Re: Pickup placement
I never said that I thought the idea sucked and I never criticized the OP for suggesting it. Pointing out possible problems is not the same as dismissing an idea outright.
Has it been mentioned out that a few electric models have been made with piezo pickups built into the neck underneath the fretboard? As I recall, for a while Zappa had a guitar with piezos in the neck pocket too.
Coupla points to add regarding some other posts:
Aluminum is not unsuitable for guitar necks; I owned one on a Kramer more than 35 years ago. Beyond the contemporary builder mentioned upthread, there have been aluminum-necked models from various companies going back many decades. In fact the first practical electric guitar, the 1931 "frying pan" lap steel, was made of cast aluminum. As for the tone, that's a matter of taste, which I'm not addressing here. It would definitely be possible to make a metal neck with a pickup (or multiple pickups) built into it. Casting a neck from scratch might be something of a project but isn't impossible. If you could get your hands on a pre-made aluminum neck, you could mill out spaces for pickups however you want; that could be done in any well-equipped machine shop.
On issues of placement: First, there is no such thing as a standard bridge pickup position, it varies quite a bit from one design to another. Secondly, "as close to the bridge as possible" is far from an ideal position for a pickup; it's weak and harsh which is why nearly every guitar design places the lead pickup at least a few millimeters away from the bridge. And thirdly, someone suggested that the vibrations are strongest near the end of the vibrating section. This is absolutely not the case- they're strongest in the center, which was the whole reason for the OP's idea in the first place.
The octave harmonic is not a myth. It always occurs at the midpoint of a vibrating string. Period. This is physics, as is the fact that amplitude of the vibrations is strongest at the midpoint (except when the string is sounding a harmonic rather than a fundamental and is effectively vibrating as two or more sections). A pickup at the midpoint would indeed produce more output and more low end than one nearer the endpoint. It has correctly been pointed out that a Strat neck pickup sounds the way it does because it's closer to the midpoint, not because it's where the 24th fret would have been. The neck pickup on a 24-fret guitar (or an SG) sounds brighter and less full than the one on a Les Paul because it's placed a bit nearer to the bridge on those guitars than it would be on a Les Paul.
Small changes in pickup placement can result in significant tone differences. Not just those SG vs LP neck pickups- I can affirm the effect is pretty drastic on bridge pickups too. Many years ago I moved the lead pickup on one of my Floydcasters a little farther from the bridge and it made a world of difference in the tone. Sweeter, fatter, and noticeably louder, all from a move of maybe a quarter inch. I was amazed at how much better the same pickup sounded in the same guitar. I mentioned this just the other day on another thread, after having forgotten about it for years.
