Comments on raised vs. flat pole pieces in single-coil pickups
I did extensive testing on the raised pole piece question with Red Rhodes* before he died. Red was a pioneer in many innovative developments in amplification and pickups. His pickups were known as Velvet Hammers, and originals are coveted by collectors and players all over the world.
He built the first Fender® pedal steel guitar with Leo Fender. He also designed the Groove Tubes Solo 75 and Studio Guitar Preamp with Speaker Emulator.
Red made the pickups in James Burton’s paisley Teles® and also the pickups in Clarence White’s Tele®. Marty Stewart now owns that guitar and I believe he still uses it all the time.
The only thing we ever found in all our experiments with raised vs. flat pole pieces was that a harsh spike in the tone was created when the poles were raised. By flattening the poles to the top of the bobbin the whole bobbin can be raised higher under the strings -- resulting in a more unified bobbin. The strings are picked up better by a combination of all the pole pieces instead of narrowing the focus to the individual magnets. It really is the bobbin as a whole that gives the tone. The magnets are just one component of the bobbin.
Flat pole pieces allow you to have the magnetic flux raised higher under the strings, in turn allowing the induced signal to come from a more even and constant string movement (interruption of magnetic flux) and thus a more even response.
*Red was also one of the great pedal steel guitarists. He was the No. 1 session call in LA for almost two decades.
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