Low G string output

[Bosh]

As a sometime lurker this is my first post so bear with me if this has been discussed before

I’ve been winding for a few months and done around 50 pickups including Strat, Tele, Humbuckers and P90s with most being surprisingly good, not as good as the very best I’ve used but not that far off. However I have been dogged with a real problem that I have only occasionally suffered on commercially made pickups (usually Squier Strats).

The output of the G string is really low compared to the other strings and whilst this has occurred on the odd non-staggered Tele neck and staggered Strat, it is really prevalent on P90s and even more so on PAFs (covered and not)

I have tried the usual solutions with more pole stagger curing the Strat and Teles, but just cannot make sufficient adjustment to several of the P90s and PAFs even with the screw either touching the string (G) and flat against the bobbin

Any suggestions ?

I am using 42 and 43 poly wire, fibre flatwork (strat/tele) and plastic bobbins (p90/PAF), alnico 2,3,4&5 poles and bars, heavy scatter and wax dipping in beeswax

[jack briggs]

you haven't mentioned what brand and gauge of strings you're using....

[Bosh]

you haven't mentioned what brand and gauge of strings you're using....

Fender 9-42s with a non-wound G (16)

[jack briggs]

Fender 9-42s with a non-wound G (16)

seems strange.
elimination process: try other pickups, strings in the same guitar.
do your pickups that exhibit this do the same in other guitars?


cheers,

[SpareRibs]

Hello,
Try a set of heavier gauge strings. When PAF's and P90's were developed the string were much thicker. You can see by having to stagger the poles in the Fender style that maybe the strings are just not doing it. Anyway that would be my first change in the quest for the solution.

[Jim Darr]

Check the gauss readings at each pole piece and screw on the HB & P90 builds. I've had bar magnets that gave different readings at various points along their length which were dramatic enough to effect individual string volume. Also, if the problem exists on traditional F style pickups, again, check the guass levels at the top of each magnet. The fix, if indeed this is the problem, would be to re-magnetize.

[Bosh]

Thanks for the advice, I thought I'd just post an update on this and my "progress"

The problem of low output on the G string was present on around 40% of the last 30 or so sets of pickups I wound. To clarify further, the problem is only evident on clean (ie non-overdriven) playing and more evident on quieter playing through both my usual Blackstar 1W Valve head/Marshall 4x12 rig and Fender Super 60w valve combo

I firstly fully checked the setup on all the "problem" guitars, setting the neck relief to 0.15mm, the nut action checked to 0.5mm, 12 fret action to 1.6 - 1.4 (low to high E) and set the pickup heights initially to around 2mm except the P90 which I set to 1.5mm

Fine tuning of the pickup / pole heights and staggers resolved the issue in several cases.

I checked the G-string gauge and found that a significant numbers of the Fender 9s fitted were 14 gauge (should be 15) whilst other brands list their G strings at 16. So I replaced these mostly with 16 gauge and some 17s as thats all I had to hand and this solved the problem on several of them

I bought in the bar magnets from Philadelphia Luthiers, so tried another supplier (Cermag in the UK) but gave similar Gauss levels and didnt resolve the "problem" Pafs and P90s. I also bought in some Cermag pole magnets and these show the same Gauss levels as those I had charged myself but not yet built and wound any of these

I have managed through all these measures and trial and error with more pickups to narrow the "problem" guitar list to 2. One has prominently low Gs on both P90s and the other low G on just the bridge PAF

Next steps are to try a full set of 10s or 11s and the pickups with known problems in a guitar which currently has OK pickups and vice versa to see if it is the definitely the pickup thats the problem and not some string /pole alignment problem etc.

The problem is its very time consuming to ensure you are meticulous when trying to find solutions to ensure other variables/problems are not introduced

[Sock Puppet]

You might need a custom height for your custom pickup. The fender and Gibson starting points are

Here: Stratocaster® Setup Guide | Fender Support | Fender®
And here: Gibson factory set-up specs. - Gibson & Epiphone Guitar Forum

Lowering the pickups might even things out, or might not. Good luck.

[Bosh]

Thanks for all the replies, I have now got to the bottom of it.

Thanks for all the help, Spareribs and Jack Briggs were right on the money with suspecting the string gauge may be too low (thin) to stim the pickup. I've managed to sort all the problems by upping the gauge of the G string. Using a micrometer I found a significant variation in gauge from 14-16 and replacing most of the low ones with a 16 or a 17 from a set of 10s. However one particular HS Tele needed a 20 to resolve the issue, which actually over shot it and the G was a bit louder than the D and B but resolved this with pole adjustment

Now I can rest peacefully and get on with some real work...........