Do Strat pickups cause rattles?

[Yelly]

Although I am primarily an LP man. I have had Strats for longer so I am well used to "Stratitis". As a result I always keep my pickups a fair way from the strings. My frets are also dressed fine. The Strat is loaded with Di-Marzio V Vs (blues bridge/standard the rest)

Anyway, I have always accepted Strats have fret rattle. However, I put in a set of EMG S in my number 1 Strat (just for the hell of it) and the rattle seems to pretty much disappear. This is particularly noticeable unplugged. I'm guessing that the magnets are way less powerful with EMGs and it is lack of string pull causing the lack of rattle. What do you reckon?

BTW the V V s soon went back in.

[Guildx700~]

Certainly there are pull issues, especially on a staggered pup with a high G string slug.

[Mike Shaw]

To quote the late, great George Harrison - "Yes"

[Buck Cannon]

Hello,
No biggie... Not only do most strats rattle a little bit, but its a little known fact that almost all electric guitars buzz/rattle a little, Its just the way their made. close action, skinny strings .009's etc..
(a set of 13's would loose the rattle)
as soon as you plug them in it will not be heard through the amp.

enjoy,
ST/Don Mare

[Chris Kinman]

Do regular Strat pups rattle strings?

They sure do. Regular Alnico-5 maqnets are more powerful than what most strings can resist. What happens is that the magnets pull the strings into a 'U' shaped oscillation, when the string enters the deepest part of the 'U' they crash into the frets since this is where the least gap is between the strings and fret crowns.

Adjusting the string action for a bigger gap (raising the saddles) is one way to lessen the effect, another is to adjust the pickups down away from the strings. Doing both will hep heaps.

BTW it's the 'U' shaped oscillation that is also the cause of Stratitis (multiple frequency syndrome) since the part of the string over the fretboard is not affected by magnet pull. Thus the string is oscillating is different frequencies at different sections along it's length. Uggghhh..... horrible!!

Reason the EMG's lessen the effect is that the magnets are not poles like regular Strat pickups but rather Alnico blade magnets. Blades don't focus the magnet field nearly so much as rod magnets do.