Re: Help adjusting pole pieces
I am curious, what DOES that setup do? I have never adjusted my pole pieces that high (D) OR that low (G).
The main goal of setting up the screws is to have an even volume between the different strings. And this is due of an inherent imbalance produced by the gauge relation between strings in a set, and the magnetic induction produced by the different core's mass of every string in a set. Even if it sounds counter-intuitive, Plain strings produce more output than wound strings.
The shape of the stagger depends on two things: the fingerboard radius and the gauge the strings.
If you compare the stagger in Larry's guitar (post #21 on this very thread), that's the resultant shape of a 12" radius with a D'Addario EXL140 set, that uses .010, 0.13, .017 plains with .030, .042 and .052 gauges.
http://daddario.com/DADProductDetail.Page?ActiveID=3769&productid=17
If you compare to the set stagger in my p'up (post #13 on this very thread), you'll notice similar shape but not so marked, with the exception of a taller 4th. That's due to two factors: 1st. my fingerboard has a 14" radius, and 2nd. I use a different D'Addario set than Larry, called the EXL115BT:
http://daddario.com/DADProductDetail.Page?ActiveID=3769&productid=384
As you can see, compared with Larry's, the 4ht string is thinner and the 3rd, 2nd and 1st are slightly thicker. Hence the slight difference in stagger, although the basic resultant shape is the same.
That's the law of physics and the law of magnetism doing the talking to both Larry's (and/or Rick Wheeler's) and my own ears, and that's what we both came up with, as we were listening.
And it looks like the bridge pickup is much flatter.
Yes, it indeed is. Again, the law of physics is doing the talking here. As the strings in that position don't mode as much, the resultant output is quite even, hence the flatter resultant stagger.
So...does that stagger make sense for bridge pickups for high-gain rock, or is it a jazz/neck thing?
Evenness of output is not something you can associate with any style of music. However, the more gain you usually use, the less the effect of the stagger becomes, also because 95% of gainy-players use the bridge p'up anyway, and therefore they even might not have the faintest idea of whet we're talking about here, and I can't say I can blame'em for.
And if one has 12 adjustable poles would one do something like that shape for both sets of screws
In the case of double-row of screws, I usually apply the stagger to both rows and then I tweak'em by ear, but most of the time it's the same stagger for both coils, withing a 1/4 turn of the screw. Bigger in the neck p'up and very small in the bridge p'up.
I hope this would help to a better understanding of the stagger, which is actually the outcome of the most basic but not quite understood setup of a magnetic p'up.
And I also hope the separating the mythical from the factual will have its effect, as you're given the reasons behind the outcome.
HTH,
