Polepieces out of alignment
- Thread starter flimbo
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DHW
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the tonepros bridges I have seen aftermarket have the set scews for roughing out intonation like the fixed intonation bridges do. With the saddles as far back as they are on the bass side you'd be able to crank the bass side down quite a bit which would angle the strings back towards the treble side. If you look at your pics the strings are off on the neck pup as well. It looks like the strings are falling to the bass side rather than the pup being shifted when looking at the strings on the neck. Is the nut places correctly? I guess it's possible the studs were set off just a couple mm.
Does it sound like the pups are misaligned?
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It sounds like you are decided on selling it so this may not be what you want to do, but it is not uncommon to cut new grooves in the slots where the string meets the bridge with a 3 corner file to get the strings where you want them. A second groove to the right of the existing grooves would work. Just a thought.
Duffy
New Member
I don't think that the strings are far off at all. This should make zero noticeable change in the sound of the strings.
When the strings are "way" off it still doesn't make much, if any, noticeable difference because of the shape of the pickup's magnetic field.
I sent a gold top Gibson back because of this problem, but - the neck was not set correctly and the strings did not track down the neck as they should. Too bad, it was a nice guitar.
If it was just the pole pieces not lining up perfectly I would have kept it. Check it out at a guitar store - many guitars do not have the strings going directly over the center of the pole pieces. There are so many different pickups, and there is some human involvement in mounting the pickups, before it is stringed up, so there must be tolerances in the mfg process that cause this slight offset to occur.
Nice guitar. I'd keep it.
When the strings are "way" off it still doesn't make much, if any, noticeable difference because of the shape of the pickup's magnetic field.
I sent a gold top Gibson back because of this problem, but - the neck was not set correctly and the strings did not track down the neck as they should. Too bad, it was a nice guitar.
If it was just the pole pieces not lining up perfectly I would have kept it. Check it out at a guitar store - many guitars do not have the strings going directly over the center of the pole pieces. There are so many different pickups, and there is some human involvement in mounting the pickups, before it is stringed up, so there must be tolerances in the mfg process that cause this slight offset to occur.
Nice guitar. I'd keep it.
sergiodeblanc
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Leave the Tonepros, take the guitar.
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Mikegarveyblues
Cream Crackered
You go from "best guitar I have ever played" to "kind of not impressed" in one swoop. Clearly you are impressed but have a couple of minor niggles.
The strings don't go over the poles perfectly? So what?! They quite often don't. It's just cosmetic.
Can't see the dots? Learn to look away from the board when you play. Of course, you'll need to refer to it sometimes.. Perhaps there's some glow in the dark ink or something you can put on there.?
Minor quibbles on a guitar you like overall.
The strings don't go over the poles perfectly? So what?! They quite often don't. It's just cosmetic.
Can't see the dots? Learn to look away from the board when you play. Of course, you'll need to refer to it sometimes.. Perhaps there's some glow in the dark ink or something you can put on there.?
Minor quibbles on a guitar you like overall.
My strings line up exactly the same and I have noticed this on many guitars over the years and I don't think it really matters. I am VERY annoyed at the difficulty there is with re-stringing the stop-tail especially the non-wounds. It is impossible to do this with the pick up in the way. I have resorted to releasing tension on all the strings then detaching the stop-tail all together so I can see to guide the string through. This really is stupid. And I have searched the net to see if others are having the same problem and this is the only reference found so far. This seems pretty odd, or have I missed something? This is my only criticism of the SE Akesson but this one thing is really pissing me off! Help...
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I don't know if the Tone Pros bridges are aftermarket on that model or not. However, it's possible that the nut itself wasn't lined up/cut precisely on the other end. That could also affect things.
In general, since we all know that PRS uses CNC machines to create/route the guitar bodies and drill the holes (I would assume, perhaps incorrectly, that the Korean factory uses CNC, too), then it's highly unlikely that the holes for the bridge or the pickups were drilled or routed in the wrong spots. A computer operated machine being what it is, it's just not gonna happen.
Where things have the possibility of going wrong are things like the nut, or the set of the neck. Not that this is a big deal worth worrying about, however, especially if the instrument plays well and sounds good!
In any case, if it's the nut, putting a new one in is very easy.
In general, since we all know that PRS uses CNC machines to create/route the guitar bodies and drill the holes (I would assume, perhaps incorrectly, that the Korean factory uses CNC, too), then it's highly unlikely that the holes for the bridge or the pickups were drilled or routed in the wrong spots. A computer operated machine being what it is, it's just not gonna happen.
Where things have the possibility of going wrong are things like the nut, or the set of the neck. Not that this is a big deal worth worrying about, however, especially if the instrument plays well and sounds good!
In any case, if it's the nut, putting a new one in is very easy.
Brad737
This space for rent...
Step 1: Remove offending pickups
Step 2: Bend the pickup legs just a bit
Step 3: Reinstall and marvel that the strings cover the pole pieces, and sounds exactly the same!
You're welcome.
Step 2: Bend the pickup legs just a bit
Step 3: Reinstall and marvel that the strings cover the pole pieces, and sounds exactly the same!
You're welcome.
I don't see how the pickup gets in the way of a string change. I don't say this to be sarcastic or hurtful, I say it seriously, do you have poor eyesight? I do have poor eyesight and I have to use a magnifying class to see the holes, but when I do I can point the string to the hole and there is room to get the string past the pickup and into the right hole. Then pull it through the other side and once you wrap it over the top of the bridge there is no pup interference.
sergiodeblanc
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Step 1: Remove offending pickups
Step 2: Bend the pickup legs just a bit
Step 3: Reinstall and marvel that the strings cover the pole pieces, and sounds exactly the same!
You're welcome.
Pretty much...
I feel with the OP, a Tonepros almost bummed me out enough to get rid of an SE that came with it, I ditched that thing for a proper PRS Stoptail bridge and wound up keeping the guitar. Get a different bridge, like a used core bridge, an you'll fall in love all over again.
Let's look at the mechanics of it. Spacing from string to string varies from maker to maker and even within the lineup of one manufacturer. Neck width plays a huge part, but even neck radious and scale length factor into comfortable string spacing. The differences may only be fractions of millimeters, but the differences are there.
PRS winds it's own pups. But think of the tooling they would have t do and the raw parts and bobbin blanks they would have to stock to make every single pole piece line up exactly across all of the model and neck and pup option combinations. All with no discernable benefit in tone.
And Paul is driven by tone as much as any other aspect in his guitars. If it made a big enough difference, he'd have started making micro-adjusted pups long ago.
I don't argue against the aesthetics of such adjustments, I just don't see the practicality of it.
On the other hand...
On this particular guitar, it looks as though the bridge studs are a milimeter off to the low E side, shifting the whole bridge that direction.
PRS winds it's own pups. But think of the tooling they would have t do and the raw parts and bobbin blanks they would have to stock to make every single pole piece line up exactly across all of the model and neck and pup option combinations. All with no discernable benefit in tone.
And Paul is driven by tone as much as any other aspect in his guitars. If it made a big enough difference, he'd have started making micro-adjusted pups long ago.
I don't argue against the aesthetics of such adjustments, I just don't see the practicality of it.
On the other hand...
On this particular guitar, it looks as though the bridge studs are a milimeter off to the low E side, shifting the whole bridge that direction.
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DHW
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Take a picture of the back of the bridge. Every image in google images of the back of the bridge on the guitar shows intonation adjustment set screws on the posts. If you shift the the 6th string side of that bridge back without changing the 1st string side it will shift the strings to the right a bit. You don't need much to get back to the center of the pole pieces. You have loads of adjustment in the saddles to compensate.
I agree that this pic makes it look like the strings are tracking down the neck slightly to the left. in the case I would be looking at the nut. If that is not the case then we are getting an optical illusion making it look more off-center than it really is.
I agree that this pic makes it look like the strings are tracking down the neck slightly to the left. in the case I would be looking at the nut. If that is not the case then we are getting an optical illusion making it look more off-center than it really is.
Ovibos
Naughty Wood Librarian
I know you said the nut is fine, but when I had the nut replaced on my SECU24 (so I could play .10s without binding) the tech pointed out to me that the high E was noticeably further in from the edge of neck than the low E. The new nut evened out the spacing better. Could make it look more straight across the polepieces in your case.
