How do I know if my guitar pickups are F Spaced or not?

Hi all. I have a set of F spaced PAF humbuckers knocking around, and thinking of putting them in either a Squier Toronado (which I would imagine is very much F spaced) or an Ibanez Jetking 4. I am not sure if the bolt on Ibanez models would be F spaced. I am going to guess yes..

Measure the distance between centres of the outer pole pieces.

F-spaced pickups should be 53mm or thereabouts.

SteveRobinson said:

Measure the distance between centres of the outer pole pieces.

F-spaced pickups should be 53mm or thereabouts.

Thanks, on bridge or neck usually?

F-spaced pickups are generally used at the bridge position where the string spread is wider, not that it matters all that much.

Thanks!

Creed_Clicks said:

I am not sure if the bolt on Ibanez models would be F spaced. I am going to guess yes..

Measure the string spacing at the bridge. 50-53mm is Gibson spacing, 54-57mm is Fender spacing, roughly - close enough to tell you which type of pickup is best. It only matters for the bridge pickup, the string spacing has narrowed enough at the neck pickup that there's no need to use an F-spaced pickup.

You don't even *really* need an F-spaced one for the bridge even in a Fender-spaced guitar, but it can look a little odd if the E strings don't go over the polepieces, and sometimes it can make a small difference to the sound. (Though not much.) Otherwise, as long as the string passes over some part of the polepiece, even right at the edge, it makes no difference.

The Fender Big Apple and Double Fat Stratocasters used the Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Plus humbucker in the bridge position. Despite being commissioned by Fender to their specifications, this pickup has regular polepiece spacing.

Thanks all. So I measure the strings at the bridge, and they appear to have a spacing of 50mm E to E. But does these photos look odd to you? I tried to get the angle of the phone as level as possible above the strings.
The side of the fretboard and the string spacing look pretty good up up the neck from top to bottom, but you can see the low E string is not over the polepieces on the neck or bridge....

Either the bridge is fitted in slightly the wrong place or the neck is out of alignment - the strings are too far towards the treble side over the end of the neck as well.

Will the neck move in the pocket at all? The headstock needs to be pulled towards the bass side. The misalignment over the bridge pickup makes me think it's more to do with the bridge though.

The low E *is* over the polepieces - it's not centred, but it is over them. It won't make any difference to the sound.

Funkfingers said:

The Fender Big Apple and Double Fat Stratocasters used the Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Plus humbucker in the bridge position. Despite being commissioned by Fender to their specifications, this pickup has regular polepiece spacing.

True, but by design. I used to spend time on one of the US forums, and Evan Skopp (who had a hand in designing the PG+ and worked at both Fender and Seymour Duncan) contributed to the thread. The concept of a slightly over wound Pearly Gates was proposed by someone in Fender sales, and as the pickup was overwound the inductance changed and also the tonality, hence the substitution of an A5 magnet (instead of A2) for the PG+. When they finished prototyping the PG+ they realised they had essentially got to almost identical specs as the '59, but Fender wanted what they wanted so the PG+ does exist even though in reality it is just a '59. Anyway, it was designed for the modern Fenders with 52.5mm spaced bridges (Strat models based off the US Standard - Lonestars, Big Apples etc), hence why they went with 50mm spacing rather than the wider F-spacing. If you try a 50mm spaced bridge pickup with a 52.5mm bridge the 'e' strings tend to sit over their respective pole pieces, but towards the outer edge. With an F-spaced pickup and a 52.5mm spaced bridge the 'e' strings again tend to sit over their respective pole pieces, but towards the inner edge. Obviously with a vintage 56mm spaced bridge an F-spaced pickup will be more appropriate, but with a modern 52.5mm spaced bridge it just doesn't matter.

I've had the Pearly Gates Plus in a couple of Strats and quite like them - they sit well tonally with regular Strat pickups, probably because they are essentially a '59 - I much prefer the '59 over the regular Pearly Gates.

On 1970s Telecasters fitted with Wide Range pickups the strings entirely missed the outer E string pole pieces and they sound fine. it's a looks thing only. 
For folks information pickup bobbins/covers are sold in 47.5, 49.2, 50, 51.5, 52 and 52.5mm so the whole thing really is as confusing as it looks.  

Thanks for the info all. I failed to ask the luthier to check the neck v the pickup spacing. Maybe he should have spotted it! But he only did what I asked him to do in fairness.

Creed_Clicks said:

Thanks for the info all. I failed to ask the luthier to check the neck v the pickup spacing. Maybe he should have spotted it! But he only did what I asked him to do in fairness.

It’s only very slight - not a real problem and is unlikely to affect playability at all - and better than if the misalignment is the other way, since when you bend strings you push them away from the treble side.

Most people wouldn’t even notice that sort of thing - either the pickups or the strings - since it won’t affect the way the guitar sounds or plays 

@ICBM the guitar plays pretty well. I just noticed it and can't unsee it now! Like a crooked tuning peg!