I have two Heritage Roy Clark guitars, and am looking into replacing the original Schaller pickups with something else. I started looking for standard-spaced pickups, and then thought I should check the guitar, not assume the spacing. I was surprised to find the bridge pickup string spacing to be 53mm, i.e. "F-spaced". Can anyone else verify the bridge pickup string spacing on this guitar model?
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Bridge pickup string spacing on Heritage Roy Clark guitar
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Re: Bridge pickup string spacing on Heritage Roy Clark guitar
If you have them, just get out a good ruler and measure. Ain't no substitute for what you can scientifically prove. Go with what you see.Administrator of the SDUGF
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Re: Bridge pickup string spacing on Heritage Roy Clark guitar
Didn't Heritage switch to Duncan pickups?aka Chris Pile, formerly of Six String Fever
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Re: Bridge pickup string spacing on Heritage Roy Clark guitar
Originally posted by ICTGoober View PostBeside the point. Also, OP didn't say it was new or old, but for a long time Heritage did install Schallers (which are good pickups). I think Heritage now uses a mix of Duncans and boutique makers like Lollar.
All I was saying is that Duncan's standard humbucker polepiece spacing, which is the same as Gibson's standard polepiece spacing, should be fine on a Heritage.
Especially now that Heritage uses Duncan pickups.“Practice cures most tone issues” - John Suhr
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Re: Bridge pickup string spacing on Heritage Roy Clark guitar
Gibson-esque string spacing has been wide spaced for decades – since the “Nashville” bridge came about IIRC. Yes, in an ideal world, Gibsons should have F spaced bridge pickups. But in reality, it doesn’t really matter. Normal spacing works just fine (though it doesn’t look very neat).Originally posted by LesStratYogi Berra was correct.Originally posted by JOLLYI do a few chord things, some crappy lead stuff, and then some rhythm stuff.
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Re: Bridge pickup string spacing on Heritage Roy Clark guitar
It's been a long time since I've had a guitar with Schaller humbuckers.
If the Duncan mounting rings line up perfectly with the Schallers everything should be fine. Don't know if the four mounting screws are in exactly the same place or not.
Schallers are German and measurements are in millimeters. Duncan and Gibson are USA and measured in inches or parts of an inch.
Also the Schallers use four ht. adjustment screws and the Duncans use two. So the mounting rings will likely not be interchangeable.Last edited by Lewguitar; 06-16-2020, 09:37 AM.“Practice cures most tone issues” - John Suhr
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Re: Bridge pickup string spacing on Heritage Roy Clark guitar
Check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...ature=emb_logo“Practice cures most tone issues” - John Suhr
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Re: Bridge pickup string spacing on Heritage Roy Clark guitar
Originally posted by Lewguitar View Post
Schallers are German and measurements are in millimeters. Duncan and Gibson are USA and measured in inches or parts of an inch.
Also the Schallers use four ht. adjustment screws and the Duncans use two. So the mounting rings will likely not be interchangeable.
All humbuckers these days use metric measurements for pole spacing, i.e. Fender spaced pickups are 53mm. Gibson is 50mm.
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Re: Bridge pickup string spacing on Heritage Roy Clark guitar
Originally posted by DavidRavenMoon View PostHe’s talking about pole spacing. Not the mounting ring.
All humbuckers these days use metric measurements for pole spacing, i.e. Fender spaced pickups are 53mm. Gibson is 50mm.
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If he goes with Duncans he'll likely not be able to re-use his Schaller mounting rings.Last edited by Lewguitar; 06-16-2020, 09:50 AM.“Practice cures most tone issues” - John Suhr
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Bridge pickup string spacing on Heritage Roy Clark guitar
Originally posted by Lewguitar View PostIf he goes with Duncans he'll likely not be able to re-use his Schaller mounting rings.
I don’t know why everyone doesn’t go to three mounting screws. You can angle the pickup, and it doesn’t wobble in the ring.
I used to be a Schaller dealer. They make good pickups. Very DiMarzio influenced.
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Re: Bridge pickup string spacing on Heritage Roy Clark guitar
Originally posted by Lewguitar View PostCheck out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...ature=emb_logo
I liked the Seth Lovers better because I tend to like a warm but clear and spacious clean sound.
The Schallers sound hotter, denser and fuller. A lot of players would prefer that sound.“Practice cures most tone issues” - John Suhr
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Re: Bridge pickup string spacing on Heritage Roy Clark guitar
Originally posted by Lewguitar View PostThis video compares Seth Lovers and Schallers in a Heritage jazz body guitar. The differences are pretty clear.
I liked the Seth Lovers better because I tend to like a warm but clear and spacious clean sound.
The Schallers sound hotter, denser and fuller. A lot of players would prefer that sound.
This video is like comparing a Duncan Pearly Gates to a Distortion.
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Re: Bridge pickup string spacing on Heritage Roy Clark guitar
Originally posted by DavidRavenMoon View PostDepends on the model. Schaller make PAF style pickups, and hot DiMarzio type pickups.
This video is like comparing a Duncan Pearly Gates to a Distortion.
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He compares the sound of the Schallers to Duncan 59's.
I doubt Heritage would put hot Dimarzio style Schaller humbuckers in a jazz guitar like that...but who knows?“Practice cures most tone issues” - John Suhr
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Re: Bridge pickup string spacing on Heritage Roy Clark guitar
Below are my replies and comments to all of the information everyone has provided above. Thank you to everyone for your input.
The reason I am asking for confirmation of the string/pole spacing is because finding 53mm bridge string spacing on the guitar was very unexpected. I thought perhaps someone else with the same model of guitar had already been through this and could provide some reassurance. I measured the pole pieces and the string spacing on the guitar, then compared it with uninstalled pickups from Duncan and DiMarzio, both standard and f-spaced. It was obvious that the bridge pickups are f-spaced. I didn't expect a company that has Gibson as its historical beginnings to use this type of spacing, but in the comments above someone mentioned that Gibson has been doing that also. Lesson for me: Always measure string spacing before ordering pickups. It's like the dagnabit need to determine if a bolt is SAE or metric, and having to maintain two sets of tools because of the different standards.
The pickups are definitely Schaller. I know because I took them off of the guitars and looked at the back of the pickups. The guitars were manufactured in 1993 and 1996, and I think Heritage switched to Duncan around 2005 or 2006. The guitars are currently 100% original equipment.
Someone made a good point about the mounting rings not necessarily fitting a replacement pickup. I'll have to do some measurements on that topic. I would really rather not have to drill holes, especially if they are right next to the old holes. If the existing rings don't fit, maybe I'll make my own from maple, dye them, and use the existing mounting holes.
I really like the Heritage Roy Clark guitar, and the Scaller pickups sound very good. No complaints. I can get an amazingly wide range of sounds from the guitars. But there are times when I can hear things with the pickups that aren't quite what I would like to hear - the pickups are sometimes muddy and mushy. It's subtle, the type of thing I can only hear when I am playing a guitar, not when I'm listening to someone else. So I want to try some other pickups. I can always reinstall the original pickups. I would like to try Seth Lover pickups, but something in me resists it because of the exorbitant price - $260 for two pickups with gold covers. So, I think I will first try DiMarzio 36th Anniversary pickups. The reason I bought a second guitar of the same model was to be able to try different sets of string and compare them. That should work equally well for pickups.
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