Custom-Spaced Fender Style Parts

[copperheadroads]

very nice redhouse ,i have been trying to find a arbor press locally, i can get a 1 ton for about a hundred bucks .I'm thinking 1 ton is enough for pushing magnets in flat work and stuff

[David Schwab]

Yeah I know also, some stagger more than others. I use a mild stagger that complies with the neck radii.

Stagger doesn't conform to the neck radius. I don't mind arched magnets. I don't like the magnets set up for these heavy gauge strings with wound G's that hardly anyone uses an any more. My B string is not louder than the rest, so why does the magnet need to be lower?

Which brings me to:

It really does depend on the neck, where a 7-/12" (vintage) radius neck really needs that stagger and can sound uneven when using a flat magnet pickup

My '72 Fender Mustang has a 7.5" radius and flat magnets and sounds great.




Fender News:Staggered Polepieces: Why?

Also, light-gauge and round-wound guitar strings didn't exist when the Stratocaster was introduced in 1954. At that time, the third string (G) was flat-wound like the E, A and D strings, but its output was lower, so Fender compensated by raising the polepiece under that string. Once light-gauge sets with unwound G strings became available years later, the same staggering arrangement was no longer necessary. The later introduction of brighter-sounding round-wound strings also affected polepiece height preferences. And since fingerboard radius options have changed since the 1950s, so too have pickup staggering arrangements. It's not at all uncommon today for polepiece arrangements to be referred to as vintage, hybrid or custom staggers.

[RedHouse]

Stagger doesn't conform to the neck radius. I don't mind arched magnets. I don't like the magnets set up for these heavy gauge strings with wound G's that hardly anyone uses an any more. My B string is not louder than the rest, so why does the magnet need to be lower?

Which brings me to:



My '72 Fender Mustang has a 7.5" radius and flat magnets and sounds great.




Fender News:Staggered Polepieces: Why?

It doesn't "need" to be, you can do whatever you want, but it sounds more Strat like if it is.


Obviously you don't have to follow the neck curvature, you can do whatever you want. I've found it the easiest way to get balanced output from string-to-string while maintaining similar string attack. Once again it will sound more Strat like if you do.

I had a 74 Mustang and it sounded great too ...but didn't sound like a Strat.

{Edit} I do agree about the B string, doesn't need to be "lower" anymore, but you loose the chord voicing of a Strat if you do.

[David Schwab]

I had a 74 Mustang and it sounded great too ...but didn't sound like a Strat.

That's because the scale length is shorter.

{Edit} I do agree about the B string, doesn't need to be "lower" anymore, but you loose the chord voicing of a Strat if you do.

Chord voicing? That makes no sense. That's assuming you only play chords that need the B string to not be as loud? What if you change the chord to a different set of strings?

All your strings should be equal volume.

My old Charvel sounds like a Strat, and it doesn't even have Strat pickups in it.

[RedHouse]

That's because the scale length is shorter.



Chord voicing? That makes no sense. That's assuming you only play chords that need the B string to not be as loud? What if you change the chord to a different set of strings?

All your strings should be equal volume.

My old Charvel sounds like a Strat, and it doesn't even have Strat pickups in it.

Get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning David?

[voodoochild]

very nice redhouse ,i have been trying to find a arbor press locally, i can get a 1 ton for about a hundred bucks .I'm thinking 1 ton is enough for pushing magnets in flat work and stuff

1 ton is ideal. I bought one from harbor freight a few years back on sale for $40. They run random sales so its worth looking frequently.

[David Schwab]

Get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning David?

Oh I'm as calm as can be. I just see that people cling to old stuff for no good reason. The common "vintage" stagger is there to correct a problem that no longer exists. People will ask for that and if you ask them way they will say because it's vintage. As if that's going to make them better players!

This started because I said from a pickup making point of view I stopped making pickups with pole pieces because there were too many different string spacings out there. So I went to blades to remedy that. There wasn't any change in tone doing so.

I hear the small differences between staggered poles and other configurations, and it's so small as to be irrelevant. That's my opinion anyway. To me the lack of string to string balance outweighs any small change in tone.

And not every guitar has to sound exactly the same. That's boring! You listen to music and everyone is using the same damn tones. Where's the originality?

I'd rather have three gold foils in a Strat any day!

[Zhangliqun]

I hate staggered magnets.

Not a big fan of the vintage stagger either. My personal preference is either flatpole or a slight radius with the D pole slightly higher than the G since the D is wound and the G is not.

But my customers love staggered mags, and that's what matters.

[RedHouse]

...I just see that people cling to old stuff for no good reason. ...

I hear ya, I dwell on both sides of that fence myself.

I personally have a couple guitars that I like to keep a "vintage" vibe in, the rest get to boldly go -away- from the past.

Z has a good point though, while we have our opinions about what legacy baggage we should loose, when the customer asks for "yadda yadda with blah blah" (ie; same 'ol same 'ol) ...well, it pays the bills so why not.

[David Schwab]

Yeah, all very good points.

I guess since I only make the pickups that I make, it's easy to say "no". I occasionally get asked for expose poles or what ever. People are good about it when I say I don't do that and explain why.

I'm going to be introducing some guitar pickups soon. They will get the familiar tones, but wont be "vintage" in construction. That's a crowded playing field that I'm going to avoid if I can. My philosophy is give them something they can't get anywhere else.

You guys got the vintage thing well covered.

[RedHouse]

Yeah, all very good points.

I guess since I only make the pickups that I make, it's easy to say "no". I occasionally get asked for expose poles or what ever. People are good about it when I say I don't do that and explain why.

I'm going to be introducing some guitar pickups soon. They will get the familiar tones, but wont be "vintage" in construction. That's a crowded playing field that I'm going to avoid if I can. My philosophy is give them something they can't get anywhere else.

You guys got the vintage thing well covered.

Plus you're a bassman, while I hate to make sweeping statements but I've noticed over the years that, as a group, bass players tend to be much more open-minded about pickups and amps.

While it's nice to follow the vintage pickup threads going on, it's too narrow a scope for me to be entirely focused on ...for my own self that is.

{Edit} ..and I agree with your philosophy BTW.

[David Schwab]

Plus you're a bassman, while I hate to make sweeping statements but I've noticed over the years that, as a group, bass players tend to be much more open-minded about pickups and amps.

While it's nice to follow the vintage pickup threads going on, it's too narrow a scope for me to be entirely focused on ...for my own self that is.

{Edit} ..and I agree with your philosophy BTW.

While I consider myself a bassist first, I started on guitar and probably play guitar at home more than bass.

But yes, bassist are generally more open minded about gear, though I have been seeing a trend towards the whole vintage/passive/jazzbass/SVT with a lot of players.

I always figured that bassists were more into new ideas because we were always the underdogs. For the longest time we had underpowered amps, less of a selection of effects and even to this day the bass section in music stores is a lot smaller. I buy my strings online now because half of the time I couldn't find what I wanted in a local store. I remember going into Rondo Music when they still had the store, and even though they sold 5-string basses, they had no set of strings for them! WTF!

The good part about there being so many guitarists is bassists are in high demand these days! I just went to an audition for a band, and the guy that was there before me was a former guitarist that can't get any work. He still didn't.

[Zhangliqun]

I play a 6-string bass so I sympathize with the difficulty in finding 5-string sets. They're everywhere now, but the 6-string sets are hard to find.

It's not as if everyone who grabs a guitar is zeroed in on what the instrument is about, but even to this day, it's worse for bass players. There's not that many guys who come up wanting to play bass from Day One. More than there USED to be, thank God, but it's still the instrument where guys go as a second choice because they couldn't cut it on the guitar. The attitude is: [stoner idiot voice mode ON]: "Duh, you only have to play one note at a time and there's only 4 strings so it's easier, duh..."

Some see the light and the wonder and beauty of how much power over both harmony AND rhythm you have as a bass player, and it's definitely NOT easier. Most become every bit as crappy on the bass as they were on the guitar.

Then there's the rare few who dream of playing bass from the beginning and there's where most of the real bass players come from...

[RedHouse]

...Some see the light and the wonder and beauty of how much power over both harmony AND rhythm you have as a bass player, and it's definitely NOT easier. Most become every bit as crappy on the bass as they were on the guitar...

Yeah I was one of the ignorant ones...until I built (ok "assembled") my own bass a few years ago. In my early years I thought the same way, bass=easy but now that I'm older (ancient) and taking another swing at the instrument and more intensely listening to whats going-on on the bass as an instrument, it clearly isn't easier and it's a whole different mindset from playing guitar.

Sometimes while learning a bass line I end up surprised at where the notes are going in relation to the song.

[David Schwab]

I play a 6-string bass so I sympathize with the difficulty in finding 5-string sets. They're everywhere now, but the 6-string sets are hard to find.

I actually started building basses because I wanted a six string, and the ones I liked were too expensive back then. Now you can get a fairly cheap Ibanez that plays and sounds pretty good.

I never did make myself a six string bass.

It's not as if everyone who grabs a guitar is zeroed in on what the instrument is about, but even to this day, it's worse for bass players. There's not that many guys who come up wanting to play bass from Day One. More than there USED to be, thank God, but it's still the instrument where guys go as a second choice because they couldn't cut it on the guitar. The attitude is: [stoner idiot voice mode ON]: "Duh, you only have to play one note at a time and there's only 4 strings so it's easier, duh..."

And you can hear it in the way they play.

Some see the light and the wonder and beauty of how much power over both harmony AND rhythm you have as a bass player, and it's definitely NOT easier. Most become every bit as crappy on the bass as they were on the guitar.

Bass is a wonderful instrument. There are some wonderful bassist that started on guitar too, like Paul McCartney, Carol Kaye, Joe Osborn, Ray Shulman, etc.

I also really like players like Bruce Thomas that played with The Attractions. Such fun bass parts to play!

Then there's the rare few who dream of playing bass from the beginning and there's where most of the real bass players come from...

For me it was Motown. That music was all about bass. That made me want to take up the instrument even though I was already playing drums and guitar. I've also played tuba and baritone sax over the years.