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Magnetic Pole Set Up on My LP


Chuck S

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I was looking at a few of the diagrams on line of Jimmy Page's set up on his guitar. Some of the images showed the poles on each PU in relation to the face of a clock from 9-3, 7-1 and 6-12 o'clock. There were a few others that showed no apparent set up on the poles everything was from 6-12 O'clock. Does this make any difference at all in sound/playability?

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Dan Erlewine setup book shows the poles / \ / \ / \ (approx. 45degree angles) with the outer poles set flush with the pu cover and the others raised to the fretboard radius curve or close to as possible. I set mine that way and imho is improves the tone it's supposed to give the pole more coverage to the bottom of the strings

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Dan Erlewine setup book shows the poles / \ / \ / \ (approx. 45degree angles) with the outer poles set flush with the pu cover and the others raised to the fretboard radius curve or close to as possible. I set mine that way and imho is improves the tone it's supposed to give the pole more coverage to the bottom of the strings

[thumbup]

 

+1 [thumbup]

 

He also mentions, that He learned this technique from a respected Gibson master luthier. So, if these two brilliant men say so...

 

Cheers... Bence

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Guest Farnsbarns

that just seems like cosmetic ocd. the poles should be adjusted to equalize each string's output. just arranging them in a pattern is something i would have done when i was 13, bored, and had no idea what poles actually did.

Yep

 

+1 [thumbup]

 

He also mentions, that He learned this technique from a respected Gibson master luthier. So, if these two brilliant men say so...

 

Cheers... Bence

 

Then 2 brilliant men are wrong. IMHO.

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...Then 2 brilliant men are wrong. IMHO.

 

Subjective. They have their approaches, You are free to have Yours. I do have mine as well.

 

I don't think, You can be wrong with this, maybe different but definitely not wrong.

 

But, if I was in doubt about the pole-piece adjustments of my guitars, I am sure, I'd turn to someone with decades of experience, even though I respect Your opinion as well.

 

Cheers... Bence

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that just seems like cosmetic ocd. the poles should be adjusted to equalize each string's output. just arranging them in a pattern is something i would have done when i was 13, bored, and had no idea what poles actually did.

 

I'm not 13, in regards to my Guitar playing...just under 2 to be exact and it was a legitimate question I had, wish we could go back in your life and reveal all the questions you had when you first started playing and the responses you got from those who helped you along...sorry for interrupting your mountain moment ohhh wise one..... if you see a turtle up on a fence post...just realize it didn't get there by itself...

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Seth lover (did I spell that right?), the man who designed the Gibson Humbucker, he says the adjustable poles don't do anything.

 

Seth trumps Earlwines. But Seth also said he put them there for cosmetic reasons.

 

So in THAT sense, whatever looks better.

 

But MY opinion is, adjusting the poles makes very, very little difference. That is, judging by listening. You have to adjust them a LOT to be able to get a change.

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I'm not 13, in regards to my Guitar playing...just under 2 to be exact and it was a legitimate question I had, wish we could go back in your life and reveal all the questions you had when you first started playing and the responses you got from those who helped you along...sorry for interrupting your mountain moment ohhh wise one..... if you see a turtle up on a fence post...just realize it didn't get there by itself...

you got me all wrong man! im not trying to insult you or your question. i was just trying to make sense of it and if my exhalation hurt your feelings i sincerely apologies. not my intention.

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Guest Farnsbarns

Subjective. They have their approaches, You are free to have Yours. I do have mine as well.

 

I don't think, You can be wrong with this, maybe different but definitely not wrong.

 

But, if I was in doubt about the pole-piece adjustments of my guitars, I am sure, I'd turn to someone with decades of experience, even though I respect Your opinion as well.

 

Cheers... Bence

 

That's very fair. If I was in doubt I'd use Alan head pole pieces, or torx, or Philips or proprietary, specialist tooling.

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you got me all wrong man! im not trying to insult you or your question. i was just trying to make sense of it and if my exhalation hurt your feelings i sincerely apologies. not my intention.

Accepted sir, I am certain you have a lot of knowledge I would love to have especially in the realm of actually playing guitar and that is probably just scratching the surface. I will try to have a little more of a thicker skin.

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Seth Lover says the adjustable poles don't do anything.

Actually they make it a bit worse as the magnetic fields aren't matched with the slugs but it's a small difference and barely noticeable.

 

But Seth also said he put them there for cosmetic reasons.

Tradition has always trumped science.

 

I have my pole pieces straight across 3-9 o'clock.

I do too, and the tailpiece bolt slots as well, but that's just my OCD haha.

 

Food for thought - to really split hairs, the pickups (coils) should be curved to match the fret radius as the bridge is.

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It doesn't make any difference which way the slots are aligned in the screw heads. What supposedly makes a difference is how far the screw heads are from the strings.

 

You don't have to be Thomas Edison to fiddle around with the screws and see if they make a difference. I swear they work great on my guitars but some people swear they don't.

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I was looking at a few of the diagrams on line of Jimmy Page's set up on his guitar. Some of the images showed the poles on each PU in relation to the face of a clock from 9-3, 7-1 and 6-12 o'clock. There were a few others that showed no apparent set up on the poles everything was from 6-12 O'clock. Does this make any difference at all in sound/playability?

I have adjusted pole pieces on Ibanez med. output humbuck's, according to the output of the string and noticed that some of the wax from potting was coming out as I adjusted screws ... I don't want to do this on my Gibson because of wax coming out of the pu when pole pieces are adjusted. Does it matter? Can you wreck the potting job by adjusting pole pieces?

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I have adjusted pole pieces on Ibanez med. output humbuck's, according to the output of the string and noticed that some of the wax from potting was coming out as I adjusted screws ... I don't want to do this on my Gibson because of wax coming out of the pu when pole pieces are adjusted. Does it matter? Can you wreck the potting job by adjusting pole pieces?

No, the wax potting is to hold the coils from vibration. How much or little is removed from the poles should not affect the wax on the coils.

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The closer the pole is to the string, the louder that string will sound. Play a stratocaster with "vintage" pole pieces ( D and G higher) and you'll hear the difference between strings...

It makes more of a difference on a Strat pup than it does on a Gibson humbucker.

 

For one, with a Strat pup, not only is the pole away from the string more than the others, it is also a shorter pole. Smaller magnet. That exaggerates the effect. (I would think).

 

But compared to a humbucker, you aren't adjusting the whole thing, you are only adjusting ONE of the two poles for that particular string. Raising and lowering the pickup creates much more change than does adjusting the poles. So, comparatively, you have to adjust the poles a LOT more to get effect.

 

Very different pups, different construction. The effects are not the same between the two.

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