by ScouserJoe » 03 Oct 2009, 08:47
It is interesting that a Custom Shop '56 NOS Stratocaster, which is sold as being an exact duplicate of Stratocasters built between 1956 and 1959, has Custom 50s Pick-ups with staggered pole pieces. None are the same height; the order being (highest first) D, G, Bottom E, A, Top E, B. I have owned two, the previous one, and the one I have now use the same pick-up configuration. The same arrangement continues on the Custom Shop '60 NOS Stratocasters.
I have always been told that this was to compensate for the characteristics of the heavier wound strings, and certainly from personal experience I have found that fitting a plain third to a guitar with pick-ups intended for a wound third produces an inbalance of volume from that string. Equally, I have found the reverse the case also - fitting a wound third to a guitar with pick-ups intended for a plain third produces a loss of volume on that string - as Tony encountered and mentioned in his earlier post. This theory is supported by Chris Kinman. If you order a set of pick-ups from Chris in Australia, he insists that you tell him whether you propose to use the pick-ups he is making for you with a wound or plain third. The pick-ups then supplied have either a raised or lowered G pole depending upon your request. Fender are less fussy it seems, as even NOS series instruments are supplied with 10-46 strings with a plain third - how inconsistent is that or does it just blow the theory out of the water ??
So, as Tony has commented, the flattened G pole on the 50th, consistent with 34346, is not however not consistent with Fender's current interpretation of how the guitars of the period 56-59 as reflected in their Time Machine series were produced.
I agree that it is very clear from the enlarged image from the 'Shadows To The Fore' EP that even in those early days 34346 had the pick-up configuration that it has now. But it's equally clear from any number of early Shadows' images (if evidence was ever needed) that Hank used very heavy strings with a wound third during that period. However, there's one additional thread to this mystery which I think is worth a mention ....
Take a look at the picture of The Shadows in the Hank Marvin 2000 Tour Brochure. There is an excellent shot of Hank's JMI supplied Rosewood Strat. Look at the pick-up magnets and string weights. Clearly a raised G pole and clearly heavy strings. The pick-up configuration is consistent with the current 60 NOS.
So, there's certainly a few mysteries here. Was 34346 a one-off (an odd colour and an odd pick-up configuration), was it adjusted later, or have Fender got it wrong on the '56 NOS ? I don't suppose we'll ever know. Hank produced the sound he did with the tools he had, that's all that really matters in the end isn't it ??