Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

[Robert Delahunt]

Research purposes only.

For those playing guitars with two humbuckers: which position do you most often use for lead work? Me, usually the bridge. Thanks!

 

[B2D]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

I'm not an LP player, but I do play a quitar with two humbuckers as my main axe.

I use the pickups about equally for solo work.

 

[Gunny47]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

Both neck and bridge on at the same time with the neck volume rolled off slightly and the bridge tone rolled off slightly. I use that for my lead and rhythm sounds. On the Lester I like to dick with the volume and tone knobs a lot to achieve different sounds...

 

[tone4days]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

for all my H-H axes, it is a good balance of n or b, but almost never n+b

 

[Aceman]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

70% bridge
27% neck
3% other (both or switch between during one solo)

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

72% Bridge
28% Neck

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

There's a neck pickup! LOL

I have owned a lot of dual humbucker guitars and the neck pick up never gets played. Matter of fact I want a guitar with one humbucker in the bridge someday.

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

Neck, baby. I want butter drippin' off it like a hot biscuit.

 

[Iron Horse]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

Neck for smoother, bluesy sounds or some shreddin'. Bridge for biting and staccato stuff and other shreddy stuff.

 

[TimmyPage]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

Generally bridge for rock. I don't really like the sounds of neck humbuckers unless I'm going for a clean jazzy tone. Though, the more I play rock live the more I realise that, while I don't like the sounds of a neck humbucker while practicing, live it really blends nicely with the band for solos.

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

Well since I can't vote in the strat section, as I own a super strat with a H-S-H, I would say I mainly use the bridge 'bucker', but use the neck sometimes too, maybe 70-30.

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

Neck, baby. I want butter drippin' off it like a hot biscuit.

Yup. Makes me think of Joe Perry. :fing2:

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

Yup. Makes me think of Joe Perry. :fing2:

Yeah...him and Duane and Dickey and Warren and even Carlos.:27:

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

Yup. Makes me think of Joe Perry. :fing2:

Yeah...him and Duane and Dickey and Warren and even Carlos.:27:

Same here. Even most of the shredder guys (Vai, Satch, Yngwie, Buckethead, etc....) tend to lean on their neck pups for soloing. It sounds way more fluid and has way more sustain. I also like to use the neck most often so that if I do switch to the bridge, it sounds like it's gonna rip your head off.

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

Same here. Even most of the shredder guys (Vai, Satch, Yngwie, Buckethead, etc....) tend to lean on their neck pups for soloing. It sounds way more fluid and has way more sustain. I also like to use the neck most often so that if I do switch to the bridge, it sounds like it's gonna rip your head off.

It doesn't always have more sustain, not sure where you got that from.
Using a wah pedal and the bridge pickup really give legato a seriously fluid feeling too.
And actually, Buckethead uses his bridge a lot for solos, at least lately anyway he does.

 

[hacker]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

I'm in the Duane/Dickey/Warren camp. Mostly neck for solos, sometimes bridge if I'm soloing below the 9th fret. I use the bridge or N+B for rhythm.

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

It doesn't always have more sustain, not sure where you got that from.
Using a wah pedal and the bridge pickup really give legato a seriously fluid feeling too.
And actually, Buckethead uses his bridge a lot for solos, at least lately anyway he does.

Physics, dude...the middle of a string moves for a longer time than the ends, and with a bigger motion. Neck PUP is colser to the middle...tada, more sustain.

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

Physics, dude...the middle of a string moves for a longer time than the ends, and with a bigger motion. Neck PUP is colser to the middle...tada, more sustain.

OK, I'm getting nit-picky here, I know.

Sustain is the duration of oscillation, not the amplitude of oscillation. A string sustains the same amount at the ends as it does in the middle. The string vibrates across its entire length (inside the terminal points at the nut and bridge).

The neck pickup is amplifying a wider oscillation, not one that lasts longer.

- Keith

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

OK, I'm getting nit-picky here, I know.

Sustain is the duration of oscillation, not the amplitude of oscillation. A string sustains the same amount at the ends as it does in the middle. The string vibrates across its entire length (inside the terminal points at the nut and bridge).

The neck pickup is amplifying a wider oscillation, not one that lasts longer.

- Keith

Thankee

What I meant is that a string swings wide for a longer time near the neck than it swings wide at the bridge...it's still moving at the bridge, but the string moves wide for a longer time at the neck, not that it moves while the part near the bridge doesn't. Since it does that, it's gonna produce sound through the pickups for a longer time at the neck toward the middle fo the string.

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: Les Paul Players: which pickup for leads?

I like the bridge humbucker with just a bit of the neck pup dialed in for extra fullness and such. I like the LP middle position much better than the strat middle positions as the LP has separate controls for both pickups.