Tell me your real world experience: Regular spaced humbucker in tremolo bridge guitar

[IMENATOR]

In the past I always had guitars with tremolo bridge like Strat with FR, Charvel SoCal with FR, Strat with vintage tremolo bridge. Every time I have placed a SD HB in the bridge I have always used a Trembucker. About 1 year ago I got a Wolfgang Stardard with a FR and the HB in the bridge does not have wide spacing poles so low E and high E are not centered with the poles, they are rather on the external edge. So far I have not noticed anything wrong BUT I mostly play high gain with this guitar and when playing cleans I have not felt yet like "oh the E string sounds too quite". I am for the first time considering getting a regular spaced SD HB becasue that is what is easier to get around these days (until a new batch arrives).

What has been your real world experience using an SH pickup in the bridge when the spacing is more like a TB? Is it more noticeable to yo<u when playing cleans or high gain?

 

[Mincer]

With a high-output humbucker and high gain, I can hear no difference. Dead clean with vintage-output humbuckers (and a dynamic playing style), you can absolutely hear it if the strings miss the poles.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

I gigged a Floydcaster with a covered 59B at the bridge for years, before trem spacing was available.
Didn't notice any shortcomings. Still, I wasn't using it into a completely clean amp.
My primary live tone was slightly crunchy and I rolled back a bit for cleans.
Worked fine.

 

[Chistopher]

I've never noticed it. If for some reason you bend your e strings to the outside of the neck, you may end up noticing though.

 

[Aceman]

I just raised the pole pieces a touch and it worked fine.

As Mincer said though, I'm a high gain rock player. No "subtle" stylings here...

 

[beaubrummels]

I have a Custom Custom regular spaced HB in my Jackson and I did need to raise the outside poles a bit to make it even. The poles are in kind of a 'smile' configuration looking across the top of the pickup. Mine is covered, so I don't know if that played a role in perceiving more of a weakness on the outside strings. I play clean to crunch to medium gain, not much high gain.

 

[ErikH]

It's not enough of a difference to actually bother me. If I can get the pickup in spacing that lines up, fine. If not, that's fine too. My Warmoth build has vintage Strat spacing and a regular spaced Perpetual Burn. Sounds fine. It's not slanted either.

 

[Masta' C]

I concur with everything that has been said so far. No harm in using a regular spaced pickup with a trem in 99% of scenarios. Just adjust the pole pieces a bit if you need to.

To put it in perspective, Floyd Rose locking trems were on the market for more than a decade before Seymour Duncan and Dimarzio started offering their "Trembucker"/F-spaced spaced pickups and, even then, people have continued to use standard-spaced pickups in their wide-spaced guitars without issue.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Yeah, I haven't had issues with sound dropping out on regular spaced pickups on wider spaced bridges. Even most current Tune O's are wider spaced than standard spaced pickups.

That being said, a standar-spaced pickup in a Floyd guitar is such an eyesore, LOL.

 

[GuitarStv]

Would it make less sound difference if the pickup was uncovered?

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Would it make less sound difference if the pickup was uncovered?

I don't think it'd make much difference. One factor that might minimize losses would be setting the pickup low from the strings.
That way any differences in proximity compared to inner poles would make up a smaller percentage of the total distance.
The strings would also be in a slightly less-focused area of the magnetic field.

But as noted above, I never noticed any significant weakness at the outer strings even using a vintage output hum up close.

 

[beaubrummels]

Would it make less sound difference if the pickup was uncovered?

The difference would be whatever affect the cover has on the magnetic field at the ends of the pickup. But I don't know enough to know if or how much of an affect on the magnetic field exists at the ends of the pickup. I do know that there is a difference in sound from covered and uncovered, so I'm inclined to believe there is some affect.

 

[Mincer]

Would it make less sound difference if the pickup was uncovered?

Yeah, I don't think it makes a difference in how that spacing sounds. A cover isn't going to make the poles line up any better. Remember, the best thing to do when choosing Trembucker or regular Humbucker is measure.

 

[GuitarStv]

Yeah, I don't think it makes a difference in how that spacing sounds. A cover isn't going to make the poles line up any better. Remember, the best thing to do when choosing Trembucker or regular Humbucker is measure.

No, but I'm thinking that the poles are uncovered on a pickup . . . so probably brighter, which might make the non-lining up problem maybe more noticeable.

 

[Mincer]

No, but I'm thinking that the poles are uncovered on a pickup . . . so probably brighter, which might make the non-lining up problem maybe more noticeable.

It could, which is why I'd measure before I bought the pickup. If it is one that is laying around and I think it might work (but is the wrong size), I might try it to see if it is an issue. If it is, then just get the right one.