Custombucker Pickup Pole Spacing

[duane v]

I just noticed the bridge pickup pole spacing is wider than the neck pole spacing. (Custombucker)

Does anyone know when this started?

Only reason I noticed is I changed the pups on my Les Paul Custom BB to Gibson Shaw Era Pups and when I went to install the gold can cover from the Bridge Custombucker it didn't match up.

Hmmm... I may need to take a different route with the pup covers.

[Rabs]

We had a thread about this a short while back

 

[duane v]

Thanks

That was a good read.

I have a plan in dealing with this. I have some very old gold pup covers that are in great shape that will work. And re-solder the the covers back on the custombuckers and store away. 

[Sheepdog1969]

8 hours ago, duane v said:

I just noticed the bridge pickup pole spacing is wider than the neck pole spacing. (Custombucker)

Does anyone know when this started?

Only reason I noticed is I changed the pups on my Les Paul Custom BB to Gibson Shaw Era Pups and when I went to install the gold can cover from the Bridge Custombucker it didn't match up.

Hmmm... I may need to take a different route with the pup covers.

I read your post a few times to understand what you were saying. Obviously, I am aware of pole spacing differentials associated with different types of pick-ups. Are you saying that your LP originally, (factory), came with bridge PU pole spacing that was wider than the neck PU? Or did you mean that the "new" PU's you installed came with pole spacing differentials, thus the "old" covers only fit the neck PU? (I am assuming the latter.) If the latter, and if this is something new, the "why" could be interesting. Assuming the new PU's were labeled "neck" and "bridge", how would they sound reversed? 

[duane v]

7 hours ago, Sheepdog1969 said:

Are you saying that your LP originally, (factory), came with bridge PU pole spacing that was wider than the neck PU? 

That is correct.

I have never encountered that before.

When I buy new guitars from Gibson the first thing I do is change the pickups to Gibson Tim Shaw Era pups. The next mod (if the guitar came with Nashville Bridge) I change that out to an ABR1 Bridge. Sometimes I will change out the tuners if I'm going for specific era and in this case early 70's vibe.

The only Gibson guitars I have that have remained unmodified are:

2014 ES 335 Lemon Burst (Those came with cream Dimarzio 36th Anniversary pups)

My 1976 EDS1275

My 1972 SG200

My 1980 Les Paul Custom

[Sheepdog1969]

4 minutes ago, duane v said:

That is correct.

I have never encountered that before.

When I buy new guitars from Gibson the first thing I do is change the pickups to Gibson Tim Shaw Era pups. The next mod (if the guitar came with Nashville Bridge) I change that out to an ABR1 Bridge. Sometimes I will change out the tuners if I'm going for specific era and in this case early 70's vibe.

The only Gibson guitars I have that have remained unmodified are:

2014 ES 335 Lemon Burst (Those came with cream Dimarzio 36th Anniversary pups)

My 1976 EDS1275

My 1972 SG200

My 1980 Les Paul Custom

1st, I just found the original post detailing your step by step build process for your "Hofner" McCartney lefty base, and WOW times a gillion.

2nd, I was asking, regarding this thread, how tone would be effected by the PU pole separation differential between the neck and bridge PU set up you had initially described vs. identical PU pole separation in both PU's. Additionally, I was asking how tone might be effected if the PU's with different pole separation distances were reversed, (placing the neck PU in the bridge position and the bridge PU in the neck position.) Obviously, I assume you may not know the answer to that question, since this pole separation differential thing per PU appears new to you. I was just wondering if anyone else here might know how the tone may be effected.  

[duane v]

6 minutes ago, Sheepdog1969 said:

1st, I just found the original post detailing your step by step build process for your "Hofner" McCartney lefty base, and WOW times a gillion.

2nd, I was asking, regarding this thread, how tone would be effected by the PU pole separation differential between the neck and bridge PU set up you had initially described vs. identical PU pole separation in both PU's. Additionally, I was asking how tone might be effected if the PU's with different pole separation distances were reversed, (placing the neck PU in the bridge position and the bridge PU in the neck position.) Obviously, I assume you may not know the answer to that question, since this pole separation differential thing per PU appears new to you. I was just wondering if anyone else here might know how the tone may be effected.  

Ah Thanks.... That was an interesting project for me. That poor bass had many surgeries performed on it.

I think the reason Gibson does this is the strings will sit over the center of the pup poles when the strings ride over the bridge pup.

As for tone there are two Gibson pickups I really like. The 50's-60's PAF's but I'm not going to shell out $2000 for those. And with the Tim Shaws....... I purchased 10 pair of these back in 2010, and after this mod I have one pair left. I do like some 70's T-Tops but they are very inconsistent in tone and output. 

[merciful-evans]

3 minutes ago, Sheepdog1969 said:

1st, I just found the original post detailing your step by step build process for your "Hofner" McCartney lefty base, and WOW times a gillion.

2nd, I was asking, regarding this thread, how tone would be effected by the PU pole separation differential between the neck and bridge PU set up you had initially described vs. identical PU pole separation in both PU's. Additionally, I was asking how tone might be effected if the PU's with different pole separation distances were reversed, (placing the neck PU in the bridge position and the bridge PU in the neck position.) Obviously, I assume you may not know the answer to that question, since this pole separation differential thing per PU appears new to you. I was just wondering if anyone else here might know how the tone may be effected.  

Firstly, the neck and bridge PUs are different anyway. This is regardless of the pole spacings. The neck PU will usually have more windings and be slightly hotter than the neck. This is done to equalise the PUs as the neck PU naturally has the stronger output due to it placement. 

Secondly, I would not expect much, if any difference hearing a PU with the slightly wider of narrower pole pitches when changing them over. Many pickups, especially replacement ones do not align well to the string spacings. This is just personal experience though. Someone else may experience a difference.

I would expect the main difference in exchanging neck and bridge pickups will be disparity of volume.