{"id":942,"date":"2010-07-01T16:04:42","date_gmt":"2010-07-01T23:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lollarguitars.com\/blog\/?p=942"},"modified":"2022-03-01T17:06:25","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T01:06:25","slug":"common-questions-about-gibson-fender-pole-piece-spacing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lollarguitars.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/common-questions-about-gibson-fender-pole-piece-spacing\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Questions about Gibson & Fender Pole Piece Spacing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NOTE<\/strong>: This is Part One of a two-part blog post. Go To Part Two<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We get enough questions about Gibson pole spacing versus Fender pole spacing that it\u2019s worthwhile writing about here in the Lollar blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best way to proceed is to review the most common questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But first, we\u2019ll start with some basics\u2026..like, what do you mean by Gibson spacing and Fender spacing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That terminology is actually referring to the physical spacing between the pole pieces. This roughly<\/span> corresponds to the distance between the strings themselves, but not<\/span> entirely. (More on that point later). In general terms, the spacing between pole pieces is slightly wider on Fender style pickups, and slightly narrower on Gibson style pickups. The overall difference \u2013 when you measure from the centers of the 2 outside pole pieces \u2013 is roughly 2 to 3 millimeters. In other words, if you measure from the center of the high E pole piece to the center of the Low E pole piece, a Gibson spaced pickup will measure right around 50 millimeters. A pickup with Fender spacing will measure between 52 and 53 millimeters, depending on the pickup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

This week we\u2019ll discuss how this applies to Humbuckers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A standard Lollar Imperial humbucker has a pole spacing of about 50mm.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Question 1: How wide is the Fender pole spacing and how wide is the Gibson pole spacing on the Lollar Imperial humbuckers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our traditional Gibson style Lollar Imperial humbuckers have a pole spacing of about 50 mm, as measured from center to center of the two outside pole pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Fender spaced (F-spaced) Imperial humbuckers have a pole spacing of about 53 mm, as measured from center to center of the two outside pole pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Fender spaced Lollar Imperial humbucker has a pole spacing of about 53mm.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Question 2: Will I need a longer route if I install a Fender spaced humbucker?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outer dimension of all of our (six string) full sized Lollar Imperial humbuckers is exactly the same. The difference between the two pickups is in the spacing of the poles as they\u2019re positioned on the inside of the pickup. In other words, when a metal humbucker cover is machine stamped, the outer rectangle or \u201cbox\u201d is the same size. But it\u2019s the distance in between the individual pole pieces that is different. They are stamped through the metal box in slightly different positioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"This
This Gibson spaced humbucker cover is 2.75″ in length.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Take a look at these  two photos. You\u2019ll see that the outer dimension of the two humbuckers is exactly the same, even though they each have a different pole spacing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question 3: How do I know if I need Fender spacing or not?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is one of those questions that \u2013 to a certain degree \u2013 needs to be answered on a \u201ccase-by-case basis.\u201d But that being said, generally speaking, if you are purchasing full sized Lollar Imperial humbuckers for a standard Gibson style guitar, then it\u2019s not an issue. You need standard Gibson style humbuckers. However, if you are installing humbuckers onto a guitar that could be considered a \u201cFender\u201d style guitar, then you\u2019ll want to evaluate the need for a Fender spaced bridge. The most direct approach is to start by measuring the string spacing, right at the bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"This
This Fender spaced humbucker cover is 2.75″ in length.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Question 4: I want to set up my strat with an S-S-H (single-single-humbucker) configuration. Do I need an F-spaced Imperial bridge?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, in most cases. The only exception to this would be if \u2013 somehow \u2013 a Gibson style bridge had been installed onto a Strat style guitar. That would be more of a \u201cfluke\u201d than anything else. Say, for example, a home-made \u201cFrankenstein\u201d guitar made from parts you happened to have on hand. As far as we know, there are no Gibson style bridges being installed onto Fender style guitar modifications or \u201cclones\u201d of any sort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question 5: Do I need an F-spaced Lollar Imperial for my Tele neck?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Probably not. Most of our players, and builders, install a standard Gibson spaced Imperial humbucker in a tele neck. As you know, the string spacing itself becomes narrower as the strings span from the bridge saddles to the nut. Even though it\u2019s a Fender style guitar, the string spacing at the neck position can usually accommodate a standard Gibson spaced neck pickup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question 6: My pole pieces don\u2019t line up exactly under my strings, is that a problem?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is actually completely common for standard guitars. If you think about it, the strings are never the same distance apart as they span from the bridge to the end of the neck. They are furthest apart at the saddles of the bridge, and closest together when sitting at the nut. In between, they sit at various distances apart. That means no two positions on the guitar will relate to a pickup\u2019s pole piece spacing in exactly the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Notice
Notice how the stings align a bit differently over the tops of the humbucker pole pieces.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Take a look at this photo. If you look closely, you\u2019ll see that when the strings are closest to the bridge, they actually sit a little wider than the pole pieces of the humbucker pickup. Now take a look at the strings\u2019 position further down the guitar, when they are sitting over the neck pickup. Notice how the strings sit a little more closely aligned with the humbucker pole pieces. This is true for all guitars: If the string spacing at the bridge is wider than the string spacing at the nut, the pole pieces and strings will line up a little differently at each pickup position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn more about our various types of humbuckers, follow this link to the Lollar humbucker <\/a>section of our web site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next week we\u2019ll talk about how to apply these same ideas to projects with single coil pickups. Go to Part Two<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Understanding the differences between Gibson style pole piece spacing and Fender style pole piece spacing can be useful. All Lollar pickups follow the general pole piece patterning of Gibson and Fender. That is, 50 mm for Gibson pole spacing and 52mm to 53mm for Fender style pole piece spacing. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[260,259,12],"tags":[199,197,198,200,201,202,203,196],"class_list":["post-942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-f-space","category-pole-spacing","category-technical","tag-f-spaced","tag-fender-spaced-pole-pieces","tag-fender-spacing","tag-gibson-spaced-pole-pieces","tag-gibson-spacing","tag-lollar-imperial-humbucker-pole-spacing","tag-lollar-imperial-pole-piece-spacing","tag-pole-piece-spacing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3INU8-fc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lollarguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lollarguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lollarguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lollarguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lollarguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/www.lollarguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3315,"href":"https:\/\/www.lollarguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions\/3315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lollarguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lollarguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lollarguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}