Q: I installed a humbucking pickup in my Strat, but the strings aren’t lining up with the pole pieces — the strings are too far apart. What gives?
A: The bridge spacing on Fender-style guitars is wider than on most humbucker-equipped guitars, which use Gibson spacing. Because of this, the strings may not line up properly if you add a humbucker to a Fender-spaced guitar, particularly in the bridge position. You have two options. DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan (among others) make pickups with “F” spacing (Duncan calls them “trembuckers“) that are designed to line up with Fender bridge spacing. And some pickups use blades that run the full length of the pickup rather than individual pole pieces; these are bridge-spacing agnostic. Or, some aftermarket Fender-style bridges are made with narrower spacing to accommodate humbuckers.
