Fspaced Versus Regular Spaced

[hittitewarrior]

I was told by a Dimarzio distributor that he recommends using F spaced pickups, even on regular fixed tail bridges... Claiming that it really won't make too much of a difference. Do people on here agree? I have to admit I was a little surprised at that assessment. I'd think that the f spacing would cause the strings to be off the poles slightly and ultimately cause some loss or unintended variation in signal. Thoughts?

Edit: I did find my bridge specs on 1st to 6th string spacing and compared with Dimarzios recommendations... I'll need to use F spacing. I am still curious if people have noticed any difference in sound if a standard pickup is used when an F spaced should have or vice versa.

Edited November 24, 2012 by hittitewarrior

[westhemann]

No real difference in sound,it just looks stupid.

That's why I prefer blades

[RestorationAD]

F Spaced specifically refers to a 53mm Bridge pole piece spacing and a 50mm Neck pole piece spacing vs. the PAF vintage 49.2 mm spacing for humbuckers. Vintage Fender single coils all had 52mm spacing. Most cheap OEM humbuckers are 52mm.

Most modern bridges work fine with 50mm neck, 53mm bridge spacings.

I use "F Spaced" bobbins on my 6 string pickups unless the customer specifically requests 49.2mm. I use a 10mm spaced bobbin (read 50mm in a 6 string) on all my 7/8 string pickups.

The old Nashville bridge on the LP had a very tight string spacing and lined up perfectly with a 49.2mm bobbin. The old vintage Fenders had a wider string spacing that lined up well with the 52mm bobbin (it shoots the gap between the 50mm neck and 53mm bridge).

Personally my best sounding guitar tat I built back in 1989 has a 49.2mm Bridge Humbucker with a FLoyd Rose.The poles are a bit off on the low E string yet it is my favorite tone monster.

So no I don't think it matters as much as people say it does.

[crafty]

Restoration is right. When I put DiMarzio's in my '04 LP, the polepieces didn't line up under the string spacing for the bridge pickup because Gibson started using Asian-spaced bridges. It doesn't really change the sound or looks from more than 1 ft. away.

[bob123]

First website I've been on where people say "pole peices alignment doesn't really matter". I am so relieved...........

I did a large rant on sevenstring.org, and used SCIENCE AND MATH to explain why it doesn't matter that much, yet people still find a way to call me an idiot...

[Prostheta]

Yeah, I agree that it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Look at EVH's Frankenstrat bridge pickup....nobody sane says that it has no tone or problems because of the Floyd, narrow pole spacing and angling. If anything it is a good marketing tool to diversify a brand's lineup and to create a solution to a problem that doesn't exist....by that brand. I measured the magnetic field on a variety of my instrument's pickups and it is a visibly tolerant field for mis-spacing.

Whilst on the subject of non-centred poles. Can anybody explain this to me?

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Bass/Gibson-USA/Krist-Novoselic-Signature-RD-Bass.aspx

....other than "that is how Krist modded his and Gibson are being faithful"? I noted that the photos really try to distract the eye from the massive discrepancy there!

[Paul Marossy]

_{Another very common misconception people like to perpetuate is that pickup pole pieces have to be directly under the strings or it won't work right. Not true. They can be pretty far off on humbuckers and it will still work fine, especially if you can adjust the individual pole pieces. All the string has to do is pass through the magnetic field, which is not some kind of very narrow thing, it's much broader than people seem to think.}

_{I have found that it matters more on single coils. But even then it can still be considerably off before it causes problems.}

[bob123]

_{Another very common misconception people like to perpetuate is that pickup pole pieces have to be directly under the strings or it won't work right. Not true. They can be pretty far off on humbuckers and it will still work fine, especially if you can adjust the individual pole pieces. All the string has to do is pass through the magnetic field, which is not some kind of very narrow thing, it's much broader than people seem to think.}

_{I have found that it matters more on single coils. But even then it can still be considerably off before it causes problems.}

To be fair, magnetic flux decreases on an exponential level. I agree with you, it would have to be very far off to "not work" however...

[Prostheta]

It goes some way as to proving that people believe what they feel as opposed to what is real or observable. If people feel that misaligned polepieces is somehow inferior to them being aligned - despite them working just as well - they will allow themselves to be convinced that the sky is falling and all manner of silly things.

[bob123]

I think its mostly due to the fact "tone voodoo" has such a strangle-hold on peoples beliefs of "what works" and "what doesn't". A point of contention on this, people will cry about "f-spaced" humbuckers, but some of those same people will say vintage gibsons sound WAY better then new ones, yet old ones dont have f-spaced, the new ones do... so... meh.

[RestorationAD]

Hey I use voodoo.

And this thread is now done