Why mount pickups at an angle?

[pullshocks]

Numerous fender models have had one or more pickups angled. Many others have done the same. I have even seen pickups angled the opposite direction. What is the rationale? Just for looks?

[Chadheckler1]

I think the standard fender angle is to have a smoother more pronouced bass. If you think about how much more bass and volume the neck pickup has due to the greater amplitude of the strings motion...the same principle would apply when angling the bass side of the pickup towards the neck. I have never tried a strat or tele pickup parrallel to the bridge but I am certain that there would be a noticeable difference in tone. I am sure that it is not for looks.

[David Schwab]

If you think about the first Tele(/Esquire/Broadcaster/Nocaster etc.), it only had one pickup. So the angling made the treble brighter and the bass deeper. It expanded the range. The split coil P bass is the same way. The two pickup instruments didn't need that, but he did it on the Strat anyway. And look how thin the treble strings are on a Strat's bridge pickup.

It might also have been because Leo was making steel guitar pickups, and the first spanish guitar he made was just to test pickups. So if he put a steel pickup on the spanish guitar, he'd have to angle it to get it to fit. But that's just a hunch.

I actually prefer the pickups angled the opposite way. You get smother treble and tighter bass.

At some point I'm going to put a left handed bridge on my Tele.

[pullshocks]

Thank you.

I have the bridge pickup straight on my strat (pick guard routed for HB and I didn't want to drill new holes). It sounds fine to me, but I don't have a normal one to compare it to.

By the time Leo got to the Jaguar and Jazzmaster he "went straight"