Do you favor neck pickups or bridge pickups?

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 5:57 am

Both on Jazzmaster
Neck on Hagstrom HIIN
Middle and neck on Cyclone II
Bridge LP/SGs

tomin8r · Post by **tomin8r** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 11:12 am

Less Paulo - Bridge for lead, middle for rhythm.
Seventies-Sonic - Bridge for twanggggg
Tele/Bullet - Neck
Strat- all positions usable with bridge tone mod.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 12:16 pm

Normally err toward the bridge for most band time situations as I like a shellac/jesus lizard type NNNNNNNGGGGGGRRRRR. At home just noodling bluesy stuff mostly n+m on strat type config for that nice roomy scooped sound.

Neck gets used when recording.

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 12:17 pm

Strats: All 5 positions depending on the song. I use neck a lot more than I usd to 30 years ago.
Flying V or Hondo II LP: Both individually or together depending on the song and the part -e.g setting the pickups to different volumes and then switching between them for a change in tone.
The others don't gig so it doesn't matter.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 12:18 pm

tomin8r wrote:Strat - all positions usable with bridge tone mod.

How do an bridge tone mod?

George · Post by **George** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 12:28 pm

Basically wire the tone of the neck and mid to one pot, and use the other for bridge. Great change. I can't find the schematic I used.

Also, there's the base plate mod you can do on Strats that I've always wanted to try on the bridge pickup. The problem is my current pickups are staggers which I've hammered flat so the plate won't connect properly.

EDIT: http://soundlogic-usa.com/c38.html

DIS A SCHEMATIC!!!

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 12:51 pm

GeorgeF wrote:Basically wire the tone of the neck and mid to one pot, and use the other for bridge. Great change. I can't find the schematic I used.

Also, there's the base plate mod you can do on Strats that I've always wanted to try on the bridge pickup. The problem is my current pickups are staggers which I've hammered flat so the plate won't connect properly.

EDIT: http://soundlogic-usa.com/c38.html

DIS A SCHEMATIC!!!

I award you 20 Dave Points for this act of awesome. Don't want to derail too much but one more questtion - this link indicates the main advantage is to be able to roll of tone just on the bridge but essentially i quite like the tone of my bridge at 10 as it is so is there any further advantage in my case? Have one of those TBX tone pot thingies that retains top end with volume drop so wonder how that would impact things...hhmm.

tomin8r · Post by **tomin8r** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:00 pm

I actually did my mod a bit differently then the link George posted.

I moved the wire from the last pot up to the open lug on the selector.

That way I have tone on the neck, the middle wide open, and tone on the bridge.

Very usable tones in all positions IMO

as opposed to

You can get the neck/mid tone control by bridging the gap between the lugs with a piece of wire or metal soldered between them.

I just prefer the middle wide open

George · Post by **George** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:02 pm

I don't think so. If you're guitar is already nicely balanced then fine, but mine are all 6k output which means horrible and spikey bridge pickup if you're not careful. I mostly roll off my bridge tone to 9 and a bit, JUST to take the edge off. It's nice to have the option basically.

My neck and mid tone would don't go down except when using a fuzz, and wouldn't need to be seperate. the bridge is a complete sore thumb and is the only one that needs to be turned down.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:10 pm

Good info George and Tom - many thanks for the explanations! I quite fancy just having three volume knobs for twatty triplet killswitch nonsense. But it would be total gimmick of course. I never seem to touch tone knobs except for when i want to pretend to play jazz.

tomin8r · Post by **tomin8r** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:23 pm

The thing I like about the tone mod I did is that, I'm in the same boat as you. I don't really use the tone knobs, but I always found strat bridge pickups to be ice picky. By having just the bridge tone, I could leave it rolled off and have a great balanced sounding geetar.

Cheers

Earth · Post by **Earth** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:36 pm

This is my ideal guitar/pickup set up...one bridge humbucker:(I have one too)

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:37 pm

I've got some 20 yr old Dimarzio HS3s in my strat so they are probably a bit thicker sounding than straight singles - maybe why I've never felt the bridge was too icey! Sounds like a perfect solution if that's the sympton however. Good thing to know!

George · Post by **George** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:40 pm

Wow, I'm gonna try that Vaughan style wiring for an open middle. Something to do this weekend!

tomin8r · Post by **tomin8r** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 6:22 pm

Cheers
it should be a pretty ease mod George.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 12:47 am

I'm generally a neck pickup guy, but it varies.

Jaguar - both or neck
Aerodyne Tele - neck
Jazz bass - both
Strat - middle
LP - both
VI - neck or middle or neck+middle

Viljami · Post by **Viljami** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 11:18 am

Tele : bridge for teh rawks
Strat : either bridge, bridge+middle or neck

Usually I always go for the bridge pup.

Progrockabuse · Post by **Progrockabuse** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 1:21 pm

Baja Tele: My all-round work horse, go to guitar. No.1 guitar
Bridge for dirty rhythm sounds and some lead work.
Both in Parallel for cleaner/funky rhythms and stones kinda riffs.
Neck for Leads and Finger-picked stuff.
Both in Series for hum-buckered kinda sounds. use the out of phase switch for solos if i feel like it.

Les Paul: Used just for blues/classic rock kinda stuff.
Bridge: Nearly everything from rhythm to lead.
Both: used rarely for cleans.
Neck: Mainly Lead.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 4:17 pm

Home Use
Humbucker Guitars: Bridge almost all the time.
Strat: Bridge and Neck.
Burns: All three.
Jag and Lindert: Both.
Mockingbird P90s: Both.

Live Use
Never really been in a band subtle enough to use the inbetween positions on guitars, i need that 'poke' from a bridge pickup most of the time.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 4:22 pm

Fran wrote:Live Use
Never really been in a band subtle enough to use the inbetween positions on guitars, i need that 'poke' from a bridge pickup most of the time.

I know we play different styles, but I tend to find the inbetween really handy live; it tends to give good girth/depth and clarity to prevent mud on stage. I find it really handy.