Another reason to hate Gibson...

gtrjunior

gtrjunior

Wannabe
I'm changing out the pickups in my Les Paul with some DiMarzio's. I've been emailing with a Dimarzio tech and ended up ordering a pickup he suggested from a semi-local shop. The tech emailed me back today and told me that many newer Gibson guitar are now being made with the F-spacing at the bridge. WTF GIBSON.
Of course , I've already placed the order. I emailed the dealer I ordered from it haven't heard back. The Dimarzio tech was nice enough to email me a measuring chart so I could check the spacing on my guitar....I'm sure I'll be able to change my order if need be but shit....I wish I knew.

As if we needed another reason to be pissed at Gibson.
 
Ok...I just took one of the SC pickups that came out of my Strat and measured against the Paul...the Paul is clearly "Gibson" spaced....
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It wouldn't have mattered anyway. F-spaced HB's and traditional Gibson humbuckers are interchangeable; only the pole spacing changes (3mm for F-Scpaed). F-Spaced original stood for Floyd-spaced, IIRC.

It was the Fender "Wide Range" HB that used a completely different route.
 
I seriously doubt that they are retooling and restandardizing tuneomatic bridges. I'm with the AL model theory, the person at Dimarzio wasn't good at getting himself across or didn't know why his computer database showed F space pickups for possible LP replacement.
 
I thought Gibson changed bridge spacing at the time the Abr to Tom swap happened, and bridge pickups for the T number designation to designate the difference. I could be way off on that, but I read it somewhere.
 
Have you checked this with Gibson? I doubt it's true. Changing the spacing would kill sales of new Gibson pickups to all the people who need to replace old ones, swap 490s with 57s, and upgrade Asian guitars. It would make Seymour Duncan a lot more than it would make Henry J.
 
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Wyatt said:
It wouldn't have mattered anyway. F-spaced HB's and traditional Gibson humbuckers are interchangeable; only the pole spacing changes (3mm for F-Scpaed). F-Spaced original stood for Floyd-spaced, IIRC.

It was the Fender "Wide Range" HB that used a completely different route.
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I did read online that the F-spaced pickups would basically work just the same anyway. Apparently the magnetic field is what is most important. And since it is basically elliptically shaped it would encompass the entire vibrational pattern of each string.
There was one forum post I read where a guy was able to test wether there was a difference in what was picked up by each pickup using a meter of some sort. He says there was no appreciable difference.
 
Knox in Box said:
I seriously doubt that they are retooling and restandardizing tuneomatic bridges. I'm with the AL model theory, the person at Dimarzio wasn't good at getting himself across or didn't know why his computer database showed F space pickups for possible LP replacement.
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Tiltsta said:
I thought Gibson changed bridge spacing at the time the Abr to Tom swap happened, and bridge pickups for the T number designation to designate the difference. I could be way off on that, but I read it somewhere.
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From what I understand (from something I read online...so you know it's true...lol) is that somewhere in the late 90's this change happened (iirc). If that's true I find it hard to believe that I have never heard about it until today! Who knows, maybe they changed and went back to the original spacing shortly afterwards. Idk...doesn't seem like that makes any sense though.
 
jp_nyc said:
Have you checked this with Gibson? I doubt it's true. Changing the spacing would kill sales of new Gibson pickups to all the people who need to replace old ones, swap 490s with 57s, and upgrade Asian guitars. It would make Seymour Duncan a lot more than it would make Henry J.
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I haven't checked this with Gibson but it's probably worth an email. I'd like to know what the actual story is.
Like you said, it doesn't do Gibson any good to change the design now, when it would basically make swapping pickups a complete shit show for them. There's no benefit to Gibson...
 
gtrjunior said:
I did read online that the F-spaced pickups would basically work just the same anyway. Apparently the magnetic field is what is most important. And since it is basically elliptically shaped it would encompass the entire vibrational pattern of each string.
There was one forum post I read where a guy was able to test wether there was a difference in what was picked up by each pickup using a meter of some sort. He says there was no appreciable difference.
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This has always been my belief. I buy traditional Gibson-space HB's only, much easier to sell if I need to.
 
Wyatt said:
This has always been my belief. I buy traditional Gibson-space HB's only, much easier to sell if I need to.
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The shop I bought the pickups from emailed me back yesterday and said that as far as he knows Gibson has ALWAYS used the standard spacing.
 
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