Adjusting pickup positions for scale length.

[fretmeister]

I am really enjoying my Ibanez 32 inch scale Mezzo. So much that I'm thinking of getting more.

But I'm thinking of buying to modify. Couldn't buy the parts for under £300 so it seems like a cheap way of getting a good body, great neck, tuners etc etc. Just need to get a new scratchplate / pickup etc.

 

I'm tempted to kind of make a 32 scale stingray. 

There are plenty of diagrams around showing accurate pickup positioning for 34 inch scale. If I want to adjust that for 32 inch, is it as simple as applying a percentage difference the same as the percentage difference between 32 and 34 inches?

Or is there something else I need to consider?

 

The OCD in me is already worried that a standard stingray pickup - built for 34 inch scale - will actually have the coils too far apart at 32 inches!  

(I spent a good hour thinking about using a narrower dual coil like a Nordy before I got over myself!).

[BassApprentice]

On 08/06/2020 at 20:30, ikay said:

That would be interesting, give it a go! For 30" scale (762mm) the Stingray pickup position should be 303mm from the 12th fret to centreline of the pickup. Bear in mind that the Bronco in standard form has 18mm string spacing, but the neck is just about wide enough to take a regular 19mm bridge. I think the Kent Armstrong has full width bar magnets so that should work with any string spacing.

I was going to do something similar with a Bronco project. Not sure if this is helpful but thought I would share when I asked about the Ray sweet spot in 30"

[Cuzzie]

I think @scrumpymike has a short scale Ray, maybe he could do Some measurements, or track it down somehow.

The you’ll have the plans for a 34 and a 30, should be able to work out a 32 from that near as poss?

[JohnDaBass]

Here is a Excel I picked up somewhere which lists Pickup positions.

I would guess that, since the distance from the 12th fret to the pole pieces of the front coil on a 34 ins Stingray is 332mm, the distance from the 12th fret for a 32ins scale would be 307mm (332 - 25mm).

On a 32ins scale the 12th fret is 16ins between the fret and the bridge, so the difference of 1ins ( 25.4mm) should be used to reduce the front poles piece dimension , 332 -25 = 307.

It would be helpful to support this theory if @scrumpymike could measure the distance from 12th fret to front pole piece on his 30.5 ins scale Stingray.

If the theory works the dimension should be  332-50= 282mm 

P.S. I measured my MM USA Sterling and it was 335mm

Pickup position.xlsx

[JohnDaBass]

BTW while reviewing the spreadsheet again it's interesting to note that Leo Fender moved the distance between the 12th fret and the front coil pole pieces from 332mm to 344mm when he moved from MusicMan to G & L , Stingray 332mm and G & L L1500 344mm.

Just saying!

[fretmeister]

51 minutes ago, JohnDaBass said:

BTW while reviewing the spreadsheet again it's interesting to note that Leo Fender moved the distance between the 12th fret and the front coil pole pieces from 332mm to 344mm when he moved from MusicMan to G & L , Stingray 332mm and G & L L1500 344mm.

Just saying!

interesting!

I wonder if that was to be able to put the neck pickup where he wanted it, or whether the bridge pickup tightness was what he was looking for.

[Cuzzie]

Having lived with the L1500 and the god awful nails on blackboard screechiness of it and it’s preamp, I have no idea What he was thinking, probably other than compensating for his hearing loss, in particular high end hearing loss

[Cuzzie]

In fact, for those of you that watched Friends - they should have called the L1500 Janice