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Sloppy work on Gibson’s part. Les Paul’s and 335s don’t come that way, my L5 had a little of that pathologic tilt and my VOS 175 had it as bad as yours. I read about a Dan Erlewine technique a few years back where you tape sandpaper over the top at the location where the pickup sits and (flipping the ring around) sand it to contour properly before securing it again. worked for me, the L5 needed only a little, 175 a bit more and now they are both parallel to the strings.
it makes no sense that it would done on purpose. That’s what adjustable pole pieces are for! I think it’s just poor fitment. Those rings are probably meant for a higher volume product like a Les Paul and just get used on 175s as a matter of convenience.
I can’t say I could hear much difference afterwards, but there IS a difference with a pole piece setup for string balance. If Gibson REALLY was concerned about pickup plane angles, they would build a humbucker with 4 screws for a tilt adjustment instead of the wobbly center screw arrangement currently.
Bothersome to look at, as well, like having your shirt collar flipped up on one side or when your friend has something green stuck in their teeth.
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02-09-2020 10:01 AM
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Originally Posted by yebdox
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My L5 has this tilt too and it’s a wonderful guitar. I don’t want to mess with perfection.
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The bottom line is that the pickup will work either way. It's mostly aesthetics, but having both coils the same distance from the strings might theoretically give a better tone, but better tone is entirely subjective. The owner of the guitar is free to set it up however (s)he wants, and it works either way.
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I would flip that ring around. Many of these guitars have that slant to some degree or another, I think this one is a little extreme and I would flip it. If you have never removed a humbucker from its ring and tried to put it back, be warned, it's not fun. If the spring is way too long, you can snip a bit off to make it easier.
Last edited by Woody Sound; 02-10-2020 at 10:49 AM.
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Seeing all these pickup rings the wrong way around is making my OCD go crazy. I can't understand why Gibson get this wrong. It has little effect on the actual sound or functionality of the instrument, it's mostly aesthetic, but to me looks really sloppy on an otherwise fine instrument.
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Originally Posted by entresz
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Originally Posted by Woody Sound
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Ok. More evidence that Gibson is not stupid, cheap, nor lazy when it comes to pickup mounting on its archtop electric guitars. Check out forum member Marty Grass’s beautiful and rare Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster:
This guitar is a meticulously crafted masterpiece in every way. Check out the tilt of the neck and middle pickup rings. No way this is sloppiness or negligence. Very intentional positioning of the pickups to accommodate the player’s picking hand. I’m convinced it’s a feature, not a defect.
Here’s my ‘59 ES-175:
Again: feature, not defect.
Roli
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one man's feature is another man's defective bug.
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I sold the '59 VOS and bought a 2017 standard model. The pup angle had nothing to do with the decision but just fwiw the 2017 doesn't have 'the feature'.
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Originally Posted by rolijen
I get the OCD concept of "I need my pickups to look parallel to the strings or I'm going to lose it!" But somehow the tilt is out there and it works just fine.
Enharmonics
Today, 09:59 AM in Theory