I Gotta Be Honest - I Have Failed:

syscokid said:
Vewy intewesting! I listened to the clip numerous times through a pair of old JBL Control 5 speakers at very loud volumes. Volume output is identical. First clip, I hear a hair more low mids than the second clip. Maybe because of this, I hear slightly more articulation between the notes of the chords on the second clip. Vibrato sounds more distinct on the second clip too. In general, the tones are extremely close when comparing to each other. Nice playing too... (y)
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I was floored that the volume levels were so close after the pole pieces were adjusted.

I was skeptical...but it made a HUGE difference.
 
syscokid said:
Vewy intewesting! I listened to the clip numerous times through a pair of old JBL Control 5 speakers at very loud volumes. Volume output is identical. First clip, I hear a hair more low mids than the second clip. Maybe because of this, I hear slightly more articulation between the notes of the chords on the second clip. Vibrato sounds more distinct on the second clip too. In general, the tones are extremely close when comparing to each other. Nice playing too... (y)
Click to expand...

Think about this...My Schecter has an EMG81TW mounted 4/64" from the strings.

DiMarzio told me to set my DiMarzio Humbucker to a specific set of values - very specific values - and it was on-par with the EMG for volume and tone.

After reading that pole pieces make no difference, this truly amazed me...
 
Cadorman said:
I have found almost everything matters to some extent. Try this on for size: how far do the pole screws extend below the pickup base? Evidently this can have an effect on the magnetic field which can affect your tone. Did you catch that? ;)
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Take a look at the pickup in my thread "Signature Humbucker."
 
Robert Herndon said:
Think about this...My Schecter has an EMG81TW mounted 4/64" from the strings.

DiMarzio told me to set my DiMarzio Humbucker to a specific set of values - very specific values - and it was on-par with the EMG for volume and tone.

After reading that pole pieces make no difference, this truly amazed me...
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Robert Herndon said:
Mine are arranged like this:

View attachment 59152
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Just goes to show you can't believe everything you read.

I've been adjusting my pole pieces just like that forever, because experimenting with it in my younger days showed me that pickup hight and pole piece stagger makes a very noticeable difference. Why do you think Fender single coils are staggered the way they are? because it makes a difference.

Anyone who says it doesn't is probably deaf. :hide:
 
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Ebidis said:
Just goes to show you can't believe everything you read.

I've been adjusting my pole pieces just like that forever, because experimenting with it in my younger days showed me that pickup hight and pole oice stagger makes a very noticeable difference. Why do you think Fender single coils are staggered the way they are? because it makes a difference.

Anyone who says it doesn't is probably deaf. :hide:
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I'm a believer.
 
All in all, this guitar has turned out to be pretty nice. However, it also became a huge sinkhole.

Everything on it is genuine Fender (all screws & tremolo springs and the bridge plate for example) Gotoh tuners, hand made saddles and sustain block from Budapest, a California made custom pickguard (to correct a string spacing issue) Artec Hum Canceling Single Coils carefully rethreaded to 6-32 so the countersunk screw heads will fit the pickguard correctly...custom designed DiMarzio Neanderthal Humbucker 16.5k AlNico9, solid brass roller string trees, 12 feet of shielding tape, ground wire soldered to the shielding tape to create a full Faraday effect, Dunlop Straplocks, and now a custom designed Warmoth neck with special neck screws so there's no issues threading a cheap/worn screw into roasted maple.

Despite this level of attention to detail, it doesn't play or sound any better than my Schecter Hellraiser C1FR.

I wonder why I put so much into these silly ass projects???


20210220_155844.jpg
 
Robert Herndon said:
All in all, this guitar has turned out to be pretty nice. However, it also became a huge sinkhole.

Everything on it is genuine Fender (all screws & tremolo springs and the bridge plate for example) Gotoh tuners, hand made saddles and sustain block from Budapest, a California made custom pickguard (to correct a string spacing issue) Artec Hum Canceling Single Coils carefully rethreaded to 6-32 so the countersunk screw heads will fit the pickguard correctly...custom designed DiMarzio Neanderthal Humbucker 16.5k AlNico9, solid brass roller string trees, 12 feet of shielding tape, ground wire soldered to the shielding tape to create a full Faraday effect, Dunlop Straplocks, and now a custom designed Warmoth neck with special neck screws so there's no issues threading a cheap/worn screw into roasted maple.

Despite this level of attention to detail, it doesn't play or sound any better than my Schecter Hellraiser C1FR.

I wonder why I put so much into these silly ass projects???


View attachment 59991
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It is because it’s what you do buddy, just can’t be looked at with dollar signs.
Cheers
 
Ebidis said:
Just goes to show you can't believe everything you read.

I've been adjusting my pole pieces just like that forever, because experimenting with it in my younger days showed me that pickup hight and pole piece stagger makes a very noticeable difference. Why do you think Fender single coils are staggered the way they are? because it makes a difference.

Anyone who says it doesn't is probably deaf. :hide:
Click to expand...

I'm probably deaf then. No amount of fiddling with the pole screws on humbuckers has ever changed the sound for me, only raising or lowering the entire pickup, which raises and lowers the actual magnet. With Strats I think it's different because the pole pieces are the magnet. And the vintage stagger sounds awful on lighter modern strings with an unwound G to me - I much prefer unstaggered Strat pickups to those.

Mitch Pearrow SJMP said:
It is because it’s what you do buddy, just can’t be looked at with dollar signs.
Cheers
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For sure. Whether you make money doing it or not, this is a hobby too and sometimes taking on a project can be very satisfying in its own right. How I wish I had the time to build an amp, but its just not something I could finish in a reasonable amount of time with my schedule.
 
gball said:
I'm probably deaf then. No amount of fiddling with the pole screws on humbuckers has ever changed the sound for me, only raising or lowering the entire pickup, which raises and lowers the actual magnet. With Strats I think it's different because the pole pieces are the magnet. And the vintage stagger sounds awful on lighter modern strings with an unwound G to me - I much prefer unstaggered Strat pickups to those.



For sure. Whether you make money doing it or not, this is a hobby too and sometimes taking on a project can be very satisfying in its own right. How I wish I had the time to build an amp, but its just not something I could finish in a reasonable amount of time with my schedule.
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I was shocked at the results of adjusting the pole pieces to DiMarzio's specs. Not only did it change the output, but it cut the mid spike, which you could actually see on the waveforms.
 
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