The Steel Guitar Forum

I recently widened the string spacing on one of my guitars by making a new nut and bridge. I love the feel on my fingers but I noticed that the 2 strings on the outer edges are now softer than they used to be. I have an E-66 pickup, and the outer 2 strings are definitely still over the pickup. I'm guessing the pole pieces under this pickup do not go to the edge as the pickup cover might suggest? Any other ideas?

I think you have honed in on the problem. I've never seen the cover off an E-66, but it might be a good guess that you have moved the strings off the poles.

Maybe a rail is in order.

One of my customers mentioned this and thought it might be due to the outer strings being closer to the edges of the bridge. In other words they are "seeing" less of the bridge material than the inner strings.

Thanks Bob, any idea if there is a 10 string rail pickup with the same footprint as the E66? I'd hate to have to route in to the cavity, but I am very happy with the wider string spacing I have, so I would consider that option.

If there is no exact match it might be a safer bet to route for an even wider pickup like a 12 string. It would be a shame to go through all that work and still have a similar problem with a 10 string rail version.

Mark - you have a good possibility too. When I take string 1 (high F#) and move it into the string 2 position, it gets loud and clear again. The thing is when I had the narrow spacing, that F# was fine in its original string 1 position. I haven't tried bumping the gauge up to a .14. The extra mass may counter act this a bit.