Suhr Aldrich pups...53 vs 55 mm? Help

  • Thread starter Thread starter TrentBizzle
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TrentBizzle
TrentBizzle
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Hello all,
I'm wanting to try an Aldrich bridge in a standard les Paul. Im not educated when it comes to pickups, so could someone please school me on what the 50 vs 53 mm size difference is all about? Which will I need for my Lester?
Also...I know the Aldrich is tappable...can I do that while keeping my stock neck pup the same? Do I need to change anything else before I get this installed?

Thanks
 
TrentBizzle":2gaspf8t said:
Hello all,
I'm wanting to try an Aldrich bridge in a standard les Paul. Im not educated when it comes to pickups, so could someone please school me on what the 50 vs 53 mm size difference is all about? Which will I need for my Lester?
Also...I know the Aldrich is tappable...can I do that while keeping my stock neck pup the same? Do I need to change anything else before I get this installed?

Thanks
Click to expand...
50mm has always been standard Gibson and 53 Standard Fender. Most tremolos use a 53mm bridge. Neck is almost always 50mm. I have never had a problem figuring out which bridge I need by using Google.
 
Even though gibson is not a trem I think the bridge is 53. Get a tape measure and measure from center of high E to low E
 
50mm is correct for a Les Paul. And yes, you can split the coils on the Aldrich without having to change the neck pickup in any way. Just get a push-pull pot and you can use it in the bridge position only.
 
you can put either in LPs. I have a 50 in mine...I've got a buddy with a 53.

It's just like F-Spaced vs Non F-Spaced
completely cosmetic so that your strings line up with pole pieces.
 
Newer Les Pauls (at least sincd 2000) use the 53mm spacing. The Aldrich I had in my LP was 53mm, and lined up perfectly with the strings.
 
SFW":1f1ikh9e said:
Newer Les Pauls (at least sincd 2000) use the 53mm spacing. The Aldrich I had in my LP was 53mm, and lined up perfectly with the strings.
Click to expand...
Damn it . . . now I'm confused. After reading this thread I thought I had it all figured out and was ready to spring for a set of 50mm for my 2003 Les Paul Classic with the Tune-O-Matic, then I got to SFW's post above :confused:.

Can someone who perhaps has several sets of these or who knows for sure tell me what size I need if I want the pole pieces to line up correctly with the strings? And the neck pickup is always 50mm, correct? So we're actually just talking about the bridge pickup size here?
 
Hello. I just put a set in my 2011 Traditional Standard Les Paul and the 50mm spacing worked great. I highly recommend splitting the pickups because they are without a doubt one of the best split humbuckers on market. Hope this helps.
 
Either will work and will sound the same....it's only 3mm difference.
 
LP Freak":33wu7kv3 said:
Either will work and will sound the same....it's only 3mm difference.
Click to expand...
Thanks . . . and yes, and I do have pickups that don't line up that sound fine to me (would they sound better if I had the exact same pickup only wth the proper spacing? Damned if I know). But if I'm going to pay $200+ for a set of pickups, then I want them to look and sound as best they can if I have a choice (and I do!).

Besides, if "it's only 3mm", then why does Suhr go through the trouble of making both 50mm and 53mm spacing? And what about all the other manufacturers who make all of those F-Spaced pickups that are also "only 3mm difference"? They must know something we don't ;) . . .
 
DrugDM":1oijsz9j said:
Hello. I just put a set in my 2011 Traditional Standard Les Paul and the 50mm spacing worked great. I highly recommend splitting the pickups because they are without a doubt one of the best split humbuckers on market. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Thanks . . . so you mean wiring them so that both pickup are coil-tapped with the selector switch in the middle position?

I'm wondering if SFW has a non-standard nut or bridge. I called a local guitar shop that I frequent, and they told me that 50mm is the proper size for a Les Paul. So that's the size I'm going with. :thumbsup:
 
SFW":39196ual said:
Newer Les Pauls (at least sincd 2000) use the 53mm spacing. The Aldrich I had in my LP was 53mm, and lined up perfectly with the strings.
Click to expand...

This is the first time I have heard this, not saying it isn't true. I put 50mm Aldrich in both my Les Pauls, one is a '73LP custom and the other is a '03 Standard LE and pot pole pieces lined up.

For HughJasol. E-mail luxtone and ask them. http://www.luxxtone.com/
 
Concerning the coil taps, I had push-pulls installed on the bridge and neck volume pots so I could get a variety of sounds and combinations. Suhr pickups use same diagrams as Seymour Duncan's and there are a ton of wiring options on the Duncan site.

joseph
 
Sounds like the split coil config is a must-do! :rock:

What do you all recommend for quality pots for the push/pull configuration? Do either Gibson or CTS make what I need? Do they make pots that turn into 250K-ohm pots when pulled up for the split setting (or do I even want that)?
 
LP Freak":3ubmrkly said:
The Aldridge sound great when split. :rock:
Click to expand...

+1 I love my Aldrich pickups split, use them that way a lot.

I used used 500k push pull tone pots from guitar parts resource for mine. I like to have the one pot as the push pull versus the volume pots.
 
HughJasol":278g047h said:
Sounds like the split coil config is a must-do! :rock:

What do you all recommend for quality pots for the push/pull configuration? Do either Gibson or CTS make what I need? Do they make pots that turn into 250K-ohm pots when pulled up for the split setting (or do I even want that)?
Click to expand...

Bourns and Alpha both make very good push-pull pots. You don't need it to become 250k when you split it, 500k works just fine.
 
luxxtone":361rymgx said:
50mm is correct for a Les Paul. And yes, you can split the coils on the Aldrich without having to change the neck pickup in any way. Just get a push-pull pot and you can use it in the bridge position only.
Click to expand...

Although I would highly recommend having the coil-split switch wired up to split the neck pickup as well (that is if it's an Aldrich or a humbucker too). It sounds so damn good. In fact I'm enhancing it further by getting a middle pickup & 5-way pickup switch installed. The closest I can get to that Glassy Fender Twang without using a fair dinkum Stratocaster. I hope it gets finished soon...
 
luxxtone":31c0nl7h said:
Just get a push-pull pot and you can use it in the bridge position only.
Click to expand...
Is there any reason I can't have a push/pull for the bridge pickup, and then another for the neck pickup?

For me, I think the tone pots would be better candidates for the push/pulls than the volume pots in order to lessen the chance of inadvertantly pushing them in.
 
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