Re: Fender Custom Shop Fat '50s Single-Coil Strat
I use Fender Fat 50's and push the polepieces down (and up for the B) to make a flatter stagger. I touch the pole magnets with a soldering iron for a few seconds to make the wax soften slightly, then push on the polepiece with a small screwdriver handle. I can't tell that it changes the tone, but it gets rid of stratitis on modern neck radiuses. I get the whole "vintage is better" thing, but I would like to see vintage stagger on single coils die a quick death.
Before anyone adds that this is going to "break the coil and destroy a pickup" let me say that I have asked dozens of players who have CLAIMED that it can ruin them, and not one of them has ever seen it actually happen. If you have seen it, I would like to know what brand and model, and whether the pole piece was heated or not. I have personally done it to over two dozen individual pickups from various manufacturers, and have never had one problem. Maybe I'm just lucky? I don't know.
