F Spaced humbuckers? Valid or bogus?

[vklobucar]

I have Full Shreds in all my Charvels and some are F spaced while others are not.

All have OFR's or at the very least Schaller trems but I hear no difference between pickups.

Is this some bogus marketing or is there any thruth to those F spaced humbuckers?

[StukaJU87]

Re: F Spaced humbuckers? Valid or bogus?

F spacing is just so they look visually correct with the strings over the pole pieces. That's what is largely believed by the JCF community.

[rjohnstone]

Re: F Spaced humbuckers? Valid or bogus?

Technicaly speaking, the strings should be centered over each pole for optimum performance of the pickup.
Reality... they're so close already that it's virtualy impossible to hear any difference.
So I would say it's more for cosmetic purposes.

[toejam]

Re: F Spaced humbuckers? Valid or bogus?

I usually tend to agree it's more for cosmetic purposes, but check out Chuckracer's revelation. http://www.jcfonline.com/ubbthreads/...&page=1#497123

[PallarAndersVisa]

Re: F Spaced humbuckers? Valid or bogus?

i have a trem spaced humbucker in a non trem spaced strat, and i can hear the difference on the high strings where the spacing is way off, especially under low-gain sitations. then when you bend the string even further away from a pole piece, you can really hear it die off.

[rjohnstone]

Re: F Spaced humbuckers? Valid or bogus?

I use a non F-spaced SD SH11 in my Ibanez and it sounds perfect. But then again, it may be the Ibanez trem as well.
I noticed it's just a bit tighter on the spacing than a Floyd.

[MountainDog]

Re: F Spaced humbuckers? Valid or bogus?

The other guitar player in my band had a Robin with floyd and a standard sized Duncan JB in it. He complained there was no bass, didn't like the guitar because of that, and sold it to me. I promptly put in a F-spaced Duncan JB in it and....TADA...now has bass, sounds awesome!

[Newc]

Re: F Spaced humbuckers? Valid or bogus?

So there ya have it - some do, some don't [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Actually for most high-output pickups, the spacing doesn't matter as much as a medium or low output pickup. The Gain setting on your amp/preamp also has something to do with it, and it also depends on what type of tone you're going for.
If you want a "typical Jimmy Page tone", it ain't gonna matter as long as the amp is loud and the pickup is somewhere near the strings.
If you're going for 100% articulate shredder tone, then yeah you're gonna notice that difference.

That's not to say there IS no difference, just that whatever you're going for (sound in your head) will determine the level of noticeability.

[Shawn Lutz]

Re: F Spaced humbuckers? Valid or bogus?

I've never replaced an F with a Non-F pick-up of the same make and model to compare the 2. I shoot for F or TB's on all of my Floyded guitars. I may have one or two that doesn't but I don't notice too much of an adverse affect, although I'm sure there is some difference. It can't all be smoke an mirrors [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[rjohnstone]

Re: F Spaced humbuckers? Valid or bogus?

I guess this one can be chalked up as "Depends on what sound you're going for".
Personaly I can't hear it, but then again I'm half deaf from playing without ear protection for 20 years. [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]
I wear ear plugs now, wish I had started a long time ago.

[Newc]

Re: F Spaced humbuckers? Valid or bogus?

One thing I have noticed about some F-spaced pickups (especially the Parallel Axis with its mini-bars) is that the magnetic field is so focused, it almost sounds like you don't have enough gain, or that you're running a mixed clean+dirty signal, and the clean is overpowering.
This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your persuasion, but for me it was a bad thing, as double bends ala Iron Maiden (and everyone else [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]) didn't mix well unless the notes were 100% even, and then it just sounded like the note was doubled. I could not get a "good" sound when doing those bends because the pickup wouldn't let the notes mix properly.

At least that's how it sounded to me [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I do notice that same problem with regular F-spaced pickups (round poles), but not as much as I did with the PATB.

[XSSIVE]

Re: F Spaced humbuckers? Valid or bogus?

this is really a question that only someone who has used the same model pickup both F (or trem in duncan terms) spaced and one that is regular spaced in the same exact guitar only changing the pickups (and strings perhaps). going from say a duncan JB which is regular spaced to an F spaced dimarzio super distortion is not a comparison that can lead you to make a comment on this topic. i just worry that those who have never done it with the same pickup in the same guitar are just spouting off what they heard from so and so or what they assume to be correct. anyway, enough babble. i had a non tremspaced JB in an alder body maple neck strat for a short time while i waited for the tremspaced version to come in. did it make a sound change when switched? yes but it was fairy slight and more noticable under clean playing rather than high gain. the most noticable thing was the volume of the E and E strings. being that the strings now sit directly above the poles and not off to the outer edge of them the guitar did seem to pick up a small hint of a volume boost overall along with a tad more low end. also, before anyone asks, yes the pickups were both at the same height. i tend to use a nickle rested on the top of the bobbin closest to the neck and hold down the high E and low E strings at the last fret (22nd in this case) and adjust the pickup 'til it just touches the nikle to the strings. this tends to work in most cases for me with only very minor adjustment needed in some cases.

-Mike

[Jester700]

Re: F Spaced humbuckers? Valid or bogus?

I haven't compared pickups, but a better clue might be to listen carefully as you bend a string from a position over a pole to one between poles. That way you get INSTANT feedback as to what's going on.

The only time I've heard any volume change is with a single coil pickup with a clean sound. Then there's a subtle volume change. Not enough to bug me, though. I can't hear it at all with humbuckers. That makes sense - the magnetic field for singles is generally more focused.

[sully]

Re: F Spaced humbuckers? Valid or bogus?

y'know, i was in the school of "you'll never notice the difference" until chuckracer (who also attended that school) posted that he did notice quite a difference when he got a properly spaced pickup.

since chuck rules, i listen to what he has to say.

you should too.

[shredmonster]

Re: F Spaced humbuckers? Valid or bogus?

I had a Gibson Dirty Fingers in my PC1 and I noticed the difference on the high strings. Also the harmonics were not that good but that may just be the pup.

Once I put a SD TB-5 it sounded a lot better. But then I am one of those articulate shredder guys...