Do you radius your pole pieces?

[PoorMan]

I know...sounds like innuendo...

But seriously...I've matched the pole piece radius to the string radius on my guitars for years. I was under the impression this was standard practice, but I'm surprised by how many guitarists (and luthiers) I meet don't do this.

Curious about the forum brothers take on this.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

I think a lot of people radius them as a starting point and THEN adjust from string to string. Me, I just skip the radius part altogether and adjust according to what each string needs.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

On my Strat, I adjusted the pole pieces of my PG to resemble the staggering found on vintage Strat pups.

 

[PoorMan]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

I think a lot of people radius them as a starting point and THEN adjust from string to string. Me, I just skip the radius part altogether and adjust according to what each string needs.

You have your own method and put some effort into pole piece adjustment, but these folks I'm referring to put zero thought into it...they just install a pickup as they received it.

 

[Jazz Rock]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

On the Epi, I have matched the radius for both pups, and on the Gibby I radius them and then get the three treble a bit higher for the neck pickup to compensate a bit of the mudiness.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

Another thing -- since I also play a lot of jazz and therefore "thumb" a lot of chords, I drop the polepiece of the neck pu under the low E so it doesn't sound boomy or muddy.

 

[Martian]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

My starting point on all pickups is to adjust the polepieces to an approximation of say, the way a newer staggered Strat pickup is. Meaning, with the G string polepiece at least as low as the B string polepiece is. I then run the guitar through the amp and make whatever final polepiece adjustments as necessary.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

I just adjust the height of the pickup according to how it reacts to my picking and amp, then leave'em alone. Most of my humbuckers are nickel covered, so it'd look a little weird to have the poles sticking out.

 

[greendy123]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

I kinda estimate the height and set it accordingly, then set by ear, but the my listening skills are so great, so it set to what I like.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

I just adjust the height of the pickup according to how it reacts to my picking and amp, then leave'em alone. Most of my humbuckers are nickel covered, so it'd look a little weird to have the poles sticking out.

You might be missing out on a whole world of tone. You can get a little more bite and single coil-ish clarity by raising the poles. You can also shore up a weak-sounding string: some strings resonate less on a particular guitar than others -- some a lot more, like the D string on my 355 -- due to the wood or maybe even the way the saddle slots are cut.

 

[PoorMan]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

Funny...3 votes don't know what I'm talking about, but no questions in the thread.

 

[JacksonMIA]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

I don't have any pole pieces! :yell:

 

[Fritz6]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

First I convert whatever bucker I'm using to double screws, then radius all the screws to 1/16th when fretting @ the highest fret. In a standard bucker the E's are ok, but the middle strings are MILES away from the poles.

Radiusing only one rows of screws sounds harsh to my ears since the bridge coil is emphasized. In the neck it's too muddy since the neck coil is emphasized.

But when the middle four strings are brought into play on BOTH coils you won't believe the difference!

So much more 3d quality and full bodied balls to the sound. It's like the difference between listening in mono or stereo. What a secret weapon!

Try it, it's like kicking on light chorus and a clean boost.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

Radiusing only one rows of screws sounds harsh to my ears since the bridge coil is emphasized. In the neck it's too muddy since the neck coil is emphasized.

The neck should actually sound a little more single coil-ish with one coil stronger than the other.

 

[MattPete]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

Nope. I just adjust them until they sound right, which isn't necessarilly mean that they end up following the radius of the strings. For example, on my Custom bridge, the low-E is raised a bunch whereas the other pole pieces are flush.

 

[Fritz6]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

The neck should actually sound a little more single coil-ish with one coil stronger than the other.

Didn't happen in my case. Was just too muddy with only the coil furthest from the bridge radiused. So I lowered the whole pup from 1/16 to 3/32 and it made all the difference, cleaned it up alot.

Nice fat clear tone now. I haven't converted it to double screw cause it's the first pup I picked up back in the day (1982?). I wrote to duncan and asked what pup EVH used and whoever wrote back said they weren't sure, but to go with a 59 or JB.

I went with the 59', wish I still had the letter tho. Who knows maybe it was THE MAN who wrote back. Wish I could remember!

 

[OlinMusic]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

I have alwaqys found you can improve the tone of the unwound string in particular - more or less twang, brightness, and presence as you please just by messing with the pole pieces

 

[Curly]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

it would depend on the guitar for one thing, but on LPs, the neck is a fairly flat radius

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

I think a lot of people radius them as a starting point and THEN adjust from string to string. Me, I just skip the radius part altogether and adjust according to what each string needs.

+1

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Do you radius your pole pieces?

I think a lot of people radius them as a starting point and THEN adjust from string to string. Me, I just skip the radius part altogether and adjust according to what each string needs.

+1