Explorer84
Active member
I have a Strat with a vintage/narrow bridge. Would I need to get a standard or trembucker spaced pickup?
Standard or Trembucker
- Thread starter Explorer84
- Start date
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
Is vintage narrow the 2 1/16th spacing?
My Mexican Strat is like that, and the regular-spaced hum is fine, but the trem-spaced Fishman Fluence Classic lines up better.
I would go for a Trembucker.
My Mexican Strat is like that, and the regular-spaced hum is fine, but the trem-spaced Fishman Fluence Classic lines up better.
I would go for a Trembucker.
marcello252
Well-known member
never been able to hear significant differences on my strats, with vintage wide bridges
beaubrummels
Well-known member
The description warped my brain. Vintage is wide spacing. Import is narrow spacing. I have no idea what vintage narrow is.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
Yeah, no, me neither. If I already have the pickup, then yeah, I'll just put whatever in there.
But if I'm looking to buy a new pickup, given the option, I don't see why I wouldn't want to get the "correct" spacing. After all, the misaligned polepieces are such an eyesore for me.
marcello252
Well-known member
you are right, I'm not telling you not to buy, I m just saying I can't hear difference
I'd take whatever it gets, the cheapest the better but, since my pickup frames and pickguard are cut for standard width, I do prefer standard size
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
Uncovered Trembuckers have been a tight fit for me in the past, but they fit. But yeah, the covered Duncan Trembuckers might be an issue.you are right, I'm not telling you not to buy, I m just saying I can't hear difference
I'd take whatever it gets, the cheapest the better but, since my pickup frames and pickguard are cut for standard width, I do prefer standard size
I've never really A/B'd a Duncan Trembucker vs. an equivalent standard-spaced hum, but I wouldn't be so sure there isn't a sound in difference. Then again, I've never really tried to find it. And with the tolerances and whatnot, I doubt there is a bigger difference than between even two standard-spaced hums at both ends of the tolerances which Duncan lets go.
I've owned Duncans with very wild DCR measurement discrepancies. The vast majority of the time, this hasn't been an issue, but I have had a couple of Duncans that were pretty odd-sounding and that read unusuably low in DCR.
But that's a whole other topic.
Explorer84
Active member
Yes, it’s the 2 1/16 spacing.
Teleplayer
Active member
I always avoid Trembuckers because the bobbins are larger than most other humbuckers and they will not fit regular pickguards or mounting rings.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
Then I'd go for a Trembucker. A Humbucker is too narrow. I'll snap a pic for you.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
It's not terrible... but it could be better (that's an SH-spacing, not TB).
For me, sometimes it's been a squeeze, but they always fit Fender, Gibson, Epiphone, and LTD rings and pickguards that I've used. Direct-mount routes too. Again, that has just been my experience. I may have gotten lucky.
Also, I assume the OP is referring to Duncans, but the bobbins on DiMarzio F-Spaced pickups are not any wider than the non-F-Spaced, so if a regular-sized pickup fits, so does an F-Spaced DiMarzio. Duncan's Trembuckers are indeed wider, though
While the poles are a little off, the BW is powerful enough that it won't matter.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
Yeah, no. I'm not saying it doesn't work or that it sounds bad by any means. I'm just saying *to me*, it's sort of an eyesore. I put the BW in there because I already had it. But now that I'm getting something else, I'm definitely getting a Trembucker in there.
However, if I REALLY wanted the BW in there, and I didn't already have one, I wouldn't even consider anything other than a Trembucker if only for aesthetic reasons.
Plus I'm sure, even if the difference is small, they wouldn't sell them if the spacing didn't make some difference, right?
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Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
Yeah, I bet there is more of a difference, but I suppose it would have more to do with the magnet than the wind. I mean, after all, the magnetic field is pretty much the same on top of the pickup on say, a JB vs. a 59, no?
That's what I've always wonderd. Does the wind affect the magnetic field at all? The string pull? I would suppose not, but I don't really know all that much about the science behind pickups.
Clint 55
OH THE DOUBLE THICK GLAZE!
The distance from the string to pole is the only thing that affects the sound. The appearance of them being off axis doesn't affect the sound. However, maybe the poles that are misaligned have the distance to them increase out of proportion to the poles that line up better. Then this makes them sound weaker and messes up the sound.
Explorer84
Active member
I appreciate that. Thanks!
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