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Single Coil Pickup Flatwork - 52mm Pole Spacing
Single Coil Pickup Flatwork


 
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Description Technical Specs
 

Main Description

These are fibre boards for making traditional single coils - sometimes called flat work, or "vulcanised rubber board" - they act as the top and bottom of the single coil pickup, as found on a Stratocaster®, and require magnetic poles to be "pressed" into the holes to turn them into pickup frames.

We supply, but do not fit, the eyelets with these boards - simply because everyone has their own process of installing the things, and, honestly, its best practise to fit eyelets AFTER installing the poles (this ensures you have a flat, square reference face when installing the poles)

Fender®, Squier®, Stratocaster® and Telecaster® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and Axesrus® has no affiliation with FMIC

A deeper look

On the face of it, extremely simple bits of kit – stick some magnets in the holes, boards on the top and bottom… wazz some wire on there, and you’ve made a pickup! Lovely!
But like most things with guitars, whilst on the whole its pretty straight forward, there are always a few things that make them a bit weird.

1.Pole spacing
Fibre boards “officially” come in one pole spacing, 52mm, measured centre to centre, E to e pole. It's what was used on the first Stratocaster®, and it’s lasted the test of time.

Weirdly – it’s not actually “correct”. Pole spacing with pickups is pretty academic, the poles don’t have to line up with the strings, simply because it doesn’t change how they sound, and most guitars are slightly out either way. However,  on the original Stratocaster®, they were VERY “out” – string spacing at the saddles was 56.4mm, and by the point of the strings hitting the neck, they’re around 50mm. Usually, only the middle pickup aligns perfectly with the string spacing.

Now, that’s only on older guitars (and their subsequent re-issues!) because they were fitted with “wide” bridges! When we get into the late 80s, we see the “modern” Stratocaster® turning up with narrower string spacing at 52.38mm at the saddles - and again, the poles don’t line up!

But, obviously, that doesn’t matter one lick. Fender® didn’t bother changing the pole spacing because they’ve never lined up. Any change they made would have been purely cosmetic.

HOWEVER – when Squier® finally joined the party (and they stopped making very good historical reproductions!) around the mid 90s, they were using 52.38mm spaced bridges. Seemingly, the pole spacing vs. string spacing bothered them… and they reinvented the wheel, releasing neck and middle pickups with 50mm and in some cases, 48mm pole spacing. The poles now lined up with the strings!

Looks lovely, but it changes the way the pickups sound!

A 50mm spaced pickup has a different internal length to a pickup with 52mm spacing – its shorter, so every “wrap” of wire is shorter too, and as such, has a lower resistance.
Assuming both pickups are wound with the same number of turns (which they are!)  A 50mm single coil is now weaker, with a higher resonant peak, and a lower inductance compared to the 52mm version.

Whilst we're on the subject of single coils spacing , bear in mind that when we speak about pickups being 52mm, 50mm and 48mm spaced… this isn’t quite accurate. Officially, they’re 52.2mm, 50.2mm, and 48.2mm!

Its actually not uncommon to build up a single coil frame, test fit it in a cover, and have it not fit! What actually happens is this – when the copper goes on there (about 8000 - 9000 turns usually) it compresses the poles and causes the boards to deform – closing them up by a fraction of a mm, and turning them into the “correct” spacing’s.

2.Pole Diameter
This one catches everyone out at some point or another. Single coil poles come in potentially three different widths – 3/16” (4.75mm), 5mm and ¼” (6.35mm).
Originally, when single coils were made in the USA, imperial dimensions were used, and 3/16” was correct.
When production moved out into Japan/Korea/China, as often happens, there was a rounding error, and fibre boards/poles changed from 3/16” to 5mm.
It didn’t seem to catch on with USA produced guitars, but it did everywhere else and 5mm poles are VERY common nowadays.

It usually doesn’t cause any problems, as the covers are interchangeable between 5mm and 3/16” pickups, possibly the covers were always intended for 5mm poles.

However, it does make a difference to the sound of the things!

A pickup made with 3/16” poles has a smaller internal length and width compared with one made with 5mm poles, in the same way a 50mm spaced pickup does compared with a 52mm. You’re saving 0.25mm, which sounds tiny, but that’s enough room to fit approximately another 1000 winds on there, and tonally, that’s huge!

Also, because the poles are smaller, they contain less Iron, and as such that reduces the pickup's inductance too.

Essentially, a pickup with 3/16” poles is a completely different beast to the same coil on a 5mm pole pickup! It's normally a little brighter, a little more biting, with a higher resonant peak and a higher Q factor.

However, a 3/16” poled pickup could potentially be wound with 10% more turns. It’s a small variable, but could result in big changes!

A further variation on this to be aware of is the ¼” pole. When constructed, the internal measurement will be 1.35mm wider AND longer, compared to the 5mm poled version. Essentially,  you’ve lost the space for approximately 4000 winds, and these are huge poles, containing more iron, meaning higher inductance!

3. Colour
Traditionally, Fender wound all single coils using Black fibre boards until 1964. When they switched over to Plain enamel coated wire, it was harder to see the wire against the boards, so they switched over to grey boards on the bottom.

Nothing overly sinister about it, just something to make the winder's life easier!
From 1982, we occasionally see Red boards too – I can’t say I know much about them to be honest, but I imagine it was a similar reasoning. They’re pretty rare either way, and it would be nice to carry them, but I’m a little more interested in different sizes and shapes than I am in board colour at this point.

4. Shape
So, we’ve got three pole sizes, three pole spacings, potentially three colours… lets make it really fun! Lets have different shapes too!!

Traditionally, single coils are that shape we all know; a soft, triangular “thing”, with two holes for the eyelets at the bottom/front, and two screw holes either side for the height adjustment bolts. However, there are “side loader” single coils too! Boards where the base is a long “stick”, with the eyelets built into the ends near the mounting bolts.
Honestly, the reason why side loading boards were invented is unclear. Whilst they offer a smaller footprint without reducing the coil space, the fact is that most of these pickups are going in guitars that are near perfect copies of the original Fender® Stratocaster®, which should take the normal boards.

That being said, you do get single coils in guitars that aren’t based on the Fender® designs – pickups mounted in very tight, small routes – so I suppose that’s where the side loading boards come into their own!

5.Covers
This is a question I feel like I answer every couple of days, so lets break it down a little bit;

A.Compatibility

It’s as you imagine really; a 52mm cover is going to fit a 52mm fibre board, a 50mm fits a 50mm, a 52.5mm will fit a 52.5mm. Covers are designed to fit over 5mm poles, so they’ll accept 3/16” poles, but ¼” poles require specialist covers.

B. Colour

52mm spaced covers come in the widest range of colours – reds, blues, greens, pinks, parchments, ivory, black, white, silver, gold, beige with black spots… you name it, it’s available in 52mm!

All those lovely “Fender®” colours? They’re 52mm! Maddeningly, these colours aren’t available in 50mm, 48mm or 52.5mm spacing. The factory that makes all those nice Fendery colours doesn’t have the moulds for the other sizes; the factory that make the 50s/52.5s doesn’t have access to the specialist colours. So, if you're insisting on having a 52/50/50 set? Get your heart set on Black or white covers too!

C. Mounting 

This isn’t really covers or fibre boards “thing”, but it’s slightly interesting either way. The mounting holes on single coil boards DO NOT line up with the holes in the pickguards. – The holes in the guard for the height adjustment bolts are spaced at 78mm (and the holes in your pickguard should be 4mm diameter) but, the spacing on the pickups themselves is 76.5mm!

This is actually, entirely intentional, and has been that way since day one. I can't say I know for certain why, but I’d imagine it’s to drive the screw in at a slight angle to give a better “grip” in the threaded holes. The 6/32 UNC bolts used for mounting single coils are just over 3mm wide, so they sit slightly “in” on the 4mm holes in the pickguard, but you do get a slight angle on there. Most people never actually spot it, but if you look back at an old Stratocaster®, you can see that the counter sunk bolts used up until 1988 sat a little “wrong” in their recess, and was probably why Fender moved away from them towards dome head bolts.


Fender®, Squier®, Stratocaster® and Telecaster® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and Axesrus® has no affiliation with FMIC

How to Assemble

Using fibre boards to make pickups is an ideal that started about 80 years ago, and it was done simply because its a very cheap way of making a pickup. It was, however, never intended to be something you'd DIY, so its not exactly a user friendly process. Even before you start winding, theres a process to actually putting the "frames" together.

Youre going to need the following "tools" (Ideally...)

1. An Arbour Press - nothing too extravigant, but an arbour press isn't THAT expensive, but it'll make your life so much easier.

2. A Spacer - Something to set the height of the pickups "internal" - usually, a single coil is 11.3mm internal height, but its not exactly a critical dimension. No ones going to scream and shout if your new single coil is 11mm or 12mm, but you'll definately need "something" to stop the top fibre board compressing down too far. Most people use a couple of chunks of wood, but specialist jigs do exist, and if your doing this more then a few times, you'll want to either buy one, or make one!

And thats about it in terms of tools, but you'll obviously need your parts.

Its as expected really.

6 Pole Pieces (Usually some grade of Alnico Magnet - they'll need charging up too, but thats one for another article)

a Fibre board set (A base and a top)

A pair of eyelets to connect the coil wires to.

So, lets get stuck into it.

Bodge it?!

Right, before we start - i know there are plenty of people out there who are just winding one pickup, so i'll forgive anyone whos not wanting to buy too many specialist tools right off the bat. With that in mind, at bare minimum, your going to need either a small vice or a clamp. They'll set you back £10 to £20, but they'll pay for themselves pretty quickly

Essentially, the vice is simply used to press the poles into the boards. Its not ideal, but in a pinch? Its the only option youv'e got. Personally though, if your going to do it, do it properly! Get an arbour press.

The Problem?

Theres nothing wrong with using a vice to press the poles into place, but you hit one snag. The poles "cut" the holes in the board to ensure they are tight (hence the need for so much force to fit the things!) and because the vice doesn't allow for this waste to exit the hole, you cant actually press the pole hole entirely.

You can see the waste fibre board crushed against the bottom of the pole here. That needs scraping out (a craft knife blade makes light work of it) and the pole needs "revicing" to flush it up to the bottom of the pickup.

Wont the Arbour press do the same?

If your using an arbour press, you might actually be tempted to do the same thing too! Like this? Dont! It'll cause the same problem.

What you actually want to do, is to raise up the fibre board and press the poles "through" the base board. So your working from the bottom of the pickup "up". This will clear the "muck" and ensure a good tight fit. (you can, obviously do this with the vice too, but as the assembly becomes taller, it becomes tricker to balance everything)

"The Jig"

We build up A LOT of single coil frames, so we built a nice little jig for the job. Nothing overly flash, but it does make assembly pretty easy. 2 lumps of steel (but they could be wood or plastic or hard cheese... whatever you like!) at 11.3mm, six 5mm holes, and cut the entire thing in half so you can get it apart when your done.

I'll be using the jig in this assembly, because its the best way to do it, but everything i'm showing here is still applicable if you've just got 2 lumps of wood acting as the spacers.

So, lets get into it.

Pole 1 going in

Offer the first pole onto the fibre board, bevel going "down" sit it ontop of the jig, and press it down.

Not flush yet

The pole will still with the bottom sticking out the back. Thats perfect. It'll be nice and tight.

Do it 5 more times!

Repeat the press for the other 5 poles.

Flush it up

get the pickup flipped over, so its the right way up, and now press the fibre board down in a few different points to flush the bottom of the fibre board up with the bottom of the poles.

Celluloid Tortoise Shell Jazzmaster Pickguard

Should look like this

Nice, flush poles! Notice how we've not fitted the eyelets yet? Thats cause the eyes would cause the base to not sit flat at this point, and you'd never get the poles flush to the base.

Set internal height

We've got the metal jig here with one side missing, but you can see whats going on if it was wood or plastic- the spacer sits ontop of the base, and we're going to be pressing the top fibre board onto the poles without it going too far down. You want spacers on both sides.

Start with the middle poles

Top board goes on, and you press it down. Starting with the middle poles to avoid having to fight any misallignment, and dont worry about getting the top board down to the finished height just yet, you just want to get the tops of the taller poles started on their holes.

Is that a humbucker?!

Once we're started off, we've got to compress down completely. We use an old humbucker bobbin here, but its not essential. You could just press down the fibre board and avoid the magnets. Its just a bit of a faff.

Why?

The humbucker bobbin has a "void" internally, so when the top board it pressed down, the poles are going to shoot "up". The void lets that happen without the poles hitting the press.

There you go!

Press it down nice and hard, again, starting in the middle, then do the left and right hand sides.

Thats the height

And there you go - the poles have cut the top board, and the humbucker bobbin hasn't caused any issues or fiddling about.

Eyelets!

Now we fit the eyelets. As mentioned above, this shoudl be done only after fitting the poles to maintain the "flush" base. Pretty straightm forward all in all, stick the eyelet in the hole, wide lip facing down (although this is personal preference, installing it "wide up" risks the coil wire snagging during winding)

Squash it down.

Theres a bit of a knack to pressing in eyelets. The trick is to first press the fibre board down, not the eyelet. This ensures the eyelet is seated correctly. Once you've done that, press the top of the eyelet in two "halves" - first one side, then all together. That way, you give the deforming metal somewhere to go that isn't "down", and you avoid the eyelet being pushed out of the fibre board. Its a good tip! Use it! It'll save you from the eyes coming loose when its all solder up and unforgiving!

Finished!

There we go! One single coil frame, ready to wind!


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