What do allen-head screws do?

[CTN]

Fairly self explanatory, how do they differ from normal screws? do they do something different to the shape of the magnetic fields thereby affecting tone?

or is this just hype, hearsay and a whole lot of hot air?

[Christopher Caruana]

I think they help make the sound more articulate, I could be wrong tho

[sosomething]

do they do something different to the shape of the magnetic fields thereby affecting tone?

Nail on the head.

I've taken regular flathead poles out of pickups before and replaced them with allan head poles and could easily identify a difference. The tone got more focused and lost a little low-end.

'Course that's under a kind of microscope. If I played you two mixes of a song and asked which one had guitar tracks with allen poles... well, I'd never ask that.

[CTN]

lol, interesting!

looks like some experimentation is in order

[chill]

Some of the sound tightening is the length of the screw. I've had similar results with filing down the 3/4" fillister screws. Some of it may also be the allen head itself, as I've read that Gibson's fillisters with larger heads have a slightly different tone than other fillisters with smaller heads.

[GuitarDoc]

So, do the shorter screws add depth, articulation, treble? How do they compare with full length, or longer, screws?

[korovamilkdud]

Better articulation. I notice it a lot more under wound strings than under plain strings. If you find your pickup has a few wooly low mids, the allens can add a little punch and tightness. Works really well on a Custom Custom.

The difference is pretty subtle overall, but it's there. Pay attention to how it FEELS rather than just how it SOUNDS.

[hamerfan]

Better articulation. I notice it a lot more under wound strings than under plain strings. If you find your pickup has a few wooly low mids, the allens can add a little punch and tightness. Works really well on a Custom Custom.

The difference is pretty subtle overall, but it's there. Pay attention to how it FEELS rather than just how it SOUNDS.

Yes, i had the same experience. I performed the bass mod on a Screaming Demon (all allen screws to the wound strings), it made the bass strings more articuate (piano like) and the highs string (all with phillip head screws) rounder.

[orpheo]

what about allen head screws on one side and regular on the other, just like the screamin demon?

especially curious about how that would sound on a jb/59 hybrid with an alnico8 bar

[GuitarDoc]

Better articulation. I notice it a lot more under wound strings than under plain strings. If you find your pickup has a few wooly low mids, the allens can add a little punch and tightness. Works really well on a Custom Custom.

The difference is pretty subtle overall, but it's there. Pay attention to how it FEELS rather than just how it SOUNDS.

So are you talking about changing to allen heads only? What about the length of the screws? I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the length of the screws has an affect on tone/brightness/loudness.

If I wanted to put in allens, where can I get them?