CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

[prophetofthor]

CRISIS part 1
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=129288

i'm freakn out because my new pickup that is "F" Spaced is NOT wide enough. alot of ppl have said to go ahead and put it in. perchance i'm freakn out too much?

here are the pics. please review and vote!

the Air zone IS stamped "F". you'll just have to believe me because camera batt's were dieing. the humbucker on the table is the Fender. sorry for the crappy quality but digital sucks for close ups (without the right lighting), but i think you can see strings and some measurements. the Fender HB clearly goes past 2.25" and the the F spaced/Trembuckers are around 2.1"

 

[WhoFan]

Re: CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

i've used Trembuckers and F Spaced PU's on strats with vintage wide string sopced bridges before and they work... the strings are not over the poll pieces but it works... on a few strats i bent the pickup arms so the poll pieces are closer to the high E as the Low is more mass in the magnetic field

 

[Binnerscot]

Re: CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

If it bothers you that much , get a Duncan trembucker - they are just a hair wider than DM F-spacing.

 

[Diocletian]

Re: CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

I think, if you really wanted the tone of the DiMarzio, then just install it and ignore the fact it doesn't look exactly perfect. I'm sure it'll sound fine.
WHo cares if it doesnt look just right, as long as you get the sound you wanted?

 

[Rich_S]

Re: CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

I think the whole pickup is offset a bit to the basss side - look at the D in comparison to the G. Also, it's hard to see in the pics, but it looks like maybe the strings aren't quite centered on their saddles (especially the low E). By an unhappy coincidence, it's all adding up to make it look worse than it is.

If you like the sound, keep it. Just skootch if over a bit so it's centered. Keep in mind no one can see it when you're playing because your hand covers it up pretty well.

I have an F-space Duncan Custom in my Tele-style Schecter PT. The outer poles are a bit off from the E-strings but it sounds great.

In the end it's about the tone.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

You could just replace the bridge. It looks like a stock bridge with those sharp stamped steel saddles. I would go to ebay and buy a 6 hole trem with cast or forged saddles in traditional fender spacing.

 

[Diocletian]

Re: CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

Yeah Rich S makes a good point. My first bought guitar had a similar problem. I just moved the strings around in the saddles until the sat better over the pole pieces, can't you do that? Maybe you could phsycially push all the saddles a little up toward the bass side as well?

My first bought guitar was a Sunn Mustang strat - it must have come with a non F spaced humbucker as stock. Doh!

 

[Diocletian]

Re: CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

With the strings spaced like that it must be kinda odd to play, especially on the higher frets???

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

The newer Fender bridges are spaced pretty tight. But that's a vintage-style bridge so the spacing is wider. That said, the strings line up more than good enough to get full output and an even string-to-string sound. So the thing to ask -- once again as I did in the other thread and didn't get an answer -- is how does the pickup SOUND? If it sounds good, then unless you are excessively obsessed with the appearance of string/pole alignment, you don't have a problem.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

i think a lot of players miss the point that a Tremspaced or F Spaced PU was widened to fit the Floyd equiped guitars of the 80's and 90's... as well as the modern Fender spaced bridges... Vintage style strat bridges are really wide... so much so i don't really use them anymore... i took them off my guitars for now and i am using modern bridges...

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

Take a look at this, this is my non-Fender (Cort) guitar with a Fender spaced pickup at the neck. Tell me if that isn't at least as misaligned as yours.
Plays just fine...
BTW, as you can see at the 2nd (not very clear) photo the strings go directly oven the center of the middle pickup's pole pieces. Just to have a better idea...

 

[WhoFan]

Re: CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

ya Fender in the design stages made all 3 postions PU's the same... The neck Postition single coils do not line up that well under each string, and the bridge single coil is close... they all still Pickup the sound

That wide vintage trem string spread was not meant to have a humbucker under it.... later designs were better suited for humbuckers... but that being said many players for years have made humbuckers and vintage Fender type bridges work....

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

Now, on a NECK pickup, alignment is a bit more critical because you need more of that pole to pick up the longer wavelengths of the lower frequencies. I have an HSS Strat with the newer bridge and the strings line up INSIDE the two E rod magnets as on your Cort. There is a very noticeable drop-off in output on the E strings, so I'm looking at putting a vintage bridge on it. (Either that or I'll just wind myself a Strat pu with tighter spacing.)

But on a bridge pickup, being a little off the mark isn't nearly as critical because there aren't any of those low freqs to pick up on that part of the string.

 

[prophetofthor]

Re: CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

The newer Fender bridges are spaced pretty tight. But that's a vintage-style bridge so the spacing is wider. That said, the strings line up more than good enough to get full output and an even string-to-string sound. So the thing to ask -- once again as I did in the other thread and didn't get an answer -- is how does the pickup SOUND? If it sounds good, then unless you are excessively obsessed with the appearance of string/pole alignment, you don't have a problem.

i havent wired it up yet. i'm just doing a "pre flight check". i usually check stuff like pickguards and alignment and try to "plan ahead". what shocked me was that the strings were off bad.

i'm still skeptical but i'm going to charge ahead and go for the full install. i think i can compensate a little by adjusting the screws in the humbucker itself and also the the pickguard.

what sucks is i dont use the tremelo much (if at all). its gonna bug the HELL outa me wondering what neato sounds i'm missing because the strings are off.

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

Well, I use the tremolo plenty and I never felt like I was missing sth.
If however it bugs you THAT much then maybe you should buy and install a new bridge, one with real F spacing though I hear many like this even wider string spacing...

 

[Diocletian]

Re: CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

If it's gonna bug you - either change the bridge or get another pup. No point putting the DiMarzio in, then hating the guitar because it's just not right. There's no fun whatsoever in that.

 

[Rick1114]

Re: CRISIS :: Part 2 with pics, please help!

I have a California Strat (predecessor to the HWY1 series) and my F-spaced VHPAF is off by about the same distance. They are all that way! The High E is completely off the pole piece. As people have said, it's the vintage bridge. I don't hear any differences, not that I would know what to listen for....