pickup poles way away from strings b & e ... Help

[Naps]

Hey guys, I have a H-S-S strat with a hum and two sc-sized hums. I just noticed that the two single sized hums are way out of alignment with the strings on the guitar. I dont know if it has been this way all of the time or if it just happened, but I need some suggestions. The Low E and the A line up great, the D is about 1/16 off, the G is at the edge of the pole, and the B and high E are a good 1/8 of an inch away from the center of the pole. I mean, the B and high E arn't even over the poles at all!!

I need help!

Info on the guitar- warmoth neck (satin coat), squire body (basswood) and bridge, C-5 hum (lines up great, NOT F-spaced), lil 59 and JB Jr (don't line up), I put the parts together myself.

I have no idea what is going on with it or how to fix it, I do know that it is affecting the tone- I've always noticed the highs have been way low on the two SC sized hums, but I almost always use the C-5 so I didn't give it any thought (I've also been playing mostly acoustic since I put it together so it hasn't been played alot)

I was thinking that the bridge could be the problem because it is the import squire size, ,but the C-5 lines up great and it's the closest to the bridge, I would guess it's the nut next, but it was cut by warmoth for the neck and it looks great, so then I wasthinking it's probably the neck was warped, but I can find any sign of that. Another thought was that it could be the bridge AND the fact the C-5 isn't F-spaced (the reason it lines up, and the others dont) but I don't think that's it. I don't know, PLEASE HELP!

[HolyDirt]

Re: pickup poles way away from strings b & e ... Help

Hey guys, I have a H-S-S strat with a hum and two sc-sized hums. I just noticed that the two single sized hums are way out of alignment with the strings on the guitar. I dont know if it has been this way all of the time or if it just happened, but I need some suggestions. The Low E and the A line up great, the D is about 1/16 off, the G is at the edge of the pole, and the B and high E are a good 1/8 of an inch away from the center of the pole. I mean, the B and high E arn't even over the poles at all!!

I need help!

Info on the guitar- warmoth neck (satin coat), squire body (basswood) and bridge, C-5 hum (lines up great, NOT F-spaced), lil 59 and JB Jr (don't line up), I put the parts together myself.

I have no idea what is going on with it or how to fix it, I do know that it is affecting the tone- I've always noticed the highs have been way low on the two SC sized hums, but I almost always use the C-5 so I didn't give it any thought (I've also been playing mostly acoustic since I put it together so it hasn't been played alot)

I was thinking that the bridge could be the problem because it is the import squire size, ,but the C-5 lines up great and it's the closest to the bridge, I would guess it's the nut next, but it was cut by warmoth for the neck and it looks great, so then I wasthinking it's probably the neck was warped, but I can find any sign of that. Another thought was that it could be the bridge AND the fact the C-5 isn't F-spaced (the reason it lines up, and the others dont) but I don't think that's it. I don't know, PLEASE HELP!

Well, if the low e lines up perfectly but the lows lack, that obviously means it's not the alignment problem. If you bend the strings and notice an output drop, then it bad. Often pole pieces dont line up exactly, they are often off by small amounts like that, calm down, chill out, and dont worry

[LH_]

Re: pickup poles way away from strings b & e ... Help

I believe the import "vintage" bridge has a string spacing of 52 mm, while the USA "vintage" bridge has a string spacing of 56 mm. Since the spacing at the bridge position is narrower, so too is the spacing at the neck position. Thus, a Trembucker bridge isn't required, but the spacing at the neck is too narrow, exaggerating the (typical) neck string-to-polepiece misalignment.

Two solutions I can think of are to replace the neck single-coil with a narrow string spacing (a la Kinmans) or to replace the import bridge with a USA bridge. Either "solution" is probably going to be expensive or a hassle. There might be some simpler and cheaper solution, but I can't think of any offhand.

[Naps]

Re: pickup poles way away from strings b & e ... Help

Well, if the low e lines up perfectly but the lows lack, that obviously means it's not the alignment problem. If you bend the strings and notice an output drop, then it bad. Often pole pieces dont line up exactly, they are often off by small amounts like that, calm down, chill out, and dont worry

no, there are alot of lows, but no highs- it's the high e and the b that are f'd. I think I'm going to try to re-fit the pickgaurd to the guitar (put in new and slightly different holes for the screws) and see if I can't line it up a little better.

[MattPete]

Re: pickup poles way away from strings b & e ... Help

I just looked at my Warmoth strat, and I have the same thing happening. The high E string is at the top edge of the high E pole-piece for the neck pickup (looking down from a sitting position). That is, if you bend the high E up, the string moves between the E and the B pole pieces.

I have a 54mm bridge (Strat narrow spacing) and a 1 5/8 nut width. I guess if I had gotten a wider neck (I almost did, but changed at the last minute), like a 1 11/16, and a wider bridge (56 mm), I wouldn't have this problem.

[Naps]

Re: pickup poles way away from strings b & e ... Help

That's what I was thinking, too. They should warn you or at least tell you about things like that. I mean, my high e string is almost smack in the middle between the high e and b poles :******:

[Mike M.]

Re: pickup poles way away from strings b & e ... Help

I know what you mean. On my Strat, the the high E and B strings line up with the outer edges of the pickups pole pieces. (Tex-Mex pickups). This is the most redundant thing. I've noticed a definate volume increase when I bend those strings towards the center of the pole pieces. There's no excuse for this.