Fender Pole-Piece Height

[Sibob]

Hey all.

I've been wondering this a while!

On my Fender Jazz, i've noticed that the pole-pieces in the pickups are all varying heights, ie not flush with the pickup cover.
Does this actually make a difference to the sound? If so, how do pickups without exposed pole-pieces, bartolini for example, get on?

Cheers

Si

[BOD2]

It makes a very slight difference but not so much that would cause any problems. The pole piece heights are meant to compensate for the difference in output due to the different gauges of the strings. The problem is that not everyone uses the same gauge strings !

Some pickups have small screws for the pole pieces and this allows you to fine tune the height yourself.

Pole pieces are not essential on a pickup, they are just part of some designs. Some pickups use a single bar magnet along the width of the strings - this is what you'll sometimes find inside pickups with solid covers. It's not an inferior deisgn at all, just a different one. The cover is usually plastic so is "invisible" to the magnetic field of the magnet in the pickup.

Just to show that this doesn't matter too much, the pole-piece height on vintage Fender Strat pickups were originally calibrated to match the string gauges available at the time (i.e the 1950s). Strings at that time used a wound third (G) unlike todays electric guitar gauges which always have a plain third. The pole piece for the 2nd ( string is usually sunk below the pickup cover while that for the 3rd (G) string is the highest on the pickup. This is actually wrong for modern gauge strings and can lead to an imbalance between these two strings. But it's not so bad that anyone ever complains that their pre-CBS vintage Strat doesn't sound right !

[Sibob]

Cheers dude!

Very insightful!

Si