light gauge players who didn't want the 'traditional' magnetic field messed with as of course, it did alter the sound of the pickup in general.

Enter 1971. CBS Fender was rampant on cutting costs across the board. As one cost cutting measure, it was decided to make their Strat pickups of less and cheaper windings and all one polepiece height. As expected, some loved the idea (polepiece wise), some despised it and some were ambivalent. The bottom line though was that players at large got to hear the difference for the first time. Now because of the less windings, most players at the time agreed that the 'traditional' staggered, Pre-CBS pickups sounded infinitely better tone wise, in spite of the polepiece 'issue'. Concurrent to this, Gibson was bought out by an Ecuadorian beer and cement conglomerate (Norlin) so they began cutting costs their own way too and needless to say, their pickups among other things took a hit as well.

Of note: Regardless of whether the polepieces were staggered or level in height, the coils of Strat pickups were wound directly on these magnets and so, if you tried to move a polepiece, you destroyed the coil.

Right on time, enter Larry DiMarzio who essentially resurrected the coveted tonality of the Pre-CBS Strat pickups and beefed them up with a predetermined sound aimed at the stylings and demands of the day. He even gave the option of how one wanted the polepieces preset and even made models which allowed the players to make their own adjustment. In kind, he also addressed the Gibson shortcomings and the rest as they say, is history and literally opened the dam for all aftermarket pickup manufacturers to this day.

Fast forward to today. As you can now see and depending on the specific model of Strat pickup, this is why some Strat pickups are still manufactured with the 'traditional' polepiece stagger, some are manufactured with non-staggered polepieces and some are manufactured with slightly staggered polepieces and a slightly elevated G string so as not to dissuade any camp from buying the particular guitar it is in.

Informational: All American Standard Strat polepieces are now adjustable. Their coils are now insulated to where they are not directly wrapped on the magnet.

As to the issue of the strings not sitting directly over the polepieces, different brands and different models even within the same brand are all made slightly different by design due to a plethora of patent restrictions among the many pickup manufacturers. Now, on the part of a given pickup manufacturer who also makes the guitar they are going in, obviously, the left hand didn't effectively confer with the right hand when designing the instrument as a whole. Either that or when they outsourced for the bridges, that's all their vendor was willing to supply dimensionally and neither the guitar company nor the bridge manufacturer is going to retool specifically for the other.

As you can see, I could write a book on this but I'll spare your collective eyeballs.

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Holy Cow! I think you just wrote a short novel. Great info though. I kind of figured the pole pieces were staggered becuase of the radius of the guitars going anywhere from 12" up to 7.5". The "loudness" of the G string on the Fender Texas Special is caused by the pole piece height. Oddly enough, many people purchase equalizers to remove the "mids" from their guitars which are associated with the D,G,B strings when strummed. (All of this is my opinion from tweaking my Strat and tone)

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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I have noticed most strat pickups kind of have their own signature staggered polepeice height as if someone actually tuned them or did they just slip in the jig when they were being wound?

I really must say, martian you truly are a wealth of knowledge, and i for one am grateful for your kind effort, writing such a well written, and seriously informative answer to my question. Speaking of which, i'm curious as to which year it was when American strats became adjustable, as mine is of 97' vintage. Thanks again sir, i'd be pleased to read any book you wrote, it would surely be something of great value. Here's to your getting that tele bass soon! Say, maybe those who wanted to get involved could donate a few bucks to the cause! Who's with me?!

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I believe in Christianity as i believe that the sun has risen. not only because i see it, but because by it, i see everything else. C.S. Lewis

The magnets for each string still have their own varying lengths and are pressed into the bobbin of the pickup.

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I thank you and of course, you're quite welcome!

Usually, any Strat that has the plastic bobbins with the part number impressed into the bottom of them has the adjustable polepieces. IIRC, this pickup construction was introduced in the late 80's with the original American Standard Strats. With these, the polepieces can be pressed down from the top of the pickup or pushed up from the bottom of the pickup to taste. Obviously, your '97 should also have these plastic bobbin pickups.

Once again, I appreciate your kind remarks and as to that Tele Bass, well, I am profoundly grateful for your sentiment but there is no tangible reason why anyone should do that for me. Still, maybe one of these years I'll be able to get it. Like I say, "Hope springs eternal!"

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Fascinating stuff Martian. Thanks very much.

I'm a big fan of Seymour Duncan pickups, but their width of slug spread is out when fitted into a Fender Strat neck and mid positions. It never occurred to me that this could be due to Patent restrictions. But I can live with the string not crossing directly over the slug.

I guess it's all a bit of a compromise with pickups isn't it?

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You're quite welcome.

Just because a string doesn't directly cross over the slug dead center, it should not automatically be presumed that this is a deficiency. Elliptically speaking, as long as there is a close proximity between the string and a nice chunk of the polepiece, oftentimes this is still quite adequate for the magnet to nicely latch onto the string where it will still be of equal volume with the others. Granted, the magnetic window is altered but in terms of the 'big picture', "Much ado about nothing".

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Same thing happens with when American Strat pickups are placed in a Squire or MIM strat. My Texas Special loaded Roadhouse (MIM) strat has its neck pickup a little off. Its just the way Fender does it.... but their necks are 1/8 narrower then American Strats...

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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Post like this latest one of yours Martian is what makes me continually check this fine forum everyday!! Thank you sir!!

Anytime!!

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Martian you are definitely one of the most knowledgeable and eloquent members here. That was the best rundown of pickup history I have seen.

We're very lucky to have you here to share your knowledge!

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.