Pole Piece/String Alignment

[Bruce Johnson]

Why go to all this trouble in the first place...?

Well, if I understand the discussion in this thread, there's an inherent flaw in the classic Strat pickup design. Players who bend the strings a lot will lose or gain volume, depending on how the poles are aligned with the strings. But, most Strat owners want to retain the appearance of the classic Strat pickups. Hence, my semi-humorous suggestion to make a rail pickup that's disguised to look like it has poles.

Hopefully, I didn't reveal someone's Top Secret project.....

[David Schwab]

Never heard of'em... care to share?

AERO Instrument - "Designs for Better Instruments"

They are better known to bass players.

[David Schwab]

Well, if I understand the discussion in this thread, there's an inherent flaw in the classic Strat pickup design. Players who bend the strings a lot will lose or gain volume, depending on how the poles are aligned with the strings. But, most Strat owners want to retain the appearance of the classic Strat pickups. Hence, my semi-humorous suggestion to make a rail pickup that's disguised to look like it has poles.

Hopefully, I didn't reveal someone's Top Secret project.....

That is kind of what these are:

GFS Noise-Free NEOVIN Pickups for Stratocaster Sets

The poles are just an aluminum cap, while the real pickup is a dual blade type.

[Mark Hammer]

Personally, I think the criticality is going to depend on the application. If you're simply strumming power chords below the 5th fret, and pack medium gauge strings, the strings are wiggling laterally enough that they will find the polepieces easily (as well as stray away from them too), and have enough mass to them that they will generate plenty of signal. If you are picking very gently, and prefer your unwounds thinner, then the string should probably be nearer the polepiece.

FWIW, the spacing near the end of the fingerboard is noticeably different on some instruments. I've mentioned in past a PU I had to make for my mid-60's Epi Coronet. The guitar came stock with a single P90 at the bridge. While it was probably sacrilege to route a space in the tenon for a neck pickup, the deed is done. As a "student" model, the neck appears to have been made for 12-year old hands. I doubt even Daisy Rock makes a neck this slender. Consequently, I was obliged to make a custom pickup to align with the strings properly. I had a busted late 60's grey-bottom Strat pickup, and recycled the polepieces into a bobbin I cut especially for it, juuuuuuuuust a tad narrower spacing than a Tele neck pickup (which is already narrower than a Strat). Sounds fabulous. Meanwhile because it uses a standard LP Jr wraparound tailpiece bridge, the spacing works just fine for a P90 by the bridge.

Thank goodness for the plethora of decent-sounding blade SC units on the market so that one doesn't have to ruminate over whether you're missing something.

[David Schwab]

As a "student" model, the neck appears to have been made for 12-year old hands. I doubt even Daisy Rock makes a neck this slender.

Rickenbacker comes to mind... Their guitar necks are too narrow for me. Have you ever played a Mosrite? Crazy skinny necks.