I took some measurements last night of the pole spacing on the stock pickups of my Corona Starfire. I am pretty sure GAD has already done all the leg work on this but it is spread out over several threads. I thought it might be helpful to iterate his findings.
The stock Fender / Guild pickups have a pole spacing of 1 7/8 inch and the strings look like they lay right over the tops of the poles. The pickups are stamped Guild on the bottom for what it is worth.
Standard humbuckers have pole spacings of 1 31/32 and the strings do not line up directly over the poles. My Blues Bird has SD's and they do not line up directly under the strings. My Epi DOT has 57's and the poles do not line up directly under the strings.
This is why GAD had his Fender / Guilds rewound - he (me too) wanted to keep the stock pickup covers but they would not properly overlay a standard humbucker.
So as GAD has already shown us - if you have the Fender / Guild Pickups and want to keep the covers you will have to have the stock pickups rewound. I spoke to a rep at Lollar and I think they will do it but I got a feeling it will not be inexpensive. I did not go that far with the conversation. Probably best to pick up a quality set of pickups and put them in. Hang on to the originals and in 20 years put em back in when you decide to sell it as vintage which ultimately you will regret.
I picked up a Marshall Class 5 and took it to a Blues Jam on Saturday. My IV even with it's inferior pickups is a thing of joy. It plays and sounds great.
The stock Fender / Guild pickups have a pole spacing of 1 7/8 inch and the strings look like they lay right over the tops of the poles. The pickups are stamped Guild on the bottom for what it is worth.
Standard humbuckers have pole spacings of 1 31/32 and the strings do not line up directly over the poles. My Blues Bird has SD's and they do not line up directly under the strings. My Epi DOT has 57's and the poles do not line up directly under the strings.
This is why GAD had his Fender / Guilds rewound - he (me too) wanted to keep the stock pickup covers but they would not properly overlay a standard humbucker.
So as GAD has already shown us - if you have the Fender / Guild Pickups and want to keep the covers you will have to have the stock pickups rewound. I spoke to a rep at Lollar and I think they will do it but I got a feeling it will not be inexpensive. I did not go that far with the conversation. Probably best to pick up a quality set of pickups and put them in. Hang on to the originals and in 20 years put em back in when you decide to sell it as vintage which ultimately you will regret.
I picked up a Marshall Class 5 and took it to a Blues Jam on Saturday. My IV even with it's inferior pickups is a thing of joy. It plays and sounds great.
