rationale for slanted humbucker in bridge?

[overwound]

This is a question I've always wanted to ask. Van Halen, early Billie Joe Armstrong's blue strat - these are the two guys who as a young guitarist learning I always wondered - why the slanted humbucker?

What are you getting out of doing this? It looks awesome, but how does it differ tonally? I mean the wolfgangs don't have slanted pickups. So was this just Eddie toying around and making his frankenstrat work for him? Very curious here.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: rationale for slanted humbucker in bridge?

I've read that it's intended for use with a Gibson-ish PAF-esque humbucker in a guitar with a Fender-spaced string spread -- so that the angled pickup will sense the E strings better than it would if the pickup were parallel to the strings in the conventional way.

See, back in those days there were no trembucker spaced or F-spaced humbuckers; there was just the Gibson-type spacing. But the superstrats were Fender-ish, with Strat-style bridges and Floyds.

 

[9unslin9er]

Re: rationale for slanted humbucker in bridge?

The slant definitely helps for the outer strings provided the pickup isn't F-spaced.

Being a huge fan of Green Day fan myself, I noticed another nuance of Billie's playing style which is conducive to the slant.

He lays on the bottom 3 strings.

If you are mainly doing power chords for rhythm, it helps to not be too shrill. Having the JB slightly pushed forward thickens things up on the lower notes, and keeps things singing during solos.

This is also why I'll never understand why modern Les Paul Juniors don't slant their tailpieces even without compensated bridges. The vintage setup is way better.

 

[overwound]

Re: rationale for slanted humbucker in bridge?

ok cool. I guess that's where i'm coming from. I do lay on the bottom 3 strings quite a bit, as i come from a punk rock background but play a lot of glassy cleans as well. and i also have this (likely impossible) dream of having a strat with a humbucker that is slanted so I could split it and get a true slanted vintage single coil in the same place it would be in a single coil strat bridge, but when the humbucker is fully engaged, it could go full on melt your face high gain. I have been loving the demos of the Alternative 8 I've listened to. Anyway. I don't know enough lol.

 

[9unslin9er]

Re: rationale for slanted humbucker in bridge?

I've kinda run the gamut with aftermarket pickups from all manufacturers and come to realize, if there's a tone you hear in your head because of a specific artist (in my case, 80's hair metal in general, and 90's pop-punk rhythm), there's really no point trying all sorts of pickups to chase tone. You just overspend. Good for companies, bad for your rent payment.

Stick with the JB bro. I've kinda railed on it in past years, but really appreciate it as of late. It's a great all around pickup.

If you want glassy cleans, go with Classic Stacks in your neck and middle.

*Also between your guitar, fretting hand, picking style, pick type, pick angle, amp, amp settings, pedals, speakers, cables, ears, et cetera, you'll never get a pickup to sound like it did in a demo. So I really wouldn't rely on clips to make a judgment.

*http://www.warmoth.com/pickguard/StratPickguard.aspx
Build your own pickguard.
500k audio taper (CTS, don't bother with anything else, unless you wanna do volume-swell tricks) push-pull pot.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: rationale for slanted humbucker in bridge?

Eddie did it cos PAf's are too narrow for fender bridges. Everything else followed from there because he was such an influential guitarist.

 

[Aceman]

Re: rationale for slanted humbucker in bridge?

A true split slant bucker will LOSE mucho tone because one or the other coil will NOT line up.

You would need a custom spaced pup, or hold on for this….

A pickup would in parallel and split to hit bass side on one coil and treble on the other!

 

[Zombiwoof]

Re: rationale for slanted humbucker in bridge?

All of the recent LP Jr.'s with uncompensated wrap TP's are slanted, they have to be to intonate. The recent more inexpensive Junior Gibson was/is making (I don't know if it's still in the catalog or not) has a straight compensated Lightning Bar TP that doesn't need to be slanted, because the strings are compensated by the ridges on the top of the TP.

Al

The slant definitely helps for the outer strings provided the pickup isn't F-spaced.

Being a huge fan of Green Day fan myself, I noticed another nuance of Billie's playing style which is conducive to the slant.

He lays on the bottom 3 strings.

If you are mainly doing power chords for rhythm, it helps to not be too shrill. Having the JB slightly pushed forward thickens things up on the lower notes, and keeps things singing during solos.

This is also why I'll never understand why modern Les Paul Juniors don't slant their tailpieces even without compensated bridges. The vintage setup is way better.

 

[9unslin9er]

Re: rationale for slanted humbucker in bridge?

Sadly, the traditional Les Paul Jr. is no longer available as a USA model, being replaced by the LPJ, two pickup line.

You can still get a Historic or VOS reissue through the Gibson Custom Shop. The R7s, sunburst and tv model are two of the best reproductions money can buy IMO, and they come with the traditional *VERY* slanted tailpiece.

When Gibson first began releasing the Billie Joe Armstrong Junior models, not only did they not have compensated bridges, but were set without a stud slant, resulting in terrible intonation problems. It would appear they've remedied this issue in recent models.

 

[dominus]

Re: rationale for slanted humbucker in bridge?

If you want the slant and like the Alt 8, a Tone Zone S may work for you.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: rationale for slanted humbucker in bridge?

There is always the SD Nighthawk replacement humbucker option.

 

[Fig]

Re: rationale for slanted humbucker in bridge?

Ok, I am pretty sure that I am going with a JB.
My question is this. I have an old Kramer Baretta with the hockey stick headstock. It has a slanted humbucker for the bridge (an only) pickup.
Since the slant was incorporated for the regularly spaced humbuckers should I go with the SH...or the TB? The string spacing at the pickup is 2" or just a hair over that but again, the pickup is mounted at that pronounced slant.

 

[Demanic]

Re: rationale for slanted humbucker in bridge?

The slant probably also may have something to do with the higher order harmonics being sensed the strongest. The nodes are not placed the same distance from the nut on every string.