Help needed for pole spacing

[gorjan]

I am fairly new to pickup winding and would like to ask two questions. First is the pole spacing on a Gibson Les Paul or SG the same in the bridge and neck position? (as well on guitars such as Strats and Teles)

And is there a purpose or difference to string spacing for both humbuckers and single coils? Or it is only dependent on the spacing of your bridge?

Thanks, Gorjan

[SonnyW]

I am fairly new to pickup winding and would like to ask two questions. First is the pole spacing on a Gibson Les Paul or SG the same in the bridge and neck position? (as well on guitars such as Strats and Teles)

And is there a purpose or difference to string spacing for both humbuckers and single coils? Or it is only dependent on the spacing of your bridge?

Thanks, Gorjan

Hi Gorjan,

To answer your questions, in general the polepiece spacing on a Les Paul or SG type guitar is the same for both the neck and the bridge. As far as I recall, only for some of the vintage archtops was the polepiece spacing different between the two. Typically the polepiece spacing on most Gibson humbuckers will be 49.2 mm. On many imports and other makers humbuckers the polepiece spacing will be 50mm. As far as why there is a different polepiece spacing for single coils it is because of the spacing of the strings on the Stratocaster mainly. Most people like to have the polepieces match up to the strings so there is one pole per string. Actually that isn't totally necessary for the pickups to function, but it does affect string volumes a little IMO. Here is kind of a guide to the various polepiece spacings (E to E) for humbuckers.

46 mm - you will not find any hardware like baseplates or bobbins for this spacing but it was used by Gibson on some archtop P.A.F pickups
49.2 mm - the most common spacing for vintage style pickups as in P.A.F copies. Lots of parts available.
50 mm - the most common spacing for imported humbuckers, and probably for humbuckers in general. Most common parts.
52 mm - 53 mm - these spacings are variously called F-spaced, trembucker, etc. They are intended to match up to Fender spacings or a Floyd Rose bridge. Depending on where you get the parts, the wider spacing bobbins and baseplates can be either 52 or 53 mm. (centers to center E to E)

If anyone wants to add to this list please be my guest.

[copperheadroads]

Strat guitars usually have all 3 pickups the same spacing of 2 1/16" or 52.39mm (quite poor alignment of strings over the poles if you ask me)
Tele neck pickup has a narrow & almost same as Gibson spacing with a 1.957" or 49.7mm .
Tele bridge pickup has rather wide spacing of 2.165" or 55mm

[gorjan]

thanks you for your answers. this info helps a lot. I don't know if it was me or there was limited information on the internet, but I couldn't find enough information on the internet to make a definitive decision.

Gorjan

[jonson]

I've had 2 strat sets in during the last 6 weeks with 53/51/49mm spacings and luckily I am jigged to do the forbon with those spacings so they are out there just be prepared when one turns up. Awkward part is replacement covers which have to be no holes and drill to fit.

[David Schwab]

This is why I quickly shifted from pole pieces to blades on my pickups. I was faced with a lot of different string spacings for bass pickups. There's are many more than with guitars. I would have either needed a dozen different spacings or had pickups that didn't work on a bunch of instruments.

I'm doing the same thing with guitar pickups.