How To Choose Single Coil Pickups - Flat VS Staggered

[@vsatinsky]

This is the first time anyone has brought up the core size of the wound string is what matters. As usual, brilliant and informative. Thank you Dylan.

[@Theweeze100]

Bravo!

[@Thorgue]

Used to matter.

[@oliviergagnon2592]

True. Best channel

[@nvr2old700]

And then there are the G&L MFD pickups with adjustable pole piece heights. Leo was a genius!

[@howardmaryon]

I have those on a tribute G&L tele, and I also run heavier strings with a wound G (country rhythm guitar). I love the output of them and the adjustability ( no-one uses a wound G on a tele, right?)

[@musicplaylists59]

an interesting thing about Jimi Hendrix playing a right handed strat upside down is that the stagger on the pickups were upside down too, so the G pole piece was lower than the D (which works better with a plain G) and the super low B string pole piece was now under the A string which might have actually helped him get a cleaner rhythm guitar sound as a lot of his chord voicings involved using the thumb on the low E string and having the A string muted.

[@TexanUSMC8089]

He had it all messed up and created a sound that became legend. LOL Who knows, if Jimi was still alive, he might love a new left handed Strat and be even better.

[@kdakan]

Maybe he turned the pickups upside down to keep the order of the poles, who knows.

[@revelationsoundstudio]

I have a 82 Fender Strat and the pickups are thin and bright. I have a 7.25 radius neck. Once I heard the early 6o's reissue and Silver Sky pickups. I wanted that meater tone. Seymour Duncan has staggered pickups thst were used by David Giland they provide that sound I'm looking for. Thank you for your insightful information on this topic.

[@DDE_ADDICT]

i can never fined a reason to disagree with you and i watched all your video and have been a sub for years. you, Trogly and Rick Beato are the best. I do want to add something. I have seen stock strats from 1954 - -1963 i used to repair violins, cellos and guitars for many years. Fender was really working on this the whole time. every year the pole piece height was different until and about the "L" series starting in late 62. Now on a "plastic" bobbin pickup and only plastic where the winding wire never touch the pole pieces you can move them. I do it with a small wooden dowel with very light taps from a wooden block like pine. the reason i move the ones in a plastic bobbin is for the leveling of mid range chirp. I set my bridge where 6-5-4-3 are equal and and the 2-1 are lowered this makes the bridge pickup fat and cutting but very pleasant. the neck i lower the D-G just a touch and bring the B up 1 mm this makes the neck match my 12" fret boards and makes the SRV sound. the middle aw the middle this the pickup where dreams are made i set my middle to match a 1955 middle raised A D level to the G, and B bellow the cover and the 1 or the E just above the cover. i have found since starting this in 2003 that i can tonally shape the chirp on positions 2 & 4. back to what Dylan said he is dead nut right on moving pole pieces on top end pickups like his. real single coils or top end hand made pickup and all fender vintage use a fiber type punched out bottom and top plates that the pole pieces hold together if you move them you will or can kill the pickup. I still can't believe how low Dylan's sub level is come on people smash the sub button, he should be up there like Rick Beato or closer to it . He is also very correct if you have a compound radius, or fret board flatter than 12 flat pole are the way to go. Actually flat pole re appeared in 1974 on the strat and became the very even tones that became the sound of funk and disco. Buddy Mack.

[@thetattedpharmacist3215]

The last 15 seconds made me smile haha. Hope you're doing ok through this crazy time man! Mad respect all the way from Australia, keep up the great work dude!

[@TheKogunEnjou]

I'm so glad this video exists. I put 13s with a wound G string on my guitar and my Strat just came to life. I thought it was odd that it sounded so significantly different and thought that it was something to do with setting the guitar up to take 13s. But this explains it.

[@jeffbeck6501]

13's on a Strat? I could jump up and down on your fretboard and still not get the strings to touch the frets.

[@danielmiller2886]

​@@jeffbeck6501unless it is downtuned to E flat or below, which is common for SRV fans to do on a strat.

[@autodidacticprofessor869]

I dunno man. I prefer to do my working out at the gym, not on my guitar. I stick with 8's and it sounds great and feels awesome.

[@richszmal1653]

You forgot to mention fender mim pickups that don't use vintage wound g stagger but stagger the pole pieces to the radius of the fretboard. Great video and description of staggered pickups.

[@Madas905]

I have an Ed O’Brien Strat with a Texas Special with staggered pole pieces in the middle position which I love. Awesome guitar build out of Mexico. Cannot get over the quality of this guitar.

[@johnpeters8060]

awesome vid. I’ve been looking for a good analysis of staggered pole pieces versus flat for a long time! Thanks for doing this one.

[@snicker576]

Oh man, I really got lucky when I pushed down the G string poles on my brand new Lollar Jazzmaster pickups. Didn't ruin them. Just have really gone through the grinder trying to find the right pickups for this Jazzmaster, and despite that way too loud G string, these piickups sounded fantastic... so I went and took my chances and pushed that polepiece down. They're perfect now :)

[@Jakexx01]

I do believe you when you mentioned that there are a few 'wizards' out there online who suggest "tapping down" the extended magnets on staggered pole piece single coils with a hammer. What I don't WANT to believe is that there are those who actually bought into this, pounded on their own pickups and THEN had the unmitigated audacity to create posts suggesting others do the same! Of the MULTITUDE of BS suggestions readily available online, hammering pickups might NOT be considered the most tragic. However, in the 'guitar lover's sphere' it certainly rates up there. Thanks for warning the most gullible among us. Great video! Thank you for perfectly explaining WHY these pole piece differences exist. Well done!

[@rcnation8910]

Interestingly enough. Everyone from SRV to David Gilmore used staggered pole pieces with steel or nickel coated strings to establish some of the most legendary tone characteristics in the history of music.

[@kitoyobeni1]

Their string-to-string balance likely wasn't optimal, but that also shows how small a piece of the pie that balance is in developing tone, especially when distortion and compression come into play.

[@goswo]

I love staggered strat pu’s. I creates that amazing dynamics that I really like. Like them much better than the flats :-)

[@maraviyoso8473]

@@kitoyobeni1 besides, that string difference comes into play more at the "quack" positions (2 & 4), than with the individual positions (1, 3 and 5). But. . . that string difference is what makes a Stratocaster sound like. . . a Stratocaster, especially when playing rhythm stuff.

[@ramencurry6672]

A lot of those older Strat players played on a 7.25 radius neck which helps

[@rickc2102]

Thanks for making me smarter today than I was yesterday! My main guitars' pickups are all flat tops.

[@steffenbrix]

I mostly use Lace Golds...love the sound and the flat look. And I find the dynamics much more even than a vintage staggered strat pu 😇

[@larryperez5761]

Thank you, you make us all smarter

[@billshiff2060]

Yeah I went through all that. String balance is real important to me. I use nickle PLATED steel wound EAD and plain for GBE. I also tried stainless but they have a lot less signal than regular steel so they aren't worth the anti rust they give. I have lace sensors and they also have string balance issues with the plain G and B being too loud compared to the little E so I block part of the magnetic field under the G and B strings with a piece of magnetically soft sheet steel from an old transformer and that works great. I haven't been able to balance my lace blue telecaster bridge pu yet, it's a lot harder for some reason. On my "normal" telecaster flat top pick up I use tiny slugs of magnetic rod stuck on the magnets to raise the volume of weak strings. That works too.

[@0oTHEJACKo0]

2:17 shouldn't the magnet on the A string be lower than on the B string, since it needs more space to vibrate etc.? If not can you explain me why? I'm really curious

[@Youtubemademeaddahandle]

My Fret-King Geoff Whitehorn has a middle singe coil pickup with flat screwdriver slots in the top of the pole pieces. It also has slots in the poles pieces of the neck P-90 pickup. the bridge pickup is a humbucker style. This has allowed me to fine tune both pickup and pole piece heights of each of the three to suit my ear.

[@Vlad_is_love1986]

Thank you for information. I have a Stratocaster Ultra SSS. And there the polepieces have different height, but not as on your picture, but so E-B-G-D-A-E high-mid-low-high-mid-low. And the loudness of strings is obviously not the same. The pickups are Fender Ultra Noiseless Vintage. The radius is 10-14

[@Peaceful_Days]

I prefer staggered pickups with a wound G set of strings. It's terrible with a plain G though. I actually stagger them myself by moving the polepieces if they are flat. I hate treble strings being too loud and shrill, so I put them down a bit.

[@bobrome6549]

Thanks for advising on beating down pole pieces. I did that to 1 of my strats and it was fine, and was thinking about doing it to anotheer bc my pick get caught on the edge sticking up sometimes. Gonna leave it after hearing this.

[@telequacker-9529]

I had a late 80s/early 90s strat copy (Lotus) until a few months ago - the pole staggering always mystified me, but I figured it had something to do with the G string sounding way too loud! Good to know the historical reasons why the pickups came that way. And why it shouldn't concern me much the replacements are flat. Ideally I'd still want to see a very slight curve in the poles though... I play 9.5" radius, not 14"...

[@thisisjanamiel]

hi! probably this is a noob question but i just wanna know, how about on a flat radius fretboard (probably 12-14) with pure (100%) nickel strings? do i still need to have SCs staggered or is it common sense to have flat poles? thanks in advance for the answer, Dylan!

[@webbru24]

Bro, you are a wealth of information. Thank you for all you do.

[@picksalot1]

I have staggered pole pieces on Kinman (stacked humbucker) pickups in my Strat. I have customized/modified the strength of the individual pole pieces using Neodymium and regular magnets. No need to replace pickups or change pole piece heights to get a balanced sound or custom volume profile.

[@bmurtau]

Don’t mess with the magnets. If you’ve got staggered pole pieces, learn to properly adjust your pickup height. Fender used staggered pole pickups on several models through at least the end of the American Standard Strat series (Fat 50s custom shop). It’s normal to use the pickups on modern neck radius’s. Your pickups will sit higher on the treble side to compensate for the pole height.

[@StevenParente]

Light bulb moment. Thanks so much! This makes so much sense, especially when I'm playing slide. My G string always sounds great, but not so much my B and E, even when raising the treble side of the pickups, regardless of tuning. Because my Strat's pickups are staggered and when I raise the high side, the G string still gets raised. I've been buying heavier strings, which helps a little, but still doesn't solve the problem. It seems like the best solution is to purchase pickups that aren't staggered, or increase the size of the B and E string significantly over the G string to get an even tone. Thank you!

[@scottmartinezguitarandbass]

Fantastic video Dylan. Probably one of the best explained videos on this situation. Thank you very much!! I'd press like 2x if I could.

[@SidBonkers51]

Well that straightened a few things out in my mind, thanks Dylan but I guess Im a lucky idiot because Ive straightened and returned the pole pieces to staggered in my MIJ 62 reissue Strat more than once!! That siad Ive never been happy with the electrics in it so my project during corona lockdown is to replace the whole scratchplate assembly with a new one with new pups, pots and 5 way switch so that I can switch the whole lot back if I ever want to sell it, and Ive been watching a bunch of your back videos for ideas on wiring mods and stuff, so cheers.

[@dalgguitars]

Thank you so much for the explanation of the staggered pole pieces.

[@ryanholland9391]

I am learning so many obscure bits of information from your channel. Thank you!

[@steveellis6090]

Brilliantly explained Dylan, well done! Oh! and i did a silly thing years ago, and tapped down a the pole piece, and destroyed the pickup, So if anyone is thinking about it, don't do it, it is not worth it.

[@JoeKyser]

This was a good one. I was wondering the answer to that. I just got a 70s vibe squire strat and it had the staggered pole pieces. Cool beans thanks a bunch

[@grupoboheme906]

lovely explanation! LOL of hammering the pole pieces... cheers from Costa Rica!! CHEERS!!

[@attilakovacs6366]

Thank you soo much Dylan!

[@devinsinderwitcz9134]

Very cool explanation, I never knew about any of this.

[@artjackson6872]

My 83 strat has flat a profile neck and flat pickups. This guitar is so unique and mostly hated because, no one understood how to set up a floating bridge. I've owned it for nearly 40 years and one of my most guarded guitar.

[@Charles75N]

Very cool. I have Mexican Strat pickups from the 2006 with staggered poles. I always wondered why. THX

[@TomL-]

Wow, I had always wondered about that, thanks for breaking down in such detail!

[@dividedwords]

Thanks for this, @DylanTalksTone. A question: given what you have shown here, why is it not still advantageous to have pole pieces *slightly* staggered so as to conform to the radius of the fretboard (and strings)?

[@jasonblalack5002]

nice video, but what about modern staggered like Fralin's?

[@MrSuganutz]

i just built a guitar and i chose a sl1 for my neck. it is staggered, but i was just after a sweet OG strat neck sound. it sounds very nice, but i unwittingly strung it with pro-steels solidifying 2 mistakes at once. furthermore the neck is 12 inch radius. so i guess i learned something valuable and interesting from the video. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[@cmoltisanti-em6rh]

First I've stumbled across your channel. You cut right to the chase and gave an excellent lecture. Thank you, sir! You have a new subscriber.

[@Andreas_Straub]

That was really educational! Thanks a lot!

[@xTongueOfColicabx]

And that's why I use a Compressor with my Fender CS 69's and sounds delicious, well explianed and great work Dylan!

[@anthonycongiano8890]

I have Fender Texas Specials in my 1994 G&L Legacy, it has higher center pole pieces which add to a mid range boots in volume of the two middle strings. A bit of an accentuation , it creates a great and appealing tonality or volume-ality if you will. I'm extremely pleased with the SRV-like tone over all and the added middle string punch.

[@stevelaferney3579]

Interesting. TY The core size of the string vs or plus the wrap is what affects how the string feels. Dylan has added greatly to strings vs how pickups work. 🤠

[@antipodesman]

Surely the most arcane subject concerning electric guitars. Now I understand a bit more. Thanks.

[@ernestcaruana7717]

excellent explanation - I agree with you that there is no need for staggering on modern radius fretboards .My only problem is that I still use wound 3rds....

[@bensmartinez4661]

Thank you sir! Very informative as always!

[@grzegorzswirszcz709]

Hi Dylan. Thank you for the great content you post! In this particular video I think there might a bit of an inaccuracy. Nickel is a ferromagnetic, so it does generate a signal. Bronze would not, but iron, nickel and cobalt are the three ferromagnetics. Or did I miss your point?

[@DylanTalksTone]

Not in the alloy used here

[@DougWoodrow]

11:46 What's the problem with using steel wool on the fretboard?

[@biggstile]

because you have to tape off your pickups when you do it otherwise the steel wool fragments will get inside the pole pieces and destroy the pickups eventually in the long run

[@DougWoodrow]

Ah, okay thanks, that makes sense. It's good to know the reason for doing (or not doing) things.

[@KetogenicGuitars]

That is so good feeling to get real logic into head about these things. But as my pickup was like 10€ from ebay it is ok to hammer(gently push) the pole pieces down. And it really is too loud and boomy on those g and d anyway.

[@CarlyonProduction]

Wow what a great video. So what if I am running Elixir polywebs with a 9.25 radius?

[@DinsdalePiranha67]

Well, here's my input.... I have a '97 MIM Strat, which I've pretty much always strung with Ernie Ball Super Slinkys. Fingerboard radius is 9.5", and I swapped in a set of Texas Special pickups, which have staggered pole pieces. Maybe my ear isn't as finely calibrated as some others' are, but I've never noticed the G string (unwound, of course) being louder than the others.

[@cubano100pct]

Can you do a video on Leo Fender's last pickup design, Magnetic Field Design (MFD)? These have soft iron adjustable pole pieces.

[@simonnaji]

Very interesting and informative, thanks!

[@HavendaleBlvd80]

There needs to be link for every gearhead who ever made a video trying to explain the radius of a fret board, to this video you have made, dude. Sorted in the first minute and a half. Crystal. Lol. I'm reminded of that meme from it's always sunny in Philadelphia, conspiracy theory, thinking of all the others. Well done.

[@inkpad100]

Your vids just keep improving. Keep up the good work.

[@iancumbers494]

Thanks for the tips explained perfectly now i understand the process thank you ...

[@jhobaugh45]

1995/1996 Mexican Strat I've had since I was a kid, the pickups have a stagger that follows fretboard radius (tall in the middle rolling down to flat on the sides)

[@vincenzo995]

This is a great video and you explained a lot of things! Thank you. Nice to see your new office too :D.

[@stratcat6706]

what about filing down the pole pieces?

[@raychavezmt]

This was cool. I always wondered why that was. Thanks for the great info, as always

[@tonisiret5557]

Dylan, you've done it again. Mind blown, with logic!

[@stiebingiii]

hello dylan: what about stratitis (where you hear an out of phase sound on a single coil pickup running by itself)? I heated up my pickup and reshaped the pole piece height to match the fretboard radius. It worked.

[@jeffbeck6501]

Interesting video. I bought a China Tele recently and used toothpaste with baking soda to polish up the frets, but may have resorted to a pot scrubber at one point. Now I learn that steel wool is bad for frets. hmmm. I need to learn what is the best way to polish frets on a guitar.

[@KCAugustine]

I have a Strat with staggered pole pieces and changed out the 25.5" 9.5" radius neck for a Warmoth 24.75" 12-16" radius neck. I use nickel plated steel strings. So far I haven't noticed any weird volume differences string to string, but I set my pickups a bit lower than spec and angled down towards the low E.

[@chappy2312]

Question on pickup hight: I know most people just set their pickup by ear. I myself like to have a reference. On a staggered pole pick up…If you were to measure, would you measure from the pickup base, from the highest pole or the lowest pole?

[@KaiTK1000]

Was just in the process of replacing single coil PUPs, wondering about staggered poles. So huge thanks to Dylan!

[@taokichavez9319]

very interesting topic, thanks for sharing the information :D

[@jessereyna7408]

What’s the best two Seymour Duncan single coil pick ups would you suggest for a h-s-s configuration?

[@ZAAXGuitarDisplays]

Hello Dylan, thanks for great explanation. I've just bought alnico 5 staggered pickups for my strat. The pickups sound great but I have a problem with level of loudness of particular strings. Specially G is too loud. Is it possibile to grind the magnes to nore or less to the same hight, what you think?

[@littlebritain64]

I enjoyied a lot this video. I learnt lots of things! One question: I always wondered why nobody thought as a standard for single coils the chance to make their poles to be adjusted with a screwdriver, one by one as on humbuckers.....

[@gittarpikk]

Ok...secondviewing on this one brings up an interesting question. Why is it that we dont just order pickups based solely on neck radius?. Given...the g string of late is not wound. That would make hypothetically for a much more matched pickup to string distance per string. Just a thought.

[@acericonia8281]

I had flat pickups on a tele and the g string sounded too weak on a modern radius, possibly a 10 inch. same problem with my strats. I have to use staggered pickups on all my guitars. I use daddario 09-42.

[@reyne8424]

Thank you! I'm new to electric guitars and have been researching alot lately, so it brings alot of clarity to my overloaded brain.

[@Sevetamryn]

@DylanTalksTone - Thanks for clearifying this. Many ignore or even do not belive this. Stagered pickups are for old slyle sets with woud G! And they work very well in this combination. ... And by the way, try some nickle wound flats (those "Jazz" strings) on a Strat with stagered poles, works very well!

[@peteh5636]

Really great video! It begs the question about the “correct” strings for a vintage guitar. But now with all this fandom knowledge the players can make an informed decision, and not just vintage but modern aftermarket pickups as well. Thanks!!!

[@BringMayFlowers]

Remember, they also had aftermarket strings even then. OEM Fenders of the '50s had 12--26w-52 groundwounds, but you could also get a 13-54 flatwound set from them or a 13-56 from someone else (Pyramid, a company from the time, still sells this set as the Pyramid Gold True Vintage 13-56) if you wanted, and a lot of players at the time substituted a 9 from a banjo and shifted the rest of the strings up one. Though apparently by the CBS era Fenders came with flatwounds standard, probably until the '70s when rounds were standardized and I assume the same sets have been used since...

[@gigabloke]

I struggled with string-volume balance on a set of CS69s. In a desperate mood, I changed the pole piece heights -- mostly for the G string. On the first attempt it worked fine, but pickups 2 and 3 were ruined. If pickups have plastic bobbin construction, then changing the stagger can work, but if no plastic bobbin -- don't do it.

[@snicker576]

I totally understand that desperate feeling! Sorry about your pickups. I lucked out that my pickups survived after I pushed the G polepieces all down

[@TyRobertsmedia]

Really like the straight talk myth-busting you do on this channel. Next time I'm swapping pups I'll give you guys a look-see.

[@AnnihilatorNL]

Man that explanation was just perfect! Thank you very much. Flat it is then.

[@DrunkDuckXD]

Great video! My fav strings are Dario nickle 12s with the G string wound. I got some vintage style staggered pickups and thought I fucked up. Turns out its Perfect for my favorite set!!

[@MichaelZola]

This blew my mind. It was so straight forward, Thanks Dylan. I was anticipating learning about staggered pole pieces, but never would thought that they are completely irreverent in present day! Amazing. And thanks for throwing in the tip in about not moving pole pieces!

[@globalnova]

those naughty pieces...

[@maraviyoso8473]

So you people want a Strat to NOT sound like a Strat. OK, then.

[@SpiritDK]

This confused me a little, I bought a brand new squire paranormal cyclone (2022) but for all 3 pickups the E+A and B+E are flat but the D and G are raised to the same hight that does not really sound like there is a good reason for it other that that is just whatever they had laying around in the old trash pile

[@carlosfernandoramirezsanto4417]

ok, so I should not hammer to push the poles down, but what you think about wearing them out with some Dremel and a bur perhaps?

[@jameskrys5286]

I just bought a set of G&L ASAT MFD pickups. They have adjustable pole pieces.

[@rowlandstraylight]

And note the Gibson PAF was original p90 dual slug coils until marketing demanded the adjustable poles of the p90, but the effect there is different in moving the screw head in and out of the coil alters the inductance.

[@joeltunnah]

A wound G is the key to a great playing and sounding vintage or reissue Strat. And a .018w is just as easy to bend as any standard unwound G I've ever used.

[@terencehealy5110]

Had the problem with g string out of balance too loud against the others this was a long time ago I was advised to change it to a wound g I think that sorted it learned a bit today thanks Dylan as always good content 👍

[@sasunmontu]

Vert helpful. I was wondering why my strat had flat pickups. Now I'm not as curious to see how staggered pickups would sound.

[@MichaelTMcCoy]

Thanks for all your information. I see other channels saying thing which you prove wrong.

[@jasonprater7802]

Timely advise my man! Way to properly inform!

[@jvin248]

Where you can easily test poll piece height is on a humbucker guitar with screw poles. You can try the classic Strat, the equi-distant, and flat. You'll find different tones out of them. I tend to put stagger poles (like Strat and humbucker screw poles) on the neck pickups and flat across on the bridge pickups for everything else (Tele, P90, Humbuckers) because they tend to sound best for me. Flat across gives a little 'mid-scoop'. You can also bias pickup height E vs e, the amount of pickup 'tip' too -- I saw an old video of Hendrix recently where the video person paid attention to his picking more than the fretboard which was useful to see.

[@DragonofLimerick]

Very cool info, thanks! Is there anything that can be done for staggered, other than replacing them? Just wondering.

[@Leo_ofRedKeep]

Yes! At last an explanation that fully makes sense. I discovered this for myself when I got a guitar with a wound G and pick-ups with adjustable pole pieces. I had to raise the pole pieces under the much weaker G string to restore some balance.

[@MichaelTMcCoy]

Could you create a video explaining The new Epiphone 2020 Les Paul. Specifically the advance model has a push pull tone knob which can place the guitar 'out of phase'. I thought the the humbuckers did this by having the two cores out of phase with each other. This could clear up my confusion. Thanks

[@gittarpikk]

I was just about to drop the hammer on yet another set of pickups and was using the old mentality of Its an early 70's strat, so I need vintage stagger. ...well you saved the bad choice. I >think < my radius is a 12, and I will now verify with the luthier tools I bought before ordering. You did address that it's not wise to peck the pole pieces up or down as it can ruin the pickup. I did this on a few I have trying to adjust the volume and maybe I got lucky. I >think< you meant no pecking polepieces on either style (flat or vintage). In the sound comparisons I heard in a few comparisons though (Flat vs vintage) The vintage one was the sound I was looking for but I do think the guitar used was a for-real 60's. Not sure if I can get the same sound from my flatter radius early 70's (Japan) using flat pole pieces. Nothing was mentioned about if he was using a wound 4th ... So I still am not sure which pick stagger I really need to get?

[@kdakan]

I played a friend's strat with staggered pole pieces and the b and e string sounded weak compared to the g string. Especially when playing an arpeggio it's noticeable and a little disturbing, you have to adopt to picking the g string lighter.

[@DjCuddlebear]

YES! thank you!