Stratocaster flat vs staggered pickups

[Guitar-Sam]

Without having two strats here to compare what is the differance between the staggered and flat pole mid 70s strat pickups?Or any strat pickups for that matter really.
Basically if I had a 1974 with staggered poles and a 75' with flat poles(if ohms etc... are equal)what would be the tone differance between the poles being flat?

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Stratocaster flat vs staggered pickups

The strings with the raised poles would be a bit louder.

 

[Sludgenutz]

Re: Stratocaster flat vs staggered pickups

The older staggered pole pickups were originally geared to the times they were created in, when a wound G string was the norm...in the 1950's and 1960's. Staggered poles are a Fender "legacy".

Most players these days will find they have a "loud" G string with staggered poles, as most players these days use un-wound G's.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Stratocaster flat vs staggered pickups

The older staggered pole pickups were originally geared to the times they were created in, when a wound G string was the norm...in the 1950's and 1960's. Staggered poles are a Fender "legacy".

Most players these days will find they have a "loud" G string with staggered poles, as most players these days use un-wound G's.

Agreed + the board radius was tighter also on the vintage Fenders. I find the vintage staggered singles to be quite unballanced in string response on a modern guitar. Unless you just gotta have a dead real 1950's vintage Strat tone I would go with flats.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Stratocaster flat vs staggered pickups

I'm surprised only boutique winders seem to offer a third option, a plain ol' radius, except maybe with the high E even with or slightly higher than the B. Even if it doesn't totally match the radius of the particular guitar, it would still be better than vintage stagger or flat in my opinion.