Humbucker Distance to Bridge?

[chrisom]

For a good early VH sound, how far should the humbucker be positioned away from the bridge-saddle take-off point?
I'm not into slanted humbuckers at all, so I'm talking about a guitar w/ a straight humbucker like the Charvel EVH "bumblebee"guitar.

I noticed years ago when I tried modding a 25.5" scale Strat-style "VH"-style, that the pickguards I'd buy from Warmoth (or whoever) always put too much space between the bridge and humbucker, and it didn't sound right- not crisp enough. Even on later humbucker-equipped Fender Strats it was too far away.

I had an original early-run pre-tremolo Steinberger ("boat-oar") 6-string guitar which was the opposite extreme- the pickup was butted right up next to the bridge (way too shrill) & I had to carve the top cover plate (!) to move it away to where it sounded good. Charvel seemed to have it near-perfect.

Does anybody have a good rule-of-thumb for the best distance measurement between say, the bridge-saddle and the closest row of humbucker adjustable screws for the most "Gibson-like" sound? (I know Gibson is a different scale- that's the point) Thanks!

[chrisom]

(bump) Anybody?

[big_teee]

I'm no authority at all!
But, I like a little more space than the standard Les Paul gives.
You need IMO 500k Pots to keep everything bright with a humbucker.
On a Strat, to me, its about right.
Don't know about the Warmoth Pick Guard?
I had a similar deal with a humbucker with 2 single coils, keeping the 250k Pots it was Dark and Dull!
Good Luck,
Terry

[Marshall SL12301]

eddie said he set his pup about the same distance as a les paul,claims he used his fingers thickness to measure it?
the only reason for the slant was for the polepieces to line up with the strings but it def influenced the tone since the low e side was further and the high e was closer to the bridge. he also used a 40 low e string back then too. also matters

[cebix]

Yeah I also like the pickup closer to the bridge than standard. The sound is a little more "flat" to my ears but also a little more edgy and i like that. Not certain about the VH factor though.

[Janglin_Jack]

Interesting question. Over the years, I have noticed that PU placement really determines the character of the sound. Gretsch put the neck PU on the harmonic but the bridge PU is further from the bridge than a Gibson, (key factor in the twang). SG has the bridge PU in the same spot as Les Paul, but neck PU is closer to bridge giving it a different sound.

This became evident to me when my buddy had a HH Strat. The bridge PU was placed more like Gretsch and the Strat could cop Gretsch sounds.

EVH placement with the slanted HB is interesting and unique. Will follow this thread....

Mike

[cebix]

Maybe somebody should develop some rails or something that you could slide your pickup around while playing.

[stef]

I use a standard warmoth hss pickguard with a minor modification - the "low e hole" left intact but I drill another hole right next to the "high e" hole and slant that side of the pick up closer to the bridge (fender 6 hole). Cutting the pickguard is also needed in order to slant the pickup... This way I believe I'm really close to black and white franky bridge pup placement from the photos

[chrisom]

by cebix » Mon Apr 23, 2012 4:54 pm - Maybe somebody should develop some rails or something that you could slide your pickup around while playing.

I think Gibson used to have a bass guitar like that years ago- the "Grabber" maybe or the "Ripper". I can't remember which. I was a youngster back then, & my older bass-playing cousin had one...

by stef » Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:30 pm - I use a standard warmoth hss pickguard with a minor modification - the "low e hole" left intact but I drill another hole right next to the "high e" hole and slant that side of the pick up closer to the bridge (fender 6 hole). Cutting the pickguard is also needed in order to slant the pickup... This way I believe I'm really close to black and white franky bridge pup placement from the photos

I think you're right on track with this- co

[stratonenator]

I can second stef's solution. Drilling a hole and filing the pickguard for the angle has my humbucker right where it needs to be.

[stef]

I can second stef's solution. Drilling a hole and filing the pickguard for the angle has my humbucker right where it needs to be.

yep, I actually used a file and it matched really good with my kne azusa (evh) body

[chrisom]

Thanks guys, for the input; Anybody have any actual distance measurements for a "straight"-mounted humbucker at the bridge?

[garbeaj]

I can second stef's solution. Drilling a hole and filing the pickguard for the angle has my humbucker right where it needs to be.

yep, I actually used a file and it matched really good with my kne azusa (evh) body

Can we see a pic of your guitar? I would think that getting a blank pickguard would be the solution to getting a VH-1 style Frankenstein right...

I think if I ever got a proper Azusa body from KNE or Musikraft I would want to get the pickup placement as accurate as possible. I know my pickup isn't quite in the right spot in my Clapton/VH-1 strat and I think getting it positioned properly might be a breakthrough in the VH-1 tones I'm trying to get in that guitar and my Mod 5 Marshall...

[stef]

i don't have a camera now will post the picture asap.. gimme a couple of days

[Tone Slinger]

Somebody pull up that pic of Ed with the all black Franky with rosewood board neck. The position of his zebra Mighty Mite is where you should set the pu. Rockstah has his pu set identical to this. I did this to mine and got really close to VH1. I moved mine away a bit, 'cause it got a bit too 'sharp' sounding for my tastes. Ed seemed to have done the same thing after he painted the stripes. The guitar on that 1st album is the all black version imo.

Here are the vh1 era Franky (black w/zebra mm) spacing specs,

These arent 100% accurate because I took the measurements from the saddles 'friction point ', in other words, from the point the string leaves the saddle. I took the measurements from a blown up shot that was proper size. Depending on how far up or away your saddles are set will make a difference. A better measurement, or more 'standard' would be to take the measurement from the plate to the pu.
Anyways,

from the high E saddle string point to the pickup - 5/16ths

from the low E saddle string point to the pickup- 8 1/2 16ths or 17 32nds, either way is the same measurement.

I know this seems awful close to the bridge on the high strings, but thats how Ed had his for that first album I believe.