Voicing pole pieces on a humbucker

[metalchurch]

I read that you can 'voice' certain chords so they ring truer by adjusting the polepieces on your pickup.

Does anyone know how to do this correctly? If so, could you please list a step by step on how to do this.
Is it done by ear, or a strobe tuner or something?

And here's another related question that I would like answered:

Why do some humbuckers have non adjustable poles? Are they calibrated better from the factory? Is it cheaper to produce?

Why do some Humbuckers have 1 row of non adj., and 1 row of adjustable? (Like a Seymour JB)

Why do some Humbuckers have 2 rows of adjustable poles?


And lastly, we'll take the Seymour Duncan JB for example, why are the adjustable pole located @ the bridge side, and the other row of non adjustable toward the neck side?
That doesn't make sense, especially when wired in series parallel because both sides would then be working together in 'true' humbucking mode.


Thanks for any help, thoughts or theories on this subject.

[metalchurch]

Damn, if anyone replied to this by now, I thought for sure it would have been Jeff.
Anyone have any ideas about it?
Has anyone ever tried adjusting them out of curiosity? If so, what did you come up with?

Basically right now on my JB, (which has one set of adjustable poles on the bridge side) I laid a .095 feeler guage across the poles as my straight edge, and leveled them all off. That's my starting point, and when I get an idea on adjustment I'll start from there.

One guy said to have the 'E' pole level / the 'A' 1/8" higher, and the rest, only 1/16" high.

I tried that and noticed nothing different than when they were at '0'\ or level.

[lonewolf]

Its basically to either even out or to change the pickup levels of each string relative to the others. Its generally not a great idea to change this much on humbuckers (except Duncan Invaders, et.al., but that is a different story).

If you want the strings to have the same output, you could connect your guitar up to a rig with a 10+ segment meter and adjust each polepiece/string to the same level on the meter. Keep in mind that this may not have the desired effect, since each string is at a different frequency and will generate equal electronic signals that won't necessarily sound equal.

If you look at a lot of single coil pups, they are permanently staggered to calibrate the string output levels. You might want to look at a modern staggered one and get an idea of how to stagger them. The original 50s/60s pups are staggered for wound G strings, so they are probably not a good reference.

[metalchurch]

Thanks, that's what I was wondering, because some pickups, like the Strats that you mentioned have permanent or non adjustable poles.

I see what you mean about that meter, and the way you explained it definitely makes sense to me. Because if I did adjust them so the G/B/E strings are louder for a barre chord, then they might not sound the same when playing an open 'C' chord for example.
I guess that would be string oscillation, right?
And also by raising the pole, in theory, I am enhancing the magnetic pull on the string, which would also inhibit (or is it Prohibit?) sustain, correct?

I guess for right now I'll just make note and adjust them as I go. I can always go back to zero if I mess up. I've never messed with such shit before, and I was just wondering. I have never seen a tech or how to on them either. Just one of those things I thought of and didn't understand, I'm sure you've been there before.

Thanks for the help, I'll have to just mess with it, and if I find anything out worth posting I will follow up on this.

In the meantime if anyone else has anything to offer, please do.

[metalchurch]

Well I didn't get any answers to my questions on the Jackson/Charvel forum, but I did get some good advise on the adjustment.

A guy told me to adjus the poles to match the radius of the strings/neck.
That's what I did, and it made a slightly better sound than having them all flat, or having them staggered @ different heights.

They sound good that way, so until I figure something else out, I'm gonna leave them alone. I also lowered my pickup height slightly lower than I normally do on passives, and it helped the over all sound, and cleared the high end up a little bit.

I should probably email DiMarzio or Seymour Duncan and ask them. If they'd even give away trade secrets?