Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: DaveyHoran on February 07, 2012, 10:14:21 AM

Title: If I put a 50mm in a 53mm bridge will it affect the sound?
Post by: DaveyHoran on February 07, 2012, 10:14:21 AM

A friend offered me a 50mm spaced riff raff for my SG bridge... As far as I know the SG bridge is 53mm...

Is there anything to worry about, loss of tone or volume etc?

Thanks
Title: Re: If I put a 50mm in a 53mm bridge will it affect the sound?
Post by: ericsabbath on February 07, 2012, 10:37:08 AM
usually, you won't hear any difference
BUT, I had problems with this in a couple les paul copies, cause the bridge was a bit out of place, so the high E was almost out of the pickup coil (in the other guitar, the low E was out)

you can always sand the bridge saddles to match the pickup spacing
that's a quick and easy adjust
Title: Re: If I put a 50mm in a 53mm bridge will it affect the sound?
Post by: Alex on February 07, 2012, 10:38:47 AM

A friend offered me a 50mm spaced riff raff for my SG bridge... As far as I know the SG bridge is 53mm...

Is there anything to worry about, loss of tone or volume etc?

Thanks

It will sound tighter ;-)  :lol:

(as in cramped).

You won't hear a difference. Lots of pickups don't really match up. EMGs, for one, just you can't see it, because of the solid black cover.
Title: Re: If I put a 50mm in a 53mm bridge will it affect the sound?
Post by: darkbluemurder on February 07, 2012, 10:40:08 AM
I agree with Eric - normally the volume differences are so slight that they can be adjusted by raising the E strings pole pieces and/or lowering the other pole pieces.

Cheers Stephan
Title: Re: If I put a 50mm in a 53mm bridge will it affect the sound?
Post by: DaveyHoran on February 07, 2012, 11:25:57 AM

Eric - Are you talking about filing another grove under the strings on the bridge so both E strings are closer together?

Stephen - I read that pole piece adjustment was to do with bass/treble response and not volume?

Bare in mind I'm the type of person that could cut himself with a spoon.



 
Title: Re: If I put a 50mm in a 53mm bridge will it affect the sound?
Post by: Philly Q on February 07, 2012, 12:00:35 PM
The spacing at your SG's bridge is probably around 52-53mm, as you say (depends how they notched the saddles at the factory).

But if you measure the actual spacing between the E strings directly above the bridge pickup, it's probably about 51mm.

The 50mm polepiece spacing is centre-to-centre of the two outer poles, so strings spaced at 51mm should still fall well within the full "range" of the polepieces.

In other words, don't worry about it.  :wink:


The only time this is really an issue is if you have a guitar with a Floyd or a vintage-style Fender bridge - then the spacing at the bridge can be as much as 56mm and you really can "lose" your E strings.
Title: Re: If I put a 50mm in a 53mm bridge will it affect the sound?
Post by: DaveyHoran on February 07, 2012, 12:44:47 PM

Cheers Philly - Very Reassuring!!! Looks like I'm getting myself a riff raff bridge for my SG Standard...

And a mule for the neck....

Also just upgrated the wiring to 500K cts pots and jenson caps .022 and .015  :-)

Looking forward to this install  :D
Title: Re: If I put a 50mm in a 53mm bridge will it affect the sound?
Post by: ericsabbath on February 07, 2012, 01:23:51 PM

Eric - Are you talking about filing another grove under the strings on the bridge so both E strings are closer together?

Stephen - I read that pole piece adjustment was to do with bass/treble response and not volume?

Bare in mind I'm the type of person that could cut himself with a spoon.


 :lol:
you would have to sand all the saddles to align each string with each pole and keep the same distance between strings
it's not difficult with a proper tool and won't take more than 10 minutes