-- Sam Ash, a musical instrument retailer established in 1924, released their latest musician's guide to explain the purpose of angled or slanted pickups found on Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars. The resource examines this distinctive design feature that many guitarists notice but few fully understand.
For more information, visit https://www.samash.com/spotlight/why-some-guitars-have-slanted-or-angled-pickups
The guide traces this design element back to Leo Fender, who first implemented angled pickups for specific tonal benefits rather than aesthetic reasons. This configuration improves sound by emphasizing treble frequencies on higher strings while accentuating bass frequencies on lower strings, resulting in a more balanced tonal profile across all strings.
Single coil pickups, particularly those in the bridge position, are most commonly found at an angle. This positioning helps counteract their naturally bright characteristics, preventing thin bass response and overly harsh treble. Humbuckers and P90 pickups, which produce inherently warmer tones, rarely require this angled positioning, Sam Ash explains.
Historically, the Telecaster (originally named the Broadcaster) was the first electric guitar featuring angled pickups, with the Stratocaster later adopting this design. The guide also notes how certain guitarists adapted this concept, including Eddie Van Halen, who angled a humbucker on his 1974 Frankenstein guitar partly to address pole spacing alignment with string spacing.
"Another suspected reason for the implementation of slanted pickups was the amplifiers at the time," observes the author. These days, amps are voiced in such a way that allows guitar players to have good response both with lower and higher strings. But back in the '40s and the '50s, guitar amps...lacked brightness and balance between the low and high parts of the spectrum."
The physics behind pickup positioning relates directly to how electric guitars generate sound, the guide also says. Pickups detect string vibrations through their magnetic field, converting this movement into electrical signals. The position where a pickup captures these vibrations significantly affects the tonal character: bridge pickups capture more treble frequencies due to the strings' tighter vibration pattern near the bridge, while neck pickups detect fuller, bassier vibrations.
Angling the pickup creates a graduated effect across the strings. When the bridge pickup is angled with the bass side toward the neck, lower strings produce warmer tones while higher strings maintain clarity. This subtle but significant design choice demonstrates Leo Fender's attention to tonal balance, Sam Ash notes.
The guide also addresses practical considerations for guitarists considering pickup modifications. Understanding the relationship between pickup angle and string spacing proves particularly valuable when installing aftermarket pickups or when dealing with different bridge configurations.
For additional information about Sam Ash and their selection of musical instruments, visit https://www.samash.com
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Release ID: 89165343