EVH and pickup pole placement

[lynchfan6]

All the hype about pole pieces on bridge pickups lining up nicely under the strings.......trembuckers, etc. Makes you wonder how much of it is a gimmick. Did you notice that every time Eddie Van Halen puts out a guitar, custom pickups and all, the pole pieces don't line up very well at all. In fact, it appears he keeps the standard humbucker spacing with all of the wolfgangs, from Peavey to the new Fender corp. one. So, if it is really so important, how come the master himself doesn' seem to think so. The peavey wolfgang I used to own,,,those didn't line up very well, and the pickups spacing didn't provide for it. Now I'm seeing the same thing with Ed's new guitars. Is there honestly anyone who can tell the difference if the pole pieces line up perfectly or not. I sure can't. Are all of these different pole spacing options a bit of hype?

[Newc]

Actually, I can tell on some pickups, notably the Distortion. A trembucker/trem-spaced Duncan Distortion is more articulate - each note is clearly legible, especially on the 1st 2nd and 3rd strings. As well, power chords almost seem to come out sounding like their individual notes rather than a true chord.

With a non-F-spaced Duncan Distortion, you get a little more fuzziness of tone. Not so much distortion-type fuzz, but a bit less articulation and clarity - more dirt.

That said, I do prefer the regular-spaced Distortion for that very reason. I find the trembucker to be weaker to my ears. Maybe it's the actual wider spacing of the poles, or the wider body of the pickup itself, but I have never really cared for them.


And Ed did the slanted humbucker thing to get the poles to line up under the strings, IIRC from an interview years ago.

[Grandturk]

More likely because the hole was already slanted, so it was just a matter of chiseling it out some more to fit the hum - probably a happy accident.

[timstar5150]

I totally agree, my fave pickup is the SH-4 JB. The TB-4 sounds less gainly and not nearly as much treble, its lamoid compared to the SH.

I have been totally they are wired exactly the same, that may be the case but they sound TOTALLY different to these ears.