ants texas hot polepieces don't match string spread?

[dani]

hey bros,

i have a set of ants texas hots which was installed in my jazzocaster i had since sold.

maybe it was the callaham trem's 56mm string spread, the custom bridge has a 54mm distance measured from middle to middle of the outer polepieces. add to that the angle of a slanted strat bridge pickup position and both my e strings are way off the outer polepieces. both the middle and neck pickup are fine though.

back to the present.

being the idiot that i am, i made a rough pickguard with 3-single coils similar to a strat for my reverend slingshot. this time round, custom bridge polepieces matched perfectly with the string spread of the gotoh hardtail bridge which has a 52mm string spread.

problem is, the middle and neck pickup polepieces are thrown way off axis. the e strings now hover on the inside of the outer polepieces! so i took a steel rule and measured the string spread where the neck pickup is. 48mm. measured the texas hot neck and middle and they were both 54mm which is similar to the custom bridge.

question is, does all strat pickups come with standard 54mm string spacing irregardless of the position or only duncans? granted than most trems or hardtail on a strat fall between 52mm to 56mm string spread. but a 54mm polepiece distance irregardless of position does not seem to work here since the string spread tapers in towards the nut.

that said, a 54mm polepiece distance when angled matches perfectly with a bridge with 52mm string spread. the middle and neck pickup should have 50mm and 48mm polepiece distance respectively. shouldn't all strat pickups have a progressive polepiece distance in regards to their position?

just a thought and a lesson learnt...

cheers!
dani

 

[dani]

Re: ants texas hot polepieces don't match string spread?

which brings me to the next question.

is there anything i can do to align the strings and polepieces besides angling the middle and neck pickup to match the string spread or changing to a bridge with 54mm string spread?

thanks as always!
dani

 

[Zerberus]

Re: ants texas hot polepieces don't match string spread?

Traditionally all Strat pickups have the same spacing. Usually the neck and Middle pickups are "Outside" the strings and on wider bridges sometimes the bridge is "Inside" instead as you noticed.

Since on a strat the poles ARE the magnets, and it hasn´t really caused problems in the last 60 years, I´d tend to say nothing´s wrong

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: ants texas hot polepieces don't match string spread?

Traditionally all Strat pickups have the same spacing. Usually the neck and Middle pickups are "Outside" the strings and on wider bridges sometimes the bridge is "Inside" instead as you noticed.

Since on a strat the poles ARE the magnets, and it hasn´t really caused problems in the last 60 years, I´d tend to say nothing´s wrong

Right on!

Don't worry Dani, that's what's supposed to be.

B

 

[dani]

Re: ants texas hot polepieces don't match string spread?

hey! thanks for the advice zerb and doc!

i guess there should not be an issue since it has been the way for god knows how long. but i do notice a drop in output, tone and response for strings that are way off axis from the pole pieces.

maybe its time to buck the tradition and offer strat pickups with string spacing in respect to their positions. :fingersx:

cheers!
dani

 

[Stratosphere]

Re: ants texas hot polepieces don't match string spread?

Kinman makes narrower bridge pickups to 'correct' for this. It can be really noticable when upgrading a MIM strat, which have narrower string spacing (but narrower pole spacing on stock PUs). I don't really think it's much of a problem though, as lots of people upgrade their MIM pickups to pickups with traditionally-spaced poles.