F spaced pickups vs regular spacing

What is the difference and what guitars have F-space pups? Better yet, what are they? Like what would I get for my RG350MZ YE? F-spaced or normal?

Sorry if it`s a stupid question!

Thanks!

1 - For your guitar, you need F spaced in the bridge only. The neck pickup can be normal OR F-Spaced.

2 - It refers to how far apart the polepieces are. An F-spaced pickup has a wider spread than a "normal" or "Gibson spaced" pickup. At the bridge, this means you need the polepieces to be moved because otherwise they aren't under the strings. Futher away from the bridge this matters less as the strings taper towards the nut.

Dimarzio said:

F-spaced pickups measure 2.01" (51 mm) center-to-center from the first polepiece to the sixth. Standard-spaced pickups measure 1.90" (48 mm).

I use F spaced for both positions in anything from Ibanez with a trem. Gibson used a narrower spacing as bizarre alluded to. Fender chose to use a wider spacing, hence F spaced.

And....it doesn't affect tone as much as people think. You do get a little better string response, but it's mostly cosmetic.

And....it doesn't affect tone as much as people think. You do get a little better string response, but it's mostly cosmetic.

I'd have to go with 100% cosmetic.

I had this argument with a classmate when I was in college studying electronics and I could hear no difference, and he insisted that the E strings were clearer/louder on F spaced.

So, we plugged a guitar into an o-scope, used a small weighted hammer (on a hinge) to strike the strings for consistency... then replaced the pickup with the same type but F-spaced and did the same test... and except for what you would expect the variance to be between manufacturing, the E-strings were no better balanced on the F-spaced compared to the regular spacing.

Of course this was one test done with only one guitar and two pickups... but it was good enough for me.

I think those that say they can hear the difference are simply victims of suggestion... but that being said: I do believe that if you think you're hearing something, even if it not truly there; you're still hearing it... because your mind processes it as such.

It's like those of us that get flu symptoms after a flu shot. Sometimes it's your body reacting to the shot, other times it's psychological... in either case; you still feel like you have the flu so it's the same difference.

I don't think it's purely cosmetic. If it was why would they bother making more than one type? I have a set of standard spaced Duncan 59s on a RG270DX and I lose volume on my high E only when picking downward. Picking upward it sounds fine. If they were F-spaced I would be more within the magnetic field.

I think it depends on exactly how the guitar lays out. On this one this pups line up a little more to the top edge of the guitar so it compounds the issue. I don't think it effects tone, just how well the signal is picked up on some guitars.

Check it on a meter.

Every time I've checked a meter I saw little to no difference.

Not nearly enough difference that I heard anything.

Could be I just got 'lucky' with the guitars I've tried it with... when we did it with the o-scope there was a difference between the p/ups themselves, but the output of the strings remained fairly balanced between them. (You do always get variance in string-to-string volume, but what we found was the E strings didn't drop any more or less no matter the spacing.)

Another thought...

Most p/ups have adjustable pole pieces... no pickup can be perfectly balanced, no matter the spacing since different guitars and string gauges will have different variations in amplitude from string to string... raise the pole under your E string and you'll most likely get better balance.

Buy an X2N and don't worry about it.

Buy an X2N and don't worry about it.

I've got one and love it. Looks cooler than any other pickup in my opinion.

I've got one and love it. Looks cooler than any other pickup in my opinion.

And as we all know; looking cool is the most important thing.

And as we all know; looking cool is the most important thing.

QFT !

I've got one and love it. Looks cooler than any other pickup in my opinion.

I had one and eventually finished by selling after 10 years of service because I found better (but with less output...)8)

I had one and eventually finished by selling after 10 years of service because I found better (but with less output...)8)

I am also getting better results with a little lower output pickups. The overall tone is better and if I need hotter, up goes the gain.

Yes with my EVO2 I've more arcticulation, and in my Kawai I've got a norton with gives great results or bad ones according to the cab modelling I'm setting up with my flextone 3.
The EVO2 is great in all configurations!