software

I know that you guys have swapped out magnets.... but what about pole peices?
They do all make different sounds, right? Look at the Full-Shred, the Invader, Screamin Demon, Dimarzio models and so forth. Has anyone ever tried swapping these out and if so did they hear a difference???
-h

Yes, the size of the pole piece WILL make a difference. One thing I noticed some time back is that the size of the head of Duncan pole pieces is a good deal smaller than Gibson pole piece heads.

Grab one of each and hold them up next to each other. The diameter of the Duncan is slightly less but more importantly, the Gibson head is about 1.5 times deeper/taller, however you want to put it.

The Gibson poles will give you a shade more beefy tone.

It also matters how long the pole piece is. Grind about 1/4quot; off the end (not the head, the OTHER end) of your pole pieces and it will make the tone a good deal beefier without losing any treble.

I'm changing the pole pieces in my invader this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes. Most have told me that the large poles are what give the Invader its huge but possibly muddy low end. I've changed the magnets already, and the basic tone is still the same.

I had a Demon that I took the hex screws out of. It changed the sound, made it beefier. Polepeice material affect big time.

I love a split bridge bucker combined with a middle single. Next stop: stratville. So my fave mod is replacing screws on the inside coil with Alnico 5 poles.

I swapped the pole pieces from my Breed and my PAF Pro, I didn't notice a sound difference, but I did it for cosmetic reasons...

I have thought about swapping half the pole pieces from a Dirty Fingers and Full Shred... They would look the same then... Kinda like Screamin' Demon...

Well I just put a row of regular screw head polepieces in my invader, and what a difference. There is so much more clarity and bite, it's amazing. Everyone should try some polepiece mods. It seems to do a lot more for the tone of a pickup, than a magnet change.

well my SD-59 pole pieces are too long so i gotta cut some length off so that the pickup will fit in my wolfgang. I had to get the short ear pickup, so becuz of this the pole pieces are longer than the ears by about a hair,(a little more actually) but enough to stop the pickup from sitting flat. it teeter totters on me.

I guess i should cut off the least amount possible right?
What about if took them out to cut them to isze, how would i put them back to factory settings?

thanks


Originally Posted by FireBros.Well I just put a row of regular screw head polepieces in my invader, and what a difference. There is so much more clarity and bite, it's amazing. Everyone should try some polepiece mods. It seems to do a lot more for the tone of a pickup, than a magnet change.

Did you remove all the hex caps, or just one row?

I changed the hex poles closest to the bridge on my bridge position full shred for a set of the screw head pole pieces and it gave it a thicker sound but it still retains plenty of the clarity and bite that I love th FS for. Changing pole pices is always a cool experiment, it's easily done and easily reversible, it will usually give a noticable diffence in tone as well.


Originally Posted by Nigel TufnelI changed the hex poles closest to the bridge on my bridge position full shred for a set of the screw head pole pieces and it gave it a thicker sound but it still retains plenty of the clarity and bite that I love th FS for. Changing pole pices is always a cool experiment, it's easily done and easily reversible, it will usually give a noticable diffence in tone as well.

Yeah, I did the same thing with my Full Shred with a set of poles from a Mighty Mite P-90. Beefed it up really nicely and took a lot of the shrillness out of it. I like it much better now. Been thinking about getting some more pole pieces from Stew Mac and changing the other side, too.


Originally Posted by JB_From_HellDid you remove all the hex caps, or just one row?
just one row for now