Slanted bridge pickups

[thebigz]

I've never paid attention to slanted pickups before pretty much cause I'm not a strat guy, and everything I have is HH. I was starting to think about different tone, so I started thinking about slanted pickups. Why is it that they are always slanted the way they are? I guess Jake E. Lee is pretty much the only one to have them slanted the other way.

Am I just way out there on what tones I like? I love the bridge for everything except solos, which I flip to the neck p/u for. It seems like if the pickup was slanted so that the bass strings were closer to the bridge it would be closer to this tone just from one pickup. Am I the only one who would prefer this? Is it just a paradigm thing?

Also, they do split hums on basses, does anyone do a split hum for guitars? It would look pretty crazy, but the bottom 3 poles at the bridge with the top 3 at the neck?

I have a Charvel CVM2 (something close to that, can't remember the exact model) that I've been wanting to fix up, maybe I'll get a new pickguard with a "reverse" slanted bucker in the bridge.

[Sunbane]

Well, as I understand it, people put slanted humbuckers into their strats for two reasons;

1. There used to be a slanted singlecoil there, so it was the logical (?) thing to do.

2. The slanted humbucker eliminates "dead" spots between the pole pieces when you bend a string, since there is always a polepiece under the string at all times, regardless of how you bend it.

When it comes to Jake and his slanted singlecoils, I would guess that it was a quest for a particular tone. A guitar string sounds less "trebly" the further away from the bridge you get, and his setup would produce slightly more "trebly" tones from the bass strings, and less trebly tones from the treble strings. I hope that makes sense?

I'm sure some of our resident Jake-a-holics will be able to properly explain to us why Jake did this though.

[BayRocker]

My Warrior Pro has them slanted the "other way," or the way you're interested in....

Pics are in this thread http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/105545-NGD-Warrior-Pro

So, Jake's not the only one...

[ralph]

another reason to slant humbuckers in the bridge position is to account for differnt string spacing, i.e. when using a non F-spaced humbucker with a floyd rose, if you tilt the humbucker over slightly two end pole pieces stick out further than when it is installed straight, some people think it makes a difference, others don't and some just do it for aesthetics

[Scooter]

Think of the old Kramer Baretta. Mick Mars played them for a long time.

[sully]

another reason to slant humbuckers in the bridge position is to account for differnt string spacing, i.e. when using a non F-spaced humbucker with a floyd rose, if you tilt the humbucker over slightly two end pole pieces stick out further than when it is installed straight, some people think it makes a difference, others don't and some just do it for aesthetics

DING DING DINGGGGGG! We have a winner! When it comes to slanted singles, I prefer them slanted Jake style, but it's not because of a tonal thing, it's because I like the look of it, and I normally don't like a HSS configuration.

Sully

[thebigz]

That warrior is sweet! Is that a normal humbucker or 2 singles wired together or something else? Not familiar with Anderson pickups.

Do you notice the tonal difference I'm thinking about much with the hum slanted?

[BayRocker]

It's two Armstrong stacked humbuckers side by side. I'm not sure I can attribute the tonal differences to them being slanted or the fact that the guitar has many pickup combinations available since you can choose either of those bridge pups alone or use them together. I can tell you that I can wrangle just about any tone out of this thing. And I'm with the other guys...aesthetically, it just looks badass with them slanted...especially since the neck is slanted to match.

[thebigz]

Haha, told you I don't know much about the pickups.

I think I'm going to get me a custom pickguard made with them slanted that way, just seems cool!

[ralph]

Haha, told you I don't know much about the pickups.

I think I'm going to get me a custom pickguard made with them slanted that way, just seems cool!

Cool man, go for it, just make sure you check there is enough room in the body routing to take the new pickup orientation, otherwise you will have to break out the chisel, EVH style, no big deal but you may be dissapointed if you install the pickups on the pickguard and then it wont bolt down on the body properly

[ralph]

Cheers Sully, On a side note, I saw some of your videos about making Firebirds and it was some interesing stuff, seems you have a cool setup there in your garage

[Grim]

another reason to slant humbuckers in the bridge position is to account for differnt string spacing, i.e. when using a non F-spaced humbucker with a floyd rose, if you tilt the humbucker over slightly two end pole pieces stick out further than when it is installed straight, some people think it makes a difference, others don't and some just do it for aesthetics

This is the real reason.

A normal spaced hum can fit a floyd if it is slanted.

[thebigz]

Would you want to use a normal or F spaced pickup if you're using a fender style bridge and slanting the pickup?

[ralph]

Would you want to use a normal or F spaced pickup if you're using a fender style bridge and slanting the pickup?

Personal preference,

One reason for slanting normal spaced humbuckers at the bridge is to adjust for string spacing, the poles on and F-spaced humbucker line up with a F-style bridge (fender, floyd rose), so slanting an F spaced bridge pickup would be purely for aesthetics