Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

[Jessie's ghost]

Ever feel like it's harder to get a sound you like out of one pickup location than the other? I feel like I'm easier to please with a bridge pickup, while I'm more apt to find something I don't like about the neck pickup. Does some variation on this seem true for you? Why do you think that is?

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

I'm far more picky about the neck pickup, in general. It is an inherent weak spot of many guitars, so they generally need more tweaking IME. My general routine is to lower it until it is acting on the strings so weakly that it loses the mud, then bring the pole pieces up to bring back some volume.

In general, the only stock neck pickups I love are Strat ones. I don't need to do a lot of tweaking, if any, to get them sounding how I want.

 

[orpheo]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

neckpickup is a bi-atch to get right. Its either too warm and mushy or too thin or too nasal or too honky or too boomy. a bridgepickup is much easier, for me anyway. if all else fails (no, I won't call the A-Team ) I'll grab a JB or a pearly, and I'm good to go.

now I come to think of it, there's only one or two pickups I really like in the neckposition. the '59bridge and the 59/custom hybrid with an a5 magnet. all the rest is too thick for me.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

IMO, much depends upon the expectations of the user.

There are some sounds that fall effortlessly out of a Telecaster, some that fall equally effortlessly from a Les Paul, others that fall effortlessly from a Stratocaster. (I could go on.) The answer is to buy all three and make the best of the abilities of each design.

 

[dr. ad]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

i've not yet found a neck pickup i can't use, i don't always like them but i can always get at least 1 usable sound out of them

bridge pickups seem much more hit/miss to me.

 

[skynyrd]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

Neck pups have always been the biggy with me, but since I switched to 50`s wiring and started experimenting with the DeMud Mod I learned on this forum I can tune a neck pup to my particular tone pretty easily. Experimenting with different value caps until you get rid of the frequencies you don`t like has made my neck pups sing.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

IMO, much depends upon the expectations of the user.

There are some sounds that fall effortlessly out of a Telecaster, some that fall equally effortlessly from a Les Paul, others that fall effortlessly from a Stratocaster. (I could go on.) The answer is to buy all three and make the best of the abilities of each design.

...and then there are ALL SOUNDS that fall effortlessly out of an Esquire or a Junior...and all without having to worry about that pesky neck pickup!

I jest, of course. Both those two are my favorite over all guitar designs. And it has a lot do do with their simplicity.

P.S. To the OP, you left out one option from the poll that I think should be there: BOTH pickups, or "in between" positions. Those are the worst sounding to me in general, and I almost never use them on any guitar.

 

[TheJrAce]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

Always find something I like about the neck pups, bridge pups are a lot harder for me to get on with.

 

[JeffB]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

Neck for me- whether humbucker, or strat/tele singles. I find them much more particular about what guitar they are in, and they can be an absolute beeatch to EQ properly once you get your bridge tone correct- they usually end up boomy, muddy, or anemic.

 

[TheLivingDead]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

Probably the neck.

I know what works for me in the bridge.

 

[eschoendorff]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

If my neck pickup isn't dead on, I can live. But if the bridge pup ain't happenin, I'm a cranky SOB!

 

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

I'm far more picky about the neck pickup, in general. It is an inherent weak spot of many guitars, so they generally need more tweaking IME. My general routine is to lower it until it is acting on the strings so weakly that it loses the mud, then bring the pole pieces up to bring back some volume.

In general, the only stock neck pickups I love are Strat ones. I don't need to do a lot of tweaking, if any, to get them sounding how I want.

Agreed. Yet, I am more of a stickler on the bridge, because that is usually what I use.

 

[CountFunkula]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

With humbuckers, I'm much more picky about the bridge pickup. I can find a perfect neck humbucker as long as I err on the bright side, as I'm fine with a brighter than average humbucker (I can always put an A3 in there and it'll sound sweet). For strats, I always try to base my sound around the neck pickup. Therefore, it's always harder for me to find the perfect neck. On Teles, it's always bridge first, then neck second. However, I don't really have a big problem with finding a perfect set for a Tele at all.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

Agreed. Yet, I am more of a stickler on the bridge, because that is usually what I use.

Don't get me wrong. I adjust my bridge pickups very precisely too, usually differently than the recommended factory settings. But the neck usually needs more extreme tweaking to satisfy me, and I also find that the range of the sweet spot can be very narrow, while a bridge pickup more often has a wider range of decent-sounding heights. I usually end up lowering a neck pickup at least to the ring, and often below with a humbucker. The soap bar in the neck pocket of my LP Custom is so low that the top of the cover is about on a level with the top of the guitar. Looks stupid, but that is where it sounds it's very best to me.

 

[Brown Note]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

I tend to switch between neck and bridge only during solos or clean parts where the volume change does matter. Usually a strong neck pickup is way too muddy and thus findin a good blend of strength and clarity for the neck is almost impossible. I've only ever found a 2 maybe 3 neck pups that work and almost every bridge pickup has atleast one usable sound.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

I think it's harder to find a neck position I like because I am not a fan of the position in general. However I have probably tried more bridge pickups than neck pickups because I am unwilling to settle for less in the bridge position. At least I can ignore the neck because I don't use it much.

 

[VHTJay]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

Without a doubt, the neck pickup. With the bridge position, I find it just a matter of maybe swapping one of my go-to pickups or maybe a magnet swap and I am there. I cannot say I have truly found a neck pickup sound that I truly love.

I took a chance here and ordered a "strat pickup under humbucker cover" from the custom shop for the neck position on one of my PRS singlecuts. Not only am I curious, but I am hoping I stumble upon what I am looking for!!

 

[Silver777Guitarist]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

personally I love my neck sounds now but I did go through a phase where I just didn't see its purpose now its used for all solos and occasionally lead and when im playing clean it takes the helm too.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

personally I love my neck sounds now but I did go through a phase where I just didn't see its purpose now its used for all solos and occasionally lead and when im playing clean it takes the helm too.

My bridge pickup is almost always used for rhythm parts. I like it's biting crunch and lack of mud. And my neck pickup is often used for leads or for other melodic parts of songs. I like it's power and smoothness. That is because the way I usually have them set up, the neck pickup has plenty of bite, and actually provides a bit more volume and just a bit more fatness, without losing the high end. Setup is everything! If your neck pickup is mud, drop it into the body bit by bit until it can be used. Then if when you get the tone right, it sounds too "far away" in terms of attack, raise the pole pieces. I drop the bridge pickup into the body too.

P.S. Some examples (just quick computer camera snaps):

My Epi Japan SG.

...and a slightly lower angle:

...and my '83 Custom:

 

[TheLivingDead]

Re: Neck or Bridge: Which pickup are you pickier about picking?

If your neck pickup is mud, drop it into the body bit by bit until it can be used. Then if when you get the tone right, it sounds too "far away" in terms of attack, raise the pole pieces. I drop the bridge pickup into the body too.

I've done just that so many times and it's made a "meh" pickup into a keeper and then some. Crazy what a little adjusting can do!