dimarzio recommending f-spaced neck pickups?!

metalspider

metalspider

New member
was arguing with someone on some other forum about only needing trembucker/f-spacing in the bridge position if you have a floyd or strat and he brought this quote from the dimarzio site:

"How do I know which spacing to use?

F-spaced pickups measure 2.01" (51 mm) center-to-center from the first polepiece to the sixth. Standard-spaced pickups measure 1.90" (48 mm). Although some players believe that F-spaced pickups are only for the bridge position of tremolo bridge guitars, many guitars with fixed bridges (including late 1990s Gibson Les Pauls and Epiphone LPs) should have F-spaced pickups in the bridge position. Most tremolo equipped guitars that have a nut width of 1-11/16” (43mm) or more should also use an F-spaced pickup in the neck position. If you're replacing a bridge-position pickup and you're not sure what your string-spacing is, it's usually better to get an F-spaced model. It is not necessary for the strings to pass exactly over the center of the polepieces for best performance, but it is wise to avoid a situation where the E strings are sitting completely outside of the outer polepieces"

to which i can only scratch my head and think "what the ****?!"
 
Re: dimarzio recommending f-spaced neck pickups?!

Yeah they say that if your bridge is wide and your neck (nut) is wide too, you might use the F-space in the neck. Also if you had 24 frets the neck pickup is closer to the bridge, so the strings are a little wider there as well.

In my opinion (not speaking for SD or anything) it's hogwash. I've never had an F-space line up on an Ibanez with a 43mm nut, not even on a 24 fret. The regular spaced pickups line up way better in the neck. BUT....sometimes the pickup doesn't sit right in the mounting ring, and it's off to one side or the other. I guess if that were the case, the F-space would at least make sure the poles went to the outside of the strings.
 
Re: dimarzio recommending f-spaced neck pickups?!

well i'm not new to guitar playing or modding myself so i dont buy it either but the fact they suggest so was a complete curve ball to me.
so i thought id see what people here have to say about it.
 
Re: dimarzio recommending f-spaced neck pickups?!

my F-spaced dimarzio's align perfectly with my Wizard Prestige neck.

Non F-spaced pickups in them look stupid to me, prolly no sound difference ,but, it looks stupid
 
Re: dimarzio recommending f-spaced neck pickups?!

I have f spaced Dimarzios on my Meanstreet Wolfie. The poles line up perfectly in the neck. I have always needed f-spaced dimarzios. They see to not be as wide as Duncans.
 
Re: dimarzio recommending f-spaced neck pickups?!

For the bridge of course, but man I've got a lot of Ibanez' with Edge trems and 43mm nuts, and all the neck pickups are regular spaced and line up well. I've had some F-Spaced neck pickups (HFH, PAF Pro, Super 2, Fred) and they all had one or both of the poles sitting to the outside of the string, even on 24 fretters.

The bigger message is that generally the pole discrepancies are mostly cosmetic. Yes the pickup performs at it's "best" when the poles line up, but it's not imperative.
 
Re: dimarzio recommending f-spaced neck pickups?!

Sounds like a way of just artificially drumming up some more business. Maybe it was the consolation prize after finding out they couldn't trademark double-black and zebra too.
 
Re: dimarzio recommending f-spaced neck pickups?!

For the neck position, standard spaced is fine and you do not need a F or trem spaced. That is for necks that have a 42 (1 5/8) or a 43MM (1 11/16) nut width. You can use a F spaced neck pickup on necks that are 43MM (1 11/16) or 44mm (1 3/4) without any problems and the same goes for standard spaced. Personally, if I had a 1 3/4 nut width and a 24 fret axe, I may opt for a F spaced neck bucker over a standard but, it is not mandatory what so ever.
 
Re: dimarzio recommending f-spaced neck pickups?!

I just put Duncans in two of my guitars, an Ibanez 321 hardtail, and a Fender Strat. I had Dimarzio F-spaded in the bridge of the Ibanez and the pole pieces were perfectly lined up with the strings. I replaced it with a Duncan JB Humbucker and the high E string sits right on the outside of the pole pieces. I don't notice much difference there, so it's no big deal. Still sounds incredible.

On the other hand, I just installed a Screamin' Demon in my strat, and the high E sits about 1-2mm outside of the pole pieces. It's not a huge difference, but I can tell that some of the output is lost. Same with the low E. It's not quite as bad, but I can still tell a difference.

...just my experience
 
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