Joe Satriani neck pickup location

[IMENATOR]

I have been paying attention to Satch neck tone and I think it is one of the best (if not the best) neck sounds from a 24 fret guitar I have heard.

Has anyone tried his signature guitars lately? Is that neck pickup cose to the neck really doing something to make it sound any better or is it just a sales pitch? Why don’t other manufacturers like doing the same with HSS 24 frets guitars?

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Are you asking if his neck pickup placement is responsible for how his neck position tones sound?

 

[Hank-]

It's not entirely a sales pitch, HSS with 24frets gets the pickups closer to each other compared to 22frets. The demand isn't that big for a 24fret HS guitar, so not many readily available options out there to try out.

Also, changing the angle of the single coil can yield different results, so there's quite a bit a room to customise the tone per guitar if there's a swimming pool route underneath the pickguard.

 

[IMENATOR]

Are you asking if his neck pickup placement is responsible for how his neck position tones sound?

Yes, the pickup itself has a lot to do but I wonder if that location closer to neck really helps, like for a custom ordered guitar.

 

[jeremy]

having the pup as close to the fretboard definitely will effect the tone, id say in a good way

 

[ErikH]

With a 24-fret guitar, those extra frets are in the place of where a neck single-coil would sit on a 22-fretter so, for Joe to get as close as possible to that sound, he wants that neck single-coil format as close as possible to the fingerboard to at least get "some" of that sound that is lost if it was sitting closer to the bridge. It doesn't take much in that area of the strings to get really noticeable changes in sound.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

I guess I’m missing the sales pitch part. Joe told them what he wanted on the guitar, Ibanez built it.

 

[Mincer]

I'd be interested to try this, as I generally hate the sound of any neck pickup in a 24 fret guitar.

 

[oilpit]

I generally hate 24 fret neck tones but I have to say that Satch really seems to have found a good balance with that single coil pushed right up against the 24th fret.

It definitely affects the tone, but I would absolutely but a 24 fret guitar with that layout. Honestly I wish more companies would do something like that.

 

[Demanic]

Have you tried splitting the neck pickup to the screw coil?

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[Top-L]

Uh.. 95% of what Satch has recorded was done before his 24 fret guitars.

How do you know what you are hearing is a new model?

Chances are good what you are hearing is a 22 fret guitar and a neck PAF Pro.

 

[oilpit]

Uh.. 95% of what Satch has recorded was done before his 24 fret guitars.

How do you know what you are hearing is a new model?

Chances are good what you are hearing is a 22 fret guitar and a neck PAF Pro.

I can't speak for anyone else but I am specofically referring to the clips I have heard where he is playing his new Ibanez.

I'm sure that in the studio he uses 22 fret guitars unless he needs those two frets for a specific song. That being said as somebody that's never even considered a 24 fretter before, all the tones I've heard of that guitar definitely make me reconsider.

 

[Top-L]

I can't speak for anyone else but I am specifically referring to the clips I have heard where he is specifically playing his new Ibanez.

I'm sure that in the studio he uses 22 fret guitars unless he needs those two frets for a specific song. That being said as somebody that's never even considered a 24 fretter before, all the tones I've heard of that guitar definitely make me reconsider.

I honestly like 24 fret guitar neck tone better. The neck and bridge tones are like... 20%(??) more similar.. which makes balancing them easier. Common problem I have is that the neck is too bassy for shredding, moving it back a little bit can give it more definition. But that is with humbuckers....

I had a RG565 for many years which had a neck "single" that was actually a double.

All I care about is that the neck has enough heat to shred, is not too bassy, and not so hot that it kills presence and makes the guitar sound darker.

I like how the Satch SC neck guitars look, but they have really short frets or I'd have bought one.

 

[IMENATOR]

Uh.. 95% of what Satch has recorded was done before his 24 fret guitars.

How do you know what you are hearing is a new model?

Chances are good what you are hearing is a 22 fret guitar and a neck PAF Pro.

I listen to the live recordings on youtube where it is obvious he is using his 24 fret guitar. For example ...

 

[bigcupholder]

I honestly like 24 fret guitar neck tone better. The neck and bridge tones are like... 20%(??) more similar.. which makes balancing them easier. Common problem I have is that the neck is too bassy for shredding, moving it back a little bit can give it more definition. But that is with humbuckers....

I had a RG565 for many years which had a neck "single" that was actually a double.

All I care about is that the neck has enough heat to shred, is not too bassy, and not so hot that it kills presence and makes the guitar sound darker.

I like how the Satch SC neck guitars look, but they have really short frets or I'd have bought one.

Yep, the widespread assumption that 24 frets must mean the neck pickup sounds worse is insane, especially when so many threads on here ask about getting a neck humbucker tone that's not so wooly/bassy/muddy. Then you have people who think the pickup being under the 24th fret harmonic is a good thing (it's not) and don't realize that the harmonic is only there when you're playing open (or at the 12th fret)

It all depends what you're using it for. For medium or high gain leads, I'll gladly take a neck pickup that's a centimeter closer to the bridge.

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[Mincer]

Yep, the widespread assumption that 24 frets must mean the neck pickup sounds worse is insane, especially when so many threads on here ask about getting a neck humbucker tone that's not so wooly/bassy/muddy. Then you have people who think the pickup being under the 24th fret harmonic is a good thing (it's not) and don't realize that the harmonic is only there when you're playing open (or at the 12th fret)

It all depends what you're using it for. For medium or high gain leads, I'll gladly take a neck pickup that's a centimeter closer to the bridge.

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It might be insane, but I will believe it when I hear a neck pickup on a 24 fret guitar that I like. It simply doesn't work for the kind of music I play and what I want to hear. Other people love it, but I don't think it works for me at all. If a guitar comes along that changes that, I will change my position, but I've not played one yet.

 

[Top-L]

It might be insane, but I will believe it when I hear a neck pickup on a 24 fret guitar that I like. It simply doesn't work for the kind of music I play and what I want to hear.Other people love it, but I don't think it works for me at all. If a guitar comes along that changes that, I will change my position, but I've not played one yet.

Huh? Turn up the bass a little bit on your amp?

I do not hear anything that is "fundamentally" different between 22 neck and 24 neck. Maybe a little less bass. Different neck pickup has much more bearing on the sound. Its like complaining about inches when the most common adjustment is by feet.

Your statement to me sounds like something Eric Johnson would say about batteries.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Iirc, hardcore JS fans had been asking for 24 fret model for a long time before Joe and Ibanez delivered. He has preferred 22 frets due to the neck pu location (probably also based on the kinds of pups he uses, using PAF style as a departure point), so the rationale was to have a s/c sized humbucker in the neck of a 24 fret guitar to keep as much of the original vibe as possible (the bridge coil of a normal hb in a 22 fret guitar is usually in the area past where the 24th fret would be). You can buy this pu from DiMarzio, it's a s/c sized thing with exposed rails, sounds good when Joe plays it :dunno:.

In the studio, Joe probably uses lots of different guitars (including vintage stuff). I guess since he's been using the 24 fret models live for some time now, they sound the way he wants them to, so it's not a compromise from the 22 fret JSs.

 

[oilpit]

Huh? Turn up the bass a little bit on your amp?
h
I do not hear anything that is "fundamentally" different between 22 neck and 24 neck. Maybe a little less bass. Different neck pickup has much more bearing on the sound. Its like complaining about inches when the most common adjustment is by feet.

Your statement to me sounds like something Eric Johnson would say about batteries.

Dude it's fine that you like 24 fret guitars but you seem really defensive about this. Lot's and lot's of people can hear a big difference in the tone of neck pickups when its moved (closer to 4cm than 1) towards the bridge.

You seem to think that this is simply a matter of a little bit of low end that you can add back into the EQ, and I really don't mean to sound like I'm talking down to you but that is such a fundamental misunderstanding of the effect the position of the neck pickup has and what people value about it.

Strat and Tele neck pickups are both bright as hell and they would still be completely neutered if you were to move them to accommodate those two extra frets. Not because they would just be brighter, that harmonic node you think is a myth is what provides that open, bell like quality. Moving it over doesn't strictly make the pickup brighter.

ou lose a ton of frequencies from the low end, I'll give you that, but you also lose a ton of upper harmonics that provides much of the treble that one hears when you let notes ring out. It basically makes the whole thing sound compressed, it gives a weird AM radio effect, that you can only cover up if you are using super high gain.

I know you think it's all nonsense, but nobody gave you any crap about preferring 24 fret guitars, yet it seems that you feel the need to tell everyone how wrong they are about their neck pickup tone.

Preference is good! There's lot's of stuff I can't hear a difference between that lot's of other people can. Just enjoy your two extra frets and we can enjoy our imaginary, juicy, delicious, velvety, neck pickup tones/

 

[bigcupholder]

It might be insane, but I will believe it when I hear a neck pickup on a 24 fret guitar that I like. It simply doesn't work for the kind of music I play and what I want to hear. Other people love it, but I don't think it works for me at all. If a guitar comes along that changes that, I will change my position, but I've not played one yet.

It's only insane how much that line gets regurgitated and applied universally without thought. Guitar forums are literally full of posts saying 24 fret guitars have "worse" sounding neck pickups.

Individual preference for those who have actually tested it is another matter. You like what you like. There's nothing wrong with that. My only issue is people forcing their opinions on others and spreading false information in the process.

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