I was interested in the Kinman Woodstock+ pickups to fit my future Warmoth Strat, when I found the following:
How I match my pickup poles to different fretboard radiuses
Basics: The distance between a string and magnet determines how loud the string will be. Obviously to get excellent balance of string outputs the magnets should all be the same distance from the strings. But fretboards are usually radiused (cambered) and since the strings follow that radius we have magnets of different lengths arranged in an arc (objectively to match the arc of the strings). However, in practice some strings generate more output than others. For example the non-wound G string of modern sets is extremely loud, the B string also is loud. That's why we have staggered magnets of all different lengths. In Kinman's 'improved stagger' the magnets are arranged with different lengths to compensate for the strings that are louder then others, so that all strings sound balanced.....ie they all have the same loudness.
Problem: The Traditional stagger of old Stratocasters was designed for a wound G string that was predominately used in the 50's and 60's. In the late 60's the Blues influenced music and guitar players began wanted to stretch notes upwards by bending the strings. They soon discovered that an non-wound G string could be stretched (bent) far easier than a wound one. But a non-wound G string has higher output and increased in volume to the point where it dominated all the other strings. Pickup manufacturers never caught up to the modern style of playing and retained the old out of date stagger, many still to this day.
One magnet stagger can't possibly match all the different fretboard radii options available on modern guitars. Compound radius (and flatter fretboards in general) solve the problem of choking on string bends but create another problem, string output imbalance. When traditional staggered pickups are used with excessively flat fretboards or Warmoth compound radius the output level of the middle strings (D & G) are accentuated and the outside ones (E & E) are de-emphased.
Solution: Magnet staggers are set at time of manufacture and can not be changed, so to solve this dilemma I offer two radius options, one is the 7" to 14" radius range with a low G pole magnet stagger to suit most single coil pickup guitars (such as Fender, Musicman, G&L etc, see Table below).
The other has non-staggered poles and suits flatter fretboards ranging from 14" to 20" such as Warmoth compound necks and various other brands of guitars with excessively flat fretboards (see Table below).
I discourage players from using Warmoths 10-16 compound radius because of the above problem. USA Custom Guitars make a sensible compound radius 7-1/4" to 9-1/2" that works great with staggered poles.
Does anybody know if this is really a problem, or is it insignificant?
How I match my pickup poles to different fretboard radiuses
Basics: The distance between a string and magnet determines how loud the string will be. Obviously to get excellent balance of string outputs the magnets should all be the same distance from the strings. But fretboards are usually radiused (cambered) and since the strings follow that radius we have magnets of different lengths arranged in an arc (objectively to match the arc of the strings). However, in practice some strings generate more output than others. For example the non-wound G string of modern sets is extremely loud, the B string also is loud. That's why we have staggered magnets of all different lengths. In Kinman's 'improved stagger' the magnets are arranged with different lengths to compensate for the strings that are louder then others, so that all strings sound balanced.....ie they all have the same loudness.
Problem: The Traditional stagger of old Stratocasters was designed for a wound G string that was predominately used in the 50's and 60's. In the late 60's the Blues influenced music and guitar players began wanted to stretch notes upwards by bending the strings. They soon discovered that an non-wound G string could be stretched (bent) far easier than a wound one. But a non-wound G string has higher output and increased in volume to the point where it dominated all the other strings. Pickup manufacturers never caught up to the modern style of playing and retained the old out of date stagger, many still to this day.
One magnet stagger can't possibly match all the different fretboard radii options available on modern guitars. Compound radius (and flatter fretboards in general) solve the problem of choking on string bends but create another problem, string output imbalance. When traditional staggered pickups are used with excessively flat fretboards or Warmoth compound radius the output level of the middle strings (D & G) are accentuated and the outside ones (E & E) are de-emphased.
Solution: Magnet staggers are set at time of manufacture and can not be changed, so to solve this dilemma I offer two radius options, one is the 7" to 14" radius range with a low G pole magnet stagger to suit most single coil pickup guitars (such as Fender, Musicman, G&L etc, see Table below).
The other has non-staggered poles and suits flatter fretboards ranging from 14" to 20" such as Warmoth compound necks and various other brands of guitars with excessively flat fretboards (see Table below).
I discourage players from using Warmoths 10-16 compound radius because of the above problem. USA Custom Guitars make a sensible compound radius 7-1/4" to 9-1/2" that works great with staggered poles.
Does anybody know if this is really a problem, or is it insignificant?
arty07:
