Re: Flat or Staggered?
Yeah, the string balance is changed, it's especially noticeable on chords ... generally speaking a staggerred polepiece array will have a brighter sound, more airy if you will ... a lot of people associate this with being more of a vintage sound ... truth be told the vintage stagger doesn't make much sense if it's done for it's original purpose ... the orignal string guages back then were generally heavy flat wound strings, so the stagger in theory made all strings have equal volume. I prefer a thrid option, DiMarzio offers some that have a radiused stagger, meaning that it's like a flat, but the A&B strings are a bit higher than the E strings, and then D&G strings are a bit higher than the A&B strings, so in theory at least if the pup matches the distance equally from polepiece to string on both E strings, then it will track all strings with equal sensitivity. I think you can get the same from SD also if requested ... one interesting thing though is that the true flat tends to accent the outer (read Bass and Treble, while reducing the mids slightly), which is great for rhythm work and helping chords to *speak* without being muddy. The vintage stagger generally sounds brighter,glassier, and has more air to it, the flat generally is warmer, has more mids, and relays in chord picking more accurately. I prefer the flat, but the staggerred tends to work very well as a middle pup, adds extra personality to the 2&4 positions on a strat, and also adds a bit more *difference* in sound to the middle only position (IMHO). :cool3:
