ST-1 String/neck alignment with pickup poles

[Leif]

Hi all,

I have sort of done a mock build (first build) to check neck aligns etc..

The strings do not align with the poles on the neck pickup (see pics). The neck seems really straight and the scratch plate has no room to move against the neck to remedy this.

Is this ok?

FYI these are Tonerider upgrades

Cheers,

Leif.

[Simon Barden]

It's pretty standard. You've got the same width pickups in all positions, but you can see that the string spacing increases as it gets nearer the bridge, so the strings will pass over the pickups at different positions for each pickup. Some pickup sets will have a slightly narrower string spacing for the neck pickup poles than the other two.

Here's a pic of a USA Strat. It's got exactly the same issue, as do almost all Strats. Blame Leo Fender for cutting down on cost and variation by making all the pickups the same size, despite the differing string widths and the angled bridge pickup narrowing the string to string spacing of the poles.



I know you're just testing things out at the moment, but in the photos, the high E is slightly closer to the fretboard edge than the bottom E, which exacerbates the pole positioning difference. You'll want to fix the bridge laterally so that the strings run equidistant from each edge of the fretboard. This will help with the visual aspect. You'll also probably have some slight side-to-side movement of the neck in its pocket to play with, which can be used to help line up the strings with the fretboard edges before tightening the neck mounting screws.

[Leif]

Thanks a million, Simon.
Actually, the bridge is hard up against the routed edge near the low E. I guess I could file it or sand it a bit further?
The neck is extremely snug in the pocket, no room to move there. Maybe I could put some very slight force on the neck in the right direction before drilling the bolt on holes?

Cheers,

Leif.

[fender3x]

;-)

My go-to solution for getting things to line up.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

[McCreed]

You just need to shift the headstock end of the neck "up" a bit to align those E strings better.

Also, perfect pole/string alignment is 99% a visual thing. The magnetic field of the pole pieces extends well beyond the edge of the poles themselves. A mm one way or the other will have little to no effect on tone or signal output.

An interesting little experiment with this is to plug an unstrung guitar into an amp, tap a tuning fork, and hover it over and around the pole pieces. (use the area between the two vibrating "tines" where the vibrational energy is the strongest)
You can sort of "see" the magnetic fields are.