pole piece height at neck less important ?

[xuoham]

I wonder why many telecaster pickup sets, like the CS Texas Specials, have staggered pole pieces at the bridge and are flat at the neck.
Does this mean that the more you go down the neck the less impact pole piece height has ?

I would have thought the contrary, though strings vibrate more away from the bridge.

Any insight much appreciated.

Thanks !

 

[Mincer]

Re: pole piece height at neck less important ?

I think 'tradition' in Fender pickups is more likely the reason. The string does vibrate more in the neck position, so my guess is that staggering has a smaller effect, although I am not a fan of staggers mixing with modern necks & string sizes.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: pole piece height at neck less important ?

Actually, IME, pole piece stagger is more important the closer your pickup is to the neck, not the other way around.

It's one of those things in which new pickups just follow the old ways, even though some very simple changes would make sense for today's players.

Why Duncan (and many others) continue to use an old school Strat stagger (made for a wound G string – the "magnetically quietest" string on the guitar) baffles me as well. With a plain G (which almost all electric string sets have these days), it ends up putting the tallest magnet underneath the "magnetically loudest" string, resulting in a glaringly loud G string, especially noticeable in chords. It's not like an SSL-1 could actually be confused for a real vintage Strat pickup anyhow, so why not just provide something practical and use a stagger made for typical string sets that use a plain G? I wish Duncan would offer a modern stagger on their Strat and Tele pickups, like DiMarzio has done. With today's strings, doing so gives you Fender's intent rom the old days, so it's not like it's some crime agains the vintage gods.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: pole piece height at neck less important ?

Well stated

 

[Discharged]

Re: pole piece height at neck less important ?

Actually, pole piece stagger is more important the closer your pickup is to the neck

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

/thread

/Peter

 

[Jacew]

Re: pole piece height at neck less important ?

Actually, IME, pole piece stagger is more important the closer your pickup is to the neck, not the other way around.

It's one of those things in which new pickups just follow the old ways, even though some very simple changes would make sense for today's players.

Why Duncan (and many others) continue to use an old school Strat stagger (made for a wound G string – the "magnetically quietest" string on the guitar) baffles me as well. With a plain G (which almost all electric string sets have these days), it ends up putting the tallest magnet underneath the "magnetically loudest" string, resulting in a glaringly loud G string, especially noticeable in chords. It's not like an SSL-1 could actually be confused for a real vintage Strat pickup anyhow, so why not just provide something practical and use a stagger made for typical string sets that use a plain G? I wish Duncan would offer a modern stagger on their Strat and Tele pickups, like DiMarzio has done. With today's strings, doing so gives you Fender's intent rom the old days, so it's not like it's some crime agains the vintage gods.

I think most who feel it has negative effect to their tone just use flats. Few years back I might have agreed, but not anymore. I've always used staggered pickups and learned to adapt to it.

I use the unbalanced stagger to alter chord voicing: If I want smooth tone I play barres, smooth picking dynamics and mute to reduce the sound g string. For more agressive I can move to position where it rings louder and dig in harder. I may simply move from barre to open chord keeping the same chord just for that tonal change.

I also do a lot of soloing on G string. If need to balance, picking dynamics take care of that.

I wouldn't want to move away from vintage stagger anymore, even if there was reasonable option.