Our friends over at Fender answered a few questions recently about staggered pole pieces for us. Heres what they had to say.

Fender's customer service department gets asked all the time why some Stratocaster® guitar pickups have staggered polepieces.

The answer: because it balances the output across the strings.

OK, well, what does that mean?

It simply means that staggered polepieces help bring the volume of each individual string into balance so that one string or a couple strings aren't disproportionally loud compared to the other strings. This is a sonic phenomenon that can and does happen, and depending on your ear for tone it can range from mildly noticeable to outright maddening.

Staggered polepieces provide a relatively simple way to fine-tune inherent inconsistencies in individual string volume on guitars—like the Stratocaster—that don't have adjustable polepieces. A couple different design factors and a couple historical Fender precedents come into play concerning the use of pickup staggering, and there's a fair amount of subjective preference in the mix, too.

Since guitar pickups have an entire lexicon of their own, let's back up for a second to define some key terms and clarify a couple of concepts.

First, you might notice that the individual magnets or polepieces on your Strat® guitar's pickups stick out from the surface of the pickup in varying heights rather than a nice neat flush lineup. This variation in the height of each polepiece is called the stagger. You may see, for example, that the polepieces that sit beneath the D and G strings are raised higher than the others, and that the one that sits beneath the B string is noticeably lower than the others.

Second, not all Stratocaster pickups are staggered. Some models do and some don't. Fender's two Road Worn Stratocaster models and some Classic series models are staggered, for example, but a Highway One model has flush polepieces.

Third, it isn't just the Stratocaster. Although seen far less often than on Stratocaster models, there have been Telecaster® guitars with staggered pickups.

We mentioned a moment ago that design factors come into play concerning pickup stagger. 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.

Staggered bridge pickup on a Joe Strummer Telecaster. Although less often than Stratocaster models, some Telecaster guitars do have staggered pickups.

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.

It's true that the height of the entire pickup itself is easily adjustable on most electric guitars with just a few turns of a screwdriver. While this is certainly helpful in adjusting your tone to taste in a general sense, overdoing this particular adjustment might have some tonal consequences you'd rather avoid.

Moving pickups closer to the strings does increase their output, but two other things happen, too. First, the bass/treble tonal balance shifts because the frequency ranges don't produce bass and treble with equal energy, resulting in more booming bass, which you might not want. Second, if the magnet is moved closer to the string, its pull on the string increases, dampening its vibration slightly and thus causing notes to decay a little faster than usual, which you also might not want. The great advantage to a staggered polepiece design is that once the entire pickup is in a basically optimal position, the stagger enables the tone to be fine tuned even more.

One of our favorite side projects from heavyweight guitarist Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam) and Vocalist Shawn Smith (Satchel) BRAD are giving away a new song. Its easy all you have to do is join there mailing list. The track is classic BRAD and it's FREE so get over there and pick up the tune "Running For Cover" off the new album "Best Friends" which will be released later in 2010 via Pearl Jam’s Monkeywrench label.

A little history on BRAD:

Brad formed officially in 1992 although the individual band members had been playing together for a long time before that. The original line-up was composed of vocalist Shawn Smith, guitarist Stone Gossard, bassist Jeremy Toback and drummer Regan Hagar. Over the past few years the band has featured occasional contributions from Thaddeus Turner (Maktub), Kevin Wood (All Hail The Crown) and Barrett Jones.

SHAME Their debut album Shame, released on April 27th 1993 through Epic Records, was recorded in roughly 20 days, with many tracks taken from in-studio jam sessions. Shame features a raw sound and an eclectic mix of styles. The lead single, ‘20th Century’ was a minor hit in the UK.

INTERIORS After a four year hiatus, Brad’s follow-up album, Interiors was released on June 24th 1997 and was much more polished and purposeful record. Tom Moon of Rolling Stone said that, "what's most notable about Interiors...is the pure pop focus of these nuanced compositions". The lead single from Interiors, ‘The Day Brings’, featured Stone’s Pearl Jam colleague, Mike McCready on lead guitar. This release saw the band’s cult audience expand. The album was accompanied by a tour in the United States and Canada that same year, as well as a small tour in Australia and New Zealand in 1998.

WELCOME TO DISCOVERY PARK Brad’s third album was released on August 13th 2002 through Redline Records in the US and later Wagram UK in Europe. The recording saw contributions from the then Satchel bassist Mike Berg, who had taken over as the touring bassist for Toback. The album mixes the rawness of Shame and the polished, produced sound of Interiors. Recording sessions took place from May 2001 to March 2002 at Studio Litho and Studio X in Seattle. Most of the album was produced by the band although Phil Nicolo and Skip Drinkwater were also brought onboard. The album was mixed by Nicolo, Drinkwater and Matt Bayles.

BRAD vs SATCHEL In July 2005, Brad released an album of unreleased and incomplete Brad and Satchel tracks through The Establishment Store.

Among the five artists who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday (March 15), Jimmy Cliff is probably the least familiar to American audiences. By all rights, the Rock Hall’s honoring of the Jamaican legend should change that

A prime force in reggae for nearly 50 years, Cliff made his mark most notably with The Harder They Come, a gritty 1972 film that combined hard-hitting music with an unflinching, realistic look at ghetto life in Jamaica. Cliff’s lead-actor role, and his dominance of the soundtrack, brought him international fame, even as mainstream success in America eluded him.

Since then, Cliff has released a spate of acclaimed albums, and has earned extensive praise from peers in both the reggae and the rock worlds. Artists who’ve covered his songs range from John Lennon to Willie Nelson to Fiona Apple, and such notable figures as Elvis Costello, Joe Strummer, and The Rolling Stones have been among his collaborators.

2010 is shaping up to be a busy year for Cliff. Currently he’s putting the finishing touches on his first album of new material in six years, and in June he will kick off a North American tour that includes an appearance at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.

To commemorate Cliff’s induction into the Rock Hall, we’ve dug into our vaults for a never-before-published interview, conducted in 2004. Among other topics, Cliff shares his thoughts about the evolution of reggae, the success of Bob Marley, and his fond memories of The Clash’s Joe Strummer.

Reggae has undergone lots of changes through the years, incorporating hip-hop and so forth. Do you feel the music has retained its spiritual foundation?

That’s the great thing about this form of music. Reggae, as it has become known, started out as ska, and then it was called rock-steady. It became known as reggae in its third form, and then it evolved further -- from rub-a-dub reggae, to ragga reggae, to dancehall reggae. It keeps evolving into different forms, and I think that’s something that’s unique to this music, and very healthy. I’m really pleased with where reggae is today. The spirituality is still there, and the social and political aspect of the music is still there as well. Some reggae artists are addressing those issues, while others sing about girls and cars and so forth. I think that’s a good thing.

You made your mark as an actor, in addition to becoming a singer-songwriter. Do you have any theories as to why singers often make good actors?

In my experience, most of the actors I’ve met have had a yearning to be singers, and a lot of singers I know have a yearning to be an actor. My first love was really acting, and even to this day I feel I’m a better actor than singer. But it’s easier to write a song and record it, than it is to do film work. It takes a lot of money to make a successful movie. That’s why I’m better known for singing.

Generally speaking, when you begin work on a new album, do you try to do something that’s different from what you’ve done in the past?

Yes. I’m a creative artist, first and foremost. When I start writing a new album, I automatically begin with thoughts of how this one is going to be. I never want any album to be like the previous one I’ve done. Sometimes that’s gotten me into trouble. When I came onto the scene, there was nothing called ska, or reggae, or anything like that. That music was just beginning to take form, and I directed my energies toward helping create that. That wasn’t necessarily a commercial thing to do.

You wrote and recorded a song with the Clash’s Joe Strummer for your Black Magic album. What was that experience like?

Joe and I had met previously only at a distance, and we had never really had a chance to talk. But we had admiration for each other’s work. He just came into the studio one day. I don’t know how he learned that we were recording, but he had some lyrics he had written, and he said, “You know, I can hear Jimmy Cliff singing these words.” [Producer] Dave Stewart asked him how he thought the song should go, and he said, “I don’t know. I just hear Jimmy Cliff singing these lyrics.” The two of them began playing guitar, and I came up with the melody, and then Joe chipped in with some help on the melody as well. We recorded the song right away. That was a really special moment for me. You can imagine the shock I felt after hearing that Joe was not with us anymore.

You’ve likely heard this question many times, but do you have any thoughts about why Bob Marley took hold so strongly in America, whereas other worthy Jamaican artists did not?

Island Records really focused on taking Bob Marley over the top, so to speak. I myself moved away from Island Records, at a time when it wasthe company with the eye, the focus, and the concept of how to promote this music. I went to all the big majors -- Columbia, EMI, Reprise, all of them -- and they saw an artist with talent, but they didn’t know how to promote that talent. Bob was a great talent who also benefitted from great promotion.

Like many reggae artists, whenever you address issues that are troublesome in our culture, you do it with a positive spirit. Does that come naturally to you?

Yes. I do happen to think that the positive force is a superior force, on this planet. And we need to emphasize that. God knows, we have enough negativity going on. I came out of a situation where I could really have gone negative. I grew up in the ghettos of Jamaica, and came out of a situation where I saw a lot of friends, and people I know, die from gunshots and other violence. I could easily have gone that way. I had to have a positive outlook on life, in order to come out of that, and still be around, and make music. It’s become something that I’ve cultivated for myself.

Written By Russell Hall

Perhaps because funk guitar centers on rhythm and repetition rather than flashiness, the genre’s greatest practitioners often receive short shrift in guitar circles. That is a crime that needs rectified. And so, we’re pleased to profile the following funk-guitar greats, all of whom, in a better world, would be household names. Please note this is by no means a definitive list of the greats just some we dig and hope you'll find some enjoyment both listening to and trying to master their funky riff waxings

Jimmy Nolan (James Brown, The J.B.'s/Maceo and All the King's Men )

As a key sideman for the notoriously demanding James Brown, Jimmy Nolan developed his famous “chicken scratch” style by focusing on light chops and rapid strumming, and playing near the bridge. Nolen developed a style of picking known as "chicken scratch," in which the guitar strings are pressed lightly against the fingerboard and then quickly released just enough to get a muted “scratching” sound that is produced by rapid rhythmic strumming of the opposite hand near the bridge. This new guitar style was affected not only by Nolen’s choice of two and three note chord voicings of augmented 7th and 9th chords, but also by his strumming straight 16th note patterns, as in James Brown’s "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag."

Freddie Stone (Sly & the Family Stone)

As co-founder of Sly & the Family Stone (and as Sly’s brother), Freddie Stone perfected a pop-funk style that helped shape classics such as “I Want to Take You Higher” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)."

Eddie Hazel (Parliament-Funkadelic)

George Clinton’s P-Funk has boasted an array of funk-guitar greats through the years, but none have been better than Eddie Hazel. Hazel’s 10-minute solo on “Maggot Brain” — for which Clinton told him to “play like your mama just died” — remains one of funk music’s seminal moments.

Curtis Mayfield

Utilizing a self-devised tuning based on the black keys of the piano (F#-A#-C#-F#-A#-F#), Curtis Mayfield forged a choppy, muted style that revolutionized rhythm playing. His landmark Superfly soundtrack album sounds as fresh today as it did upon its initial release in 1972.

Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner (Ohio Players)

Ohio Players classics such as “Love Rollercoaster,” “Fire” and “Skin Tight” owe a heavy debt to the scratchy funk rhythms and single-note wah sounds of Sugarfoot Bonner. Bonner has spoken eloquently of the origins of funk music, saying, “Funk was born the day after the blues…to take away some of the sadness of the blues. Funk is a sort of happy blues, to me.”

Nile Rodgers (Chic)

Though he’s sometimes maligned as a purveyor of disco, Nile Rodgers is in fact a gifted player whose work with Chic, David Bowie and Stevie Ray Vaughan speaks for itself. It’s a small wonder, then, that Chic’s “Good Times” and “Le Freak” are among the most sampled songs of all time.

Leo Nocentelli (The Meters)

As the King of New Orleans Funk, Leo Nocentelli long ago perfected a style built on a crisp tone, imaginative chord voicings and syncopated rhythms. His instrumental, “Cissy Strut,” is worthy of dissection by any student of funk guitar.

Charles Smith (Kool & the Gang)

As co-writer of such classics as “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging,” Charles Smith made sure his funk-guitar playing was a central component in the Kool & the Gang sound.

Steve Cropper (Booker T & the MGs)

The definitive recordings of “Knock On Wood,” “Soul Man” and “In the Midnight Hour” would no doubt sound radically different were it not for the funky rhythm work of Steve Cropper. Cropper has often cited Bo Diddley and the under-appreciated Lowman Pauling (of Memphis’s The Five Royales) as prime inspirations.

Prince

So dazzling is the six-string versatility of Prince, people sometimes forget just how funky his playing can be. His guitar-work on “Kiss,” and on the entirety of his Dirty Mind album, sports some of the funkiest rhythm sounds of the past three decades.

Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Jack Johnson and many more artists featured in past years’ Bonnaroo festivals are donating their music to a Best of Bonnaroo compilation, to encourage Americans to speak out on climate change. All of the featured tracks are original songs, with the exception of My Morning Jacket’s performance of The Velvet Underground’s Oh! Sweet Nuthin‘.

Organized by the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, HeadCount and the NRDC Action Fund, this collaboration marks the first time free music has been used to prompt Americans to contact their elected officials.

Best of Bonnaroo isn’t your run of the mill compilation, pulling the hits from each artist in a patchwork attempt to appeal to the masses. The 17 different live performances were hand-picked and represent powerful works from each artist. Ani DiFranco’s Fuel is a gripping, immensely gravitational re-telling of a fan favorite, while Pearl Jam’s Animal is more celebratory than furious, a buoyant romp through formerly dangerous grounds. The Decemberists’ The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid is perhaps the most powerful track off their most recent Hazards of Love album, taken to new heights here, while Death Cab For Cutie turn in a shimmering rendition of Cath…

“This generation has an opportunity to be remembered as one that confronted environmental challenges and took responsibility for the future,” said Jack Johnson, whose song “Inaudible Melodies” can be heard on the compilation. “With that opportunity comes the responsibility to speak out.”

With climate change legislation now at a critical juncture, several organizations teamed up to use the gift of music to inspire citizens into action. HeadCount – a nonpartisan civic engagement organization best known for registering voters at concerts - conceived the idea as a way to point new voters toward being informed and active citizens. The NRDC Action Fund – an advocacy group committed to passing legislation that jump-starts the clean energy economy and reduces pollution – stepped in with resources, research, strategic guidance and a base of 250,000 supporters.

“The musicians we work with are very passionate about this topic and have great power to drive change,” said HeadCount’s Executive Director Andy Bernstein. “Their music will serve as a soundtrack for action.”

To download the album for free or just a few select tracks from the festival, head to www.Musicforaction.org. Before downloading the music, visitors are asked to email their Senators, the President or their local newspapers about climate change. The music is free no matter what, but the artists hope all their fans join them in taking action on this issue. The clicking around to get the free music may drive you a bit nuts, but once you get there, you’ll be happy.

The Best of Bonnaroo tracklist:

Wilco – Bull Black Nova Pearl Jam – Animal Jack Johnson – Inaudible Melodies Dave Mathews Band – Rapunzel Death Cab for Cutie – Cath… Ani DiFranco – Fuel Phish – Kill Devil Falls Gov’t Mule - Banks of the Deep End O.A.R. – Delicate Few moe.- Not Coming Down Raphael Saadiq – 100 Yard Dash Bob Weir & RatDog – Throwing Stones The Disco Biscuits – And The Ladies Were the Rest of the Night The Decemberists – The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid My Morning Jacket – Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ Guster – Happier Phil Lesh and Friends - Box of Rain

You probably know that guitar cords and speaker cables aren't interchangeable, but you probably don't know why. While it usually suffices for most to leave it at "Hey, don't do that," a little understanding never hurts, so allow us to explain.

Guitar cables and speaker cables are two different kinds of cable designed for two very different purposes. Using one in place of the other can have unpleasant effects ranging from merely annoying interference to outright equipment failure.

Among novices and those in a hurry, confusion sometimes arises from the fact that both kinds of cable often share the same kind of connector—1/4" phone plugs. That's about the only important similarity, though. To understand why you shouldn't use one in place of the other, let's look at both cable types and examine their purpose and differences in more detail.

Your instrument cable is low power and high impedance. It's built to convey a weak unamplified signal from your guitar to your amp, where it's boosted up to a useable level. Since it doesn't need to carry a lot of juice—a small DC current with a small voltage—it consists of a single small-diameter "positive" inner wire (usually 24 gauge) running through a braided shield conductor that works as the ground connection, plus various insulators and the outer jacket. Its small, lightweight wire size is good for cable flexibility (it needs to follow you around onstage, remember), and the shielding prevents much of the noisy external electromagnetic interference that low-power signals are susceptible to.

Your speaker cable, on the other hand, is just the opposite—high power and low impedance. It's built to carry a strong signal from your amp to your speakers—a relatively high AC current and voltage. Unlike the instrument cable, it has not one but two wire conductors, both with a relatively large diameter in order to allow greater signal flow from amp to speakers.

It's useful here to imagine the current flow from amp to speakers as water pumped through pipes. The amp puts out whatever "water pressure" it's capable of (and it's a lot), and your speaker cable is the pipe that carries that water pressure to the speakers. If you reduce the size of that pipe, you restrict the flow of water to the other end. Speaker wires work much the same way—smaller-diameter wires present more electrical resistance to the signal flow, wasting energy in the form of heat. The bigger the wires, the better the signal flow from amp to speakers.

If you use an instrument cable as a speaker cable, you're probably OK at low signal levels. At high signal levels, though, trouble brews—all that amp power attempts to flow through the instrument cable's too-small conductor. The unhappy result is that a lot of amp power is converted to heat and never even reaches the speakers. You get reduced speaker output, some probable distortion and, in extreme situations, heat-induced cable or cable connector failure. And you definitely don't want your amp overheating.

If you use a speaker cable as an instrument cable, the large conductors handle the weak signal just great. But there's a catch—speaker cables aren't shielded. Since they normally carry strong, already-amplified signals, any noise they pick up is inconsequential, making shielding unnecessary. If used as an instrument cable though, the unshielded conductors can pick up interference from fluorescent lighting, amp power supplies and various other external AC sources.

From the time it's created at your pickups to the time it enters the amp's input, the low-level signal from your instrument must travel through a conductor shielded from interference along the entire length of the cable, but that's not what's happening if you use a speaker cable. The low-frequency humming or buzzing you'll consequently hear is the 60-cycle frequency of U.S. AC power leaking through the unshielded cable, internal guitar wiring, amp wiring or any combination thereof. And your amp is boosting it all to the point of sounding like giant mutant bees.