by abstamaria » 05 Jul 2012, 10:59
Let me restate what I summarized above, based on what I understand. There are perhaps five stagger styles:
1. The "vintage" stagger, with the D and G polepieces highest, the B sunk into the cover, and the high E just slightly above or flush with the cover. This seems to have been introduced in 1956 or perhaps earlier (see 3 below), discontinued in 1974, but resurrected in the 1980s. What might hav e required the stagger initially was flat-wound strings, including the wound third. The reason for the resurrection, says Fender, is the advent of brighter-sounding wound strings and new (I assume flatter) fingerboard radii.
2. The zero stagger, pointed out by Chris in Charlie Hall's forum and noted by Fender below, where the pole pieces are level across the width (and Chris says protrude from the pickup cover by 1.9mm), introduced in 1974 and still found on models such as the Highway 1.
3. The “custom” (as Geoff notes) stagger, with G, B, and E flush with the cover, introduced in 2000.
4. The unusual (“hybrid”?) stagger found on Hank’s guitar, which is similar to the vintage stagger, but has the G pole pushed downward so that it matches the high E in height. The G polepiece is “pushed in" because it protrudes from the bottom of the pickup. According to Gary, these may have been usual on 1954-55 Strats.
5. The 5th style is identical to #4 and is found in the Oasis CRS Strats (which copy Hank’s Strat), but is different in that all the polepieces are flush with the bottom of the pickup (i.e, the G polepiece is not “pushed-in). The E and G poles are about 1mm above the pup cover and the B about 1 mm below, according to Keith.
I hope that’s correct.
Fender’s site explains the need for “stagger.” You probably have all read their explanation (link is below), but let me quote it for your convenience:
“One of the biggest is that since string height corresponds to a guitar's fingerboard radius, the strings themselves vary in their height above the pickups. Their arc across the width of the fingerboard results in the middle strings (D and G in particular) sitting higher above the pickups than the bass and treble strings, so it makes sense to raise their polepieces a bit in order to ensure consistent volume.
"We also mentioned historical precedent. Staggered-polepiece pickups were standard on Stratocasters for 20 years before they were replaced by straight-across-flush-pole pickups in 1974. They didn't come back until the early 1980s. The Telecaster received staggered polepieces in the 1960s.
"Also, light-gauge and round-wound guitar strings didn't exist when the Stratocaster was introduced in 1954. At that time, the third string (G) was flat-wound like the E, A and D strings, but its output was lower, so Fender compensated by raising the polepiece under that string. Once light-gauge sets with unwound G strings became available years later, the same staggering arrangement was no longer necessary. The later introduction of brighter-sounding round-wound strings also affected polepiece height preferences. And since fingerboard radius options have changed since the 1950s, so too have pickup staggering arrangements. It's not at all uncommon today for polepiece arrangements to be referred to as vintage, hybrid or custom staggers."
So sorry for what is probably redundant and already well-known, but I hope this is useful in the meantime and will provide a starting point for a later, more accurate summary.
Andy
Last edited by
abstamaria on 19 Oct 2019, 17:40, edited 7 times in total.
stra5414.jpg
Like Keith said 56 NOS are not common 
