what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

That is odd. My Patriot has a real wide bridge, with 55mm E-to-E spacing. I just held a C5 trembucker up to it, and even it isn't as far off as your pic shows. At least the strings still fall over the pole pieces, even though its to the outside edge.
 
Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

I have regular spaced JB in my homemade guitar that should have a trembucker in it and it sounds fine. The outer strings are a little on the edge of the polls but it still sounds killer.
 
Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

i think my strat is just a freak with massive string spacing or something lol. Mike (mentioned above) has sent that pic to his dimarzio rep to see what he says.

-Mike
 
Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

it looks like there are gaps between your string saddles. Did you get the right kind? I know they make the saddles that are threaded in the middle or there are the ones that are threaded to the left of center. I don't know if that makes a diffrence
 
Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

yeah the saddles are right i checked them with the stock ones and they are the same size (width) and the screw is in the center on both...i dont think it's that. thanks though.

-Mike
 
Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

this is why blade pickups were created :laugh2:
 
Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

funny you say that, i had a dimebucker in here before this and the edges of the blades just went under the e strings...i mean barley.

-Mike
 
Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

XSSIVE said:
ok another odd twist...i checkd dimarzio's site and it says f spaced has a pole spread of 51mm and regular of 48mm. i measured this breed and it's dead on 51mm....so it is dimarzio f spaced...now why is it so far off?

-Mike
There's the problem.
 
Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

XSSIVE said:
funny you say that, i had a dimebucker in here before this and the edges of the blades just went under the e strings...i mean barley.

-Mike


wow. one of my guitars im forced to put really wide spaced or blade pickups in (bc rich gunslinger) cause for some reason they thought itd be a good idea to put the pickup in on a slant, so the spacing is all f*cked up. i have an invader now, which is fine cause of its giant poles....i think i might try an EMG in there soon though
 
Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

I like the modern string spacing Fender is using these days..... Makes playing feel better to me... I have a few guitars with vintage fender trems and that wide spacing is too wide for me.. My old parts strat has a vintage style trem and an old Dimarzio f spaced Double Whammy.... The string spacing is not 100% correct for that bridge either... makes me wonder if they mean Floyd Spaced instead of Fender spaced
 
Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

I think you're right, Whofan. I think Floyd Rose spacing is not as wide as Fender, yet not as narrow as standard, but somewhere in the middle. I'll measure the width from saddle edge to saddle edge on my Kramer, homemade with vintage trem and Epi LP to see what the differences are. Will do that tonight when I get home.

EDIT:
Did some research and found string spacing specs on Warmoth's site for various bridges. Below are what they measurements are.

Floyd Rose - 53mm
Vintage Strat - 56.36mm
Modern Strat (2 screw pivot) - 54.76mm
Narrow Spaced Strat - 54mm
Tune-O-Matic - 52mm

From these measurements, that Dimarzio appears to be narrower than even a standard TOM bridge. The Floyd is right between modern strats and the TOM.
 
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Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

OMG....I found this info in the Dimarzio faq:

What is F-spacing?

All of our full-size humbuckers except the X2N® are available in two polepiece spacings. F-spacing refers to the wider of the two spacings. For proper string alignment and balanced output, F-spaced humbuckers should be used in the bridge position on all guitars with string spacing at the bridge of 2.1" (53 mm) or greater. On these guitars, if the nut width is 1-11/16” (43 mm) or greater, F-spaced pickups can be used in the neck position as well.

:smack: No, Fender and Floyd spacing is not the same. Small difference (1mm compared to modern, about 3mm compared to vintage).

Now, watch this, also from the Dimarzio faq:

F-spaced pickups measure 2.01" (51 mm) center-to-center from the first polepiece to the sixth. Standard-spaced pickups measure 1.90" (48 mm). Although some players believe that F-spaced pickups are only for the bridge position of tremolo bridge guitars, many guitars with fixed bridges (including late 1990s Gibson Les Pauls and Epiphone LPs) should have F-spaced pickups in the bridge position. Most tremolo equipped guitars that have a nut width of 1-11/16” (43mm) or more should also use an F-spaced pickup in the neck position. If you’re replacing a bridge-position pickup and you're not sure what your string-spacing is, it's usually better to get an F-spaced model. It is not necessary for the strings to pass exactly over the center of the polepieces for best performance, but it is wise to avoid a situation where the E strings are sitting completely outside of the outer polepieces.

:smack: :smack: Ok, they say that F-spaced humbuckers should be used with a string spacing of 53mm or greater, yet theirs measure 51mm????? :smack: :smack: :smack: :duh:

I agree that it's not all that important for the strings to pass right over the middle of the poles, but in the case we're dealing with here, they're completely off.

Dude, get yourself a Duncan trembucker.
 
Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

Erik...thanks for all the hunting for info...i did the same thing and my dealer who sold me the pickup sent an e-mail and made a phonecall with that pic to dimarzio asking what was going on. so i'm waiting to hear back from them. the sick thing is...this breed sounds killer!! so i may just throw a solid no poles showing chrome cover on it like i said earilier and call it a day b/c it does sound good it's just odd that it so far off....yet still sounds good loud and clear!

well, we'll see what the tech at dimarzio has to say about it.

oh and this is why only 1 out of 13 guitars has a dimarzio...the rest have duncans hahahaha.

-Mike
 
Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

Hey, Mike.

Have your dealer read off the faq article I posted. Have the Dimarzio tech explain that. :)
 
Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

yeah, that's what i'm going to ask about...why on earth is trem spaced so damn narrow? it makes no sence. i guess modern floyds have a narrower spacing. ummm but what about us fender players with vintage trems?? what are we just screwed hahaha.

see kids, this is what happens when you buy a dimarzio and not a duncan hahahaha.

-Mike
 
Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

I know, it makes no sense to me either, especially since the Floyd Rose spacing is 53mm. Duncan Trembuckers measure 52.6mm middle high E to middle of low E. Standard humbuckers measure 49mm.

Duncan FAQ:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/website/support/faqdescr.shtml#trembucker

The only explanation I can come up with is a difference in the measure points, edge to edge rather than middle to middle.
 
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Re: what's wrong with my strat...very odd...

just got my first e-mail from dimarzio tech support asking me to measure the poles and i did and they are 2.01" or 51mm which is there version of trem spaced. i sent them and e-mail back with the info and then asked why it doesn't fit a US made fender with a stock trem when the site says F spaced is made to fit fenders and fooyds....so, we'll see what they say.

i bet they will try and blame it on the graphtech saddles or something silly like that rather than fess up and say their spacing is too short for fenders...lol. even though the graphtech saddles are the same size as the stock ones and make no difference at all. i just have this weird feeling they may say something like that.

i'll report back when i hear from them.

-Mike
 
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