Pickup Pole Spacing

[hamburder]

I'm trying to order some pickups and I don't know what pole spacing to choose for the humbucker neck: 49.2mm, 50mm or 52mm.

I've ordered a Gibson-scale conversion of a Tele neck, standard thin, 10-16 compound radius.

The bridge saddles measure 55mm.

Having a hard time finding the right answer.

 

[Strat Avenger]

What kind of bridge do you have?
Neck pickup should be standard spacing (the more narrow of the two).

 

[hamburder]

It's a Babicz. The paperwork shows 55mm string spacing.

 

[NovasScootYa]

Usually the question is what humbucker spacing for a vintage spaced bridge which is F or 53mm. 50mm for the neck. It is more an issue for aesthetics...
Tone Hatch Tele

 

[Rick]

Also, what brand of PUP, as some like Railhammer it doesn't matter ...

 

[aarontunes]

Not sure I've ever seen pole spacing options on neck humbuckers, or any other kind of neck pickup for that matter.

I would just get a standard humbucker. No need to worry that much about F-spacing or a Trembucker at the neck position.

 

[hamburder]

Also, what brand of PUP, as some like Railhammer it doesn't matter ...

Ordering from Fralin.

 

[hamburder]

I ordered a neck humbucker with string spacing of 50mm. This is the standard Fender string width, but since it wasn't totally standard, I wasn't sure. It seems correct, though.

The bridge pickup has adjustable poles.

 

[aarontunes]

I ordered a neck humbucker with string spacing of 50mm. This is the standard Fender string width, but since it wasn't totally standard, I wasn't sure. It seems correct, though.

The bridge pickup has adjustable poles.

Adjustable for width???

 

[hamburder]

Adjustable for width???

Yeah, I have no idea what that means, but that's what Fralin told me when I emailed them this question!

 

[ragamuffin]

Yeah, I have no idea what that means, but that's what Fralin told me when I emailed them this question!

If it's a p90 style pickup it will have screw pole pieces which are adjustable height, but not width haha

 

[ThisIsHuhWow404]

The "F Spacing" and "Trembucker" width distinctions are really only for Humbucker bridge pickups for guitars with tremolos. Standard spacing is for guitars with hardtail bridges. For neck pickups and single coil pickups in general the width spacing is pretty standardized.

 

[hamburder]

If it's a p90 style pickup it will have screw pole pieces which are adjustable height, but not width haha

It's actually a tele neck pickup form factor, but a p90.

 

[J-Bones]

The "F Spacing" and "Trembucker" width distinctions are really only for Humbucker bridge pickups for guitars with tremolos. Standard spacing is for guitars with hardtail bridges. For neck pickups and single coil pickups in general the width spacing is pretty standardized.

This is not accurate. It's not tremolo vs non-tremolo, it's wide string saddle spacing vs narrow.

Warmoth's vintage-spaced Strat flat mount bridge, for example, would be better served with a trembucker or F-spaced humbucker because it's very wide; the string spacing at the saddles being ~56mm. However, most of the tremolos we sell have spacing more in the order of 54mm or less, which is perfectly fine with a standard humbucker. That's not to say using a trembucker for them is unreasonable, though, and, hey, you might like the way it looks more, but functionally, you're not going to get problems with the outer strings not getting picked up or whatever.

The clear solution is to use Rail pickups and never worry about this ever again.