Hex screws vs slotted screws

[AniML]

I am having a new pickup made for my Melody Maker reissue and have the option of standard slotted screws or hex screws.

My limited research and knowledge suggests that with hex screws I might get a brighter pickup with tighter bass, but it seems it all depends on the difference in material used in each set of screws as well, not just the size and orientation of the screw heads to the strings.

Everything else being equal, what should I expect based on your experience?

 

[B2D]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

Bump... I'd like to know this as well. How do hex screws affect the sound?

 

[Koreth]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

I've not (yet) performed a hex screw mod on the my guitars, but from what I remember reading when I did searches of the topic, it is the length of the screw, not necessarily the head shape that causes the change in sound. The hex screws that are commonly used for modification are 1/2" screws. The slotted screws that are commonly used on Duncan pickups are 3/4". Most of the difference in length sticks out beneath the baseplate. Having a shorter length screw changes the shape of the pickup's magnetic field, and thus the sound of the pickup.

What kind of sound are you looking for with this custom-wound pickup?

 

[uOpt]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

It's not brighter.

it is more, what people say, "articulate". I like the term "assertive" better.

 

[AniML]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

It's not brighter.

it is more, what people say, "articulate". I like the term "assertive" better.

So clipping the screws makes them more articulate, er I mean assertive? I will try that

What are the principles to making the tone more open and organic?

 

[Huntermb]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

I've got hex head filisters in my one JB. It improved the pickup alot, the bass seems alot more focused and the pickup seems more responsive.

 

[alex1fly]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

you have to try them and see! my hexs are the same length as my slotted, and they definitely sound different. less muddy. the feel is different too. theres a link in an old thread to buy them online for 5 bucks per 100 screws - not bad!

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

I don't mean to hijack, and I'm sorry I can't contribute, but -

according to TV jones, fillister head screws are a big part of how his pickups get the note separation that they do, as opposed to dome-shaped ones

if this is true I GOTTA get myself a lightly potted jazz neck with them, anyone care to verify? Given that both coils on his pickups have them and that's probably just as big or a bigger part of the sound than just the heads on the screws alone. $1 buys about a hundred of them, though

 

[uOpt]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

So clipping the screws makes them more articulate, er I mean assertive? I will try that

What are the principles to making the tone more open and organic?

I think the difference is more rooted in the thicker screw head. It reshapes the magnetic fields towards the string and makes the part crossing the strings narrower. Leading to tightening up the bass.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

I think the difference is more rooted in the thicker screw head. It reshapes the magnetic fields towards the string and makes the part crossing the strings narrower. Leading to tightening up the bass.

so all things being equal, thicker screws loosen up the magnetic field, there fore loosening up the sound? in that case, would two coils with full shred style hex screws cut short to the height of the pickup produce a punchy, articulate/assertive sound whereas a pickup with 2 slotted screw coils that are still full length will be looser, fatter, and a bit less... assertive?

 

[Micah]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

Ive messed with these hex screws a bit myself. I tried replacing the slotted screws in my duncan custom and it made the the pickup "more elastic" in my opinion and took some of the customs' jagged edge in the mid-range away from it. Also, I took my full shred and put the standard screws in the bridge and slug side and found it sounded allot like a Custom 5 which im not a big fan of, so I put the hex screws back in the slug side (se up like a Screamin Demon as far as the poles are concerned) and it made it allot tighter on the low end but definatly more bold in the upper mids than a full shred. Definatly a hot, open sound (but no where near as hot as the custom from a mid-rande prespective).

 

[bhuether]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

I am a little confused. SD gtech support told me hex screws have narrower head. But someone in this thread said the wider head makes for more articulate sound.

Can someone confirm if hex screws are supposed to be narrower? Also, I have never heard the term fillister before. How do they factor into the hex vs flat head debate?

thanks,

brian

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

I am a little confused. SD gtech support told me hex screws have narrower head. But someone in this thread said the wider head makes for more articulate sound.

Can someone confirm if hex screws are supposed to be narrower? Also, I have never heard the term fillister before. How do they factor into the hex vs flat head debate?

thanks,

brian

The hex head is not narrower, it has less surface area. A hex head is concave, a fillister is convex. This concavity means that the middle of a hex head is further away from the strings than a fillister head which is convex. A fillister head therefore has a greater surface area to sense the string while a hex head has less surface area and senses the string at its edges.

But all of this depends on how high you have the screws set. So its really all about the shape of the magnetic field and proximity to the string.

 

[Micah]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

I say define articulate...

Filister are the flat top screws as opposed to the rounded top standard humbucker screws. The Standard screws have more mass and disburse the magnetic field differently than a lower mass flat top screw.

The hex screw will be a bit less mid-rangy, but clearer (more open sounding) treble response. The dome screws have more mids slightly rolle treble response in comparison.

 

[bhuether]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

Interesting 'thread'. I just took out the hex screws in my pickups and they are around .72" long. But I noticed people talking about how 1/2" hex screws are the way to go.

Also, images I see online of fillister screws shows a domes head. See below links.

http://www.uccomponents.com/default.asp?pg=dwgfills

I also saw someone mention fillister hex screws. So do we have these types then?

1) Flat head
2) Hex
3) Fillister
4) Fillister hex

thanks,
brian

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

^ 1/2" screws??? ähm, with that diameter you´d probably be better off just putting a rail in there... expanding the holes that much will surely weaken if not destroy the bobbin.

Oh, wait, you mean length, don´t you? I didn´t say anything

 

[theodie]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

The length of teh screw makes a much larger difference than the head of the screw. We are talking about 90% on this one. Duncan Hex screws are shorter than the slotted counterparts and this moves the magnetic field.

 

[Koreth]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

Just to clear some things up, the standard screws that come in a Seymour Duncan pickup with the exception of a few (Full shred, Screamin' Demon, Invader) are a Fillister Head machine screws. The "hex screws" as they are commonly called as found in the Full Shred and Screamin' Demon are Standard Socket Cap machine screws. Unless I'm mis-seeing the picture of an Invader, an Invader uses Button Socket Cap machine scews. Take a look a the McMaster Carr online catalog and you'll see the difference between the various types of heads one can have on a machine screw. Another type screw sometimes found in pickups are called Set Screws. They can be had with a thread like that of Machine screws, only there is no head. The hole for driving the screw is cut directly into the body of the screw. I have not seen these in any production Duncan pickups, bud did see them in the INF 3 and 4 picksup that came stock with my cheap Ibanez. I have heard of Dimarzio using set screws as well.

So in pickups we have:

• Filister head screws
• standard socket cap screws
• button socket cap screws
• set screws

...for the adjustable pole pieces. Could we have screws with other types of heads in pickups? Probably. What kind of effect those would have and whether it would be a good effect or bad effect is another mater. Could we have another kind of screw than machine screws in our pickups? Again, probably, but it would probably require modification to the pickup, as I'm pretty sure pickups made with adjustable polepieces use machine screws instead of wood screws, sheet metal screws, drywall screws or some other type.

 

[Micah]

Re: Hex screws vs slotted screws

Interesting 'thread'. I just took out the hex screws in my pickups and they are around .72" long. But I noticed people talking about how 1/2" hex screws are the way to go.

Also, images I see online of fillister screws shows a domes head. See below links.

http://www.uccomponents.com/default.asp?pg=dwgfills

I also saw someone mention fillister hex screws. So do we have these types then?

1) Flat head
2) Hex
3) Fillister
4) Fillister hex

thanks,
brian

Definatly interesting--Im sure you can get any variation of any screw really. From prior discussions, when people talked about filister screws in humbuckers, they meant the other.