F spaced pickup in Gibson

[Derail]

Hey all. Any idea of how much tone of an F-spaced (53mm) bridge pickup you lose by putting it in a guitar with standard string spacing (50mm)? Here's why I ask. As I posted in an earlier thread, I just dug out my '83 Explorer after years of it being in the closet and fitted it with a new MM bridge pup. The MM helped wonderfully in opening up the sound, but I had sustain issues. I bought this guitar new and it came with a Kahler trem (F-spaced), the type that retains the standard Gibson inserts for a TOM bridge and stop tailpiece. Yesterday, I got a wild hair up my a** and took out the Kahler and installed a Gibby TOM and stop tail I had in my parts bin. Even with the Kahler route, I got back more sustain by doing this.  I'm thinking of keeping it this way, but now the pole pieces on the wound strings don't line up. It still sounds great, but am I losing very much tone with the misalignment?

[Adam.M]

Use your ears... but i'd say, no.

[Derail]

Well, I do have a decent ear, but changing out the bridge made a tonal difference. It's hard to tell if anything was lost with the now misaligned pole pieces since it all happened at the same time. I thought maybe someone who had some practical experience with this might be able to chime in. If I can tweek out some more tone by getting the correct pole spacing, I could put my MM in a late 80's/early 90's Westone HSS I have and then get the correct MM for my Explorer. That being said, I'd rather not spend this extra cash at this point if it won't buy me anything.

[Adam.M]

From experience, i'd say no.

And from my basic knowledge of magnetic fields, it's a laughable idea that it does too.

I'm yet to see a guitar where all the strings are perfectly aligned over the pole pieces, hell my Fender USA Jazz Bass's neck pickup was well out, the string was off the pole piece entirely, and it sounded and sustained just fine.

[Derail]

Thanks for the replies. It's greatly appreciated. I feel better now, as does my wallet.

[shaman]

yeah..I played a Pearly Gates F spaced for years, and have done the same with a VHII I swap around from time to time...cant tell a difference..all sound sweeeeeeet!

[Adam.M]

I seriously believe they only exist because some moron looked down and saw them out of space and freaked out...

[ericsabbath]

most of Gibson, Gotoh and other TOM bridges are 52 mm
did you measure yours?

[Derail]

most of Gibson, Gotoh and other TOM bridges are 52 mm
did you measure yours?

Just got the calipers out and measured...50mm low E to High E.

[Derail]

most of Gibson, Gotoh and other TOM bridges are 52 mm
did you measure yours?

So, your post piqued my interest and I measured string spacings on some of my other guitars with TOM bridges. In addition to the one with 50mm spacing, I have another Gibson with 51mm, a TonePros with 51mm, a BC Rich with 52mm, and a Carvin with 51.5mm. It's probably just a the difference in nut slotting, but I never realized there would be such a variance.

[Metafis]

From my experience, I say no. There will be no audible difference.

Even if there is, we will not be able to hear it. Probably only with some special device, which measures sound waves or smth like that =)