# Single Coil Pickups and pole spacing



## LydianGuitars (Apr 18, 2013)

Last year, I was shopping around for some single coil Strat pickups and I remember seeing a vendor/builder advertising a strat pickup set with different pole piece spacing so that the pole would align properly under the strings at the bridge, middle and neck positions. 

Does anyone here know where I can get such pickups or if some of the custom winders like Jon Moore make these pickups?


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

I'm looking at my Strat right now with 57/62 pickups and the poles line up on all string on every pickup.
I though that was normal. Are there pickups that dont line up?

G.

this is interesting....upon further review ( yes we do have instant replay )
the neck pick on my Strat.....first 3 strings do NOT line up well with the pickup poles. Never noticed that.
Dammed guitar still sounds great so I dont know what to say about that.


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## No Name (Aug 30, 2013)

Can you take a picture of your current guitar?


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## 100amps (Aug 1, 2013)

Interesting topic that I've wondered about...

It stands to reason that if you take a single coil pickup and slant it, the pole spacing becomes narrower relative to the string spacing. Since the string spacing is wider at the bridge than at the neck, it has never made sense to me to slant the bridge pickup, which just move the outer poles progressively further from the strings. I would have expected the neck pickup to be the logical one to slant, and use slightly wider pole spacing overall to keep the poles consistently under the strings.

Some pup makers offer F-spacing or Trembuckers for their humbucker products for a similar reason, so that they can be used on Strats in the bridge position which has wider string spacing than Gibson style bridges. I've never been clear whether F-spacing stood for Floyd or Fender, or whether Trembuckers were suited to Floyd trems or Fender trems, or whether there is any difference in the spacing of the two (I have never been a Floyd user). 

..todd


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## Spike (May 31, 2008)

Jason Lollar knows all:


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## Spike (May 31, 2008)

Oops! url did not work. Here's another try:

http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=flat-vs-staggered-pole-pickups

If that does not work, copy this:

http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=flat-vs-staggered-pole-pickups


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

Spike said:


> Oops! url did not work. Here's another try:
> 
> http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=flat-vs-staggered-pole-pickups
> 
> ...


Lollar does indeed know all. I agree with him about stagger. I think the OP is more referring to the string to string spacing.

Kinman does pickups with spacing that adjust for neck/mid/bridge for both strats and teles. You can order "traditional" or his spacing where the poles will line up much better.


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## gtrguy (Jul 6, 2006)

..........................


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

http://www.kinman.com/image/add_info/Dimensions_Strat_pickups.pdf

Here's a link, scroll to page 2 you can get the pole pieces with E to E spacing of 49mm, 51 mm or 52.5 mm depending on the position, widest at bridge.
￼￼￼￼￼￼


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## Spike (May 31, 2008)

gtrguy said:


> Completely unrelated.


Yeah, sorry. I just re-read the op and see I went off on the wrong track


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

My Bill Lawrence L-280's are like that. Nice reasonably priced pups.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

There are always a set of rail type pickups, and also zexcoil (really cool but pricey). Either way you do not get a "stock" or "vintage" look. But it is the sound we are going after, isn't it?


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## LydianGuitars (Apr 18, 2013)

zdogma said:


> http://www.kinman.com/image/add_info/Dimensions_Strat_pickups.pdf
> 
> Here's a link, scroll to page 2 you can get the pole pieces with E to E spacing of 49mm, 51 mm or 52.5 mm depending on the position, widest at bridge.
> ￼￼￼￼￼￼


That's exactly what I was looking for!
Thanks!

Any suggestions on a good set of Kinmans?


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## LydianGuitars (Apr 18, 2013)

Jim DaddyO said:


> There are always a set of rail type pickups, and also zexcoil (really cool but pricey). Either way you do not get a "stock" or "vintage" look. But it is the sound we are going after, isn't it?


Perfect pole spacing is not absolutely needed for good tone IMO. A bit of offset won't make much of an audible difference on a strat with a regular 2-3/16 spaced bridge but when you take a 2-1/16" spaced bridge and use a 52mm neck pickup, it starts to make a difference that is quite noticeable visually.


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## LydianGuitars (Apr 18, 2013)

So aside from Kinman and Bill Lawrence, any other builders that have narrow spaced neck single coils?


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

LydianGuitars said:


> That's exactly what I was looking for!
> Thanks!
> 
> Any suggestions on a good set of Kinmans?


I've only had the impersonator 54's and they are great sounding, glassy, bright/clear strat pickups. Nice and quiet. They got a bit shrill though my Matchless when played dirty, but the clean sound was excellent. They worked well for both clean and dirty through a Deluxe reverb. For tele pickups I've had the avn broadcasters and they were very good as well.


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