Pickup Position Psychology

Re: Pickup Position Psychology

gregory said:
But it does work like that: the voicing/quality changes as you move up the neck.
Click to expand...

It doesn't changed such that playing a few frets higher is the same as repositioning the pickup. If that were true, it would sound like you were changing pickups as you played, and that's not the case.
 
Re: Pickup Position Psychology

Yet the tone changes when you move up the frets. You can't have it both ways.
 
Re: Pickup Position Psychology

One question guys. When you move up the neck, there is a certain point after which a neck pickup in a 24 fret guitar will be feeling more string movement than in a 22 or 21 fret guitar. For example, you fret a note at the 22 fret. In the 22 fret guitar, neck pickup is very close and is feeling little string vibration, just like a bridge pickup. On the other hand, on a 24 fret guitar, the neck pickup is located more far away from the fretting point, and is feeling a wider string vibration.
Therefore, after that certain point, the pu on the 24 fret guitar should sound fatter... or am I misding something?

Enviado desde mi HUAWEI SCL-L01 mediante Tapatalk
 
Re: Pickup Position Psychology

Perry go round said:
Therefore, after that certain point, the pu on the 24 fret guitar should sound fatter... or am I misding something?
Click to expand...
You aren't. Where you pick also makes a considerable difference.

People are acting as if I said a neck pickup in a 24-fret guitar sounds exactly the same as a neck pickup under the two-octave position of an open string. I said differences are overblown. I also don't want to be disingenuous by pretending as if those who prefer a neck pickup in a 21 or 22 fret guitar think a neck pickup in a 24-fret guitar is incapable of being identified as a pickup in the neck position or that it can't sound "flutey" or whatever other quality that will only exist when the pickup is under what would otherwise be the 24th fret, though to me it sure seems like it.

Back on the original topic but in a similar vein, I want there to be no doubt that when I said the Screamin' Demon in the neck has an identity crisis and that it sounds more like a bridge pickup than a typical neck pickup I did not say unequivocally that it doesn't sound like it is in the neck position.
 
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Re: Pickup Position Psychology

And then there are the slant neck pickup guitars!

continue....
 
Re: Pickup Position Psychology

On most guitars with the neck humbucker in the "standard" position, the neck pickup will be the same distance from the fret as the bridge pickup is from the bridge when the 21st fret is fretted.

So if you are one of those guys who just don't play lower than the ~18th fret, a fat high output neck pickup could work for you.
 
Re: Pickup Position Psychology

I just did a little test with my own ears. I fretted at at the 21st fret and the timbre between the neck pup and bridge pup were almost identical
 
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Re: Pickup Position Psychology

I use the neck pickup a lot...almost always if I am playing past the 10th fret. I am pretty sensitive to pickup differences, and realize that everyone isn't as crazy about it as I am. I will say, that with gobs of preamp gain, the differences are a lot less. I don't use preamp gain really at all, so maybe this makes me pretty sensitive to it.
 
Re: Pickup Position Psychology

I like the way a neck pickup's sound tightens as you go higher up, and it gives you extra bite on the really high notes. It's like zone-dependent presence. Personally I don't spend enough time playing at the very top for it ever to stop sounding like neck tone. But I don't doubt that in the right circumstances it could.
 
Re: Pickup Position Psychology

It is zone dependent and the zone can shift and/or either grow or shift depending on the pickup or the position of the pickup.

If you get a specific sound at the 10th fret with the neck under the 24th fret you sure as hell don't have to go to the 18th fret to get it with a 24-fret guitar. That's just nonsense.

...but if you're dead set on a very specific sound at the 10th fret using the neck pickup in a specific guitar with a specific set of strings and a specific tuning and you just can't get it with a 24-fret guitar for whatever reason, then I can't/won't argue with that.

I own only a couple of 24 fret guitars. My weapons of choice for the neck are the PAF Pro and LiquiFire: two pickups that have a proven track record for delivering the goods.
 
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Re: Pickup Position Psychology

FWIW I've found the reverse also, where if you have a single pickup guitar with only a bridge pickup but pick the strings up near the neck, it sounds jazzy and neck-like.
 
Re: Pickup Position Psychology

beaubrummels said:
FWIW I've found the reverse also, where if you have a single pickup guitar with only a bridge pickup but pick the strings up near the neck, it sounds jazzy and neck-like.
Click to expand...

I don't break from having my palm anchored to the back of the bridge and picking in one place. I'm just not a good/accurate enough player if I move my hand closer to the neck to affect the tone.
 
Re: Pickup Position Psychology

Ben1962 said:
I just did a little test with my own ears. I fretted at at the 21st fret and the timbre between the neck pup and bridge pup were almost identical
Click to expand...

While that might be true, it still dispels the idea that you need only play a few frets up in order to get the "neck sound" with 24 fret neck. It's not really reasonable to say that you'll get the neck sound you want, so long as you play everything an octave higher.
 
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