Another pole piece "stagger" question.

[Artie]

I was just reading on the Duncan blog about pickup stagger. I understand better why the G-string pole is raised up, but they don't say why the B-string is punched down so low.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks.

 

[jeremy]

i mean, why does duncan do it? cause fender did. why did fender do it? heavy flat wounds with a wound third? no idea

 

[Chistopher]

Plain strings are louder than wound strings, large strings are louder than small strings. B is the largest plain string if you have a wound G. Back in the early days of string winding I would wager the difference is more pronounced than it is now. Also if you compare it to the A string, compared to the radius of the fretboard it isn't all that much lower.

I think the reason they do it nowadays isn't to fix string to string balance, a flat stagger is close enough to perfect for the average person, but to make it look like they put thought into it, which makes it feel like they have a nicer product.

 

[Mincer]

Yeah, I think the Duncan answer would be 'tradition' but I am sure the designer (Seymour?) looked into it more than that. I've never seen a published reason, though.

 

[Artie]

So, could the Five-Two set be a Shop Floor Custom, with a simple radius, or flat?

 

[jeremy]

maybe flat?

 

[Mincer]

So, could the Five-Two set be a Shop Floor Custom, with a simple radius, or flat?

I would think so. It is a fantastic pickup that could be made better with a flat radius.

 

[Artie]

Cool. Thanks. I think I have just the guitar for that set.