What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

[The_Sentry]

I'd love to get some feedback on this if it's a worthy topic:

Based on your pickup experiences, what is harder to find satisfaction with in terms of a pickup? The bridge or the neck pickup?

I don't know what it is...but in a lot of cases if the neck pickup's relative output is matched to the bridge...I'm usually OK with it. I can tolerate a lot of different magnets, winds, or whatever in a neck pickup...and for the most part it will sound OK to me.

Bridge pickup? Totally different story. On those I'm a lot more discriminating. I don't know if it's because I play rock, or it's harder to dial in that right tone on a bridge...but whatever the reason, it seems like this is the one that usually puts me over the edge in terms of finding satisfaction with a brand...any brand.

Am I the only one on this? From a design perspective, or a purchasing perspective, what is usually tougher to choose? The bridge or the neck pickup? And have you shied away from sets because of this?

 

[Curly]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

depends on the guitar

I assume you're talking about HBs, but I almost always play single coils ... and between those, a strat and tele are quite a bit different.

 

[The_Sentry]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

depends on the guitar

I assume you're talking about HBs, but I almost always play single coils ... and between those, a strat and tele are quite a bit different.

It's the same thing with single coils. I own 2 strats. Most of the time (especially for leads) I tend to dwell in the neck pickup. Chalk it up to years and years of diggin' on Clapton.

 

[Curly]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

there are TONS of strat pickups that work for people

I've got one of Andy Aledort's Hendrix books, and it's surprising how good his tone is with SSL-1s and Marshall amps.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

neck.

bridge pickup has always been about clarity and gain: which duncan delivers in spades.

JB, DD, Custom etc.

neck is elusive.

 

[dominus]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

I have never heard a single coil or neck pickup that I've liked. I've gone to bridge humbucker only and have never been happier.

 

[Curly]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

I have never heard a single coil or neck pickup that I've liked.

never?

then you have an amp problem. there are just too many people that don't have this problem

 

[dominus]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

never?

then you have an amp problem. there are just too many people that don't have this problem

Or I just don't need the sounds that they produce.

 

[Stratman]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

I have never heard a single coil or neck pickup that I've liked. I've gone to bridge humbucker only and have never been happier.

I would assume that you are a metal guitarist!

Need to branch into more musical areas...

 

[blueman335]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

neck.

bridge pickup has always been about clarity and gain: which duncan delivers in spades.

JB, DD, Custom etc.

neck is elusive.

Actually, it's just the opposite. Not a lot of difference in most neck HB's. Bridge PU's are all over the map; PAF, medium output, high output, alnico, ceramic, etc. You can pair a '59N or PGN with most bridge PU's.

 

[L.W. Badger]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

I've seen that most people are pickier about their bridge pick up, since this one gets use 90% of the time by people concerned with their bridge PU sound. Necks are use for fat and bluesy tones, and there's a concern there, don't dis your neck pick up, pay attention to it and dial in your tone......it's easier to do with the neck PU.......thick tones are easier to dial into your ear.....

Now I'm that guy that loves to mix a bridge and a neck PU for EVERYTHING.....it's fat, distorty, and clear and biting.....all in one when played right. This is when your picking style and fingerations come into play.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

It's the same thing with single coils. I own 2 strats. Most of the time (especially for leads) I tend to dwell in the neck pickup. Chalk it up to years and years of diggin' on Clapton.

Cool. On strat's I've mostly hung out on the middle and bridge positions. I love the bridge position when you pick at around the 21st fret or so. There's my lead sound.

Anyways as far as humbuckers go, I think it's harder to find exactly the right bridge pickup, simple because the 59n goes with everything! I bit of an oversimplification. But I think the PAFish neck pickups are good at letting the amp and the guitar and the player do the work. With bridge 'buckers I can start getting into flavors, they make so many of em...

 

[Marshall_Abuser]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

I'm extremely picky (to the point of obsession) with bridge humbuckers, but I can play pretty much any decent humbucker in the neck. Indeed, I think variations amongst neck pickups are not as pronounced as those amongst bridge pickups.

My experience has also been that it's very hard to find a bridge humbucker that sounds good for shred and that sustains as much or better than the neck one. I believe guitar construction and pickup placement plays a role in there too.

Some guitars just seem to sound right with any bridge humbucker, while others are so picky it's not even funny!

 

[RockStarNick]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

Actually, it's just the opposite. Not a lot of difference in most neck HB's. Bridge PU's are all over the map; PAF, medium output, high output, alnico, ceramic, etc. You can pair a '59N or PGN with most bridge PU's.

Agreed 100%.

I just stick a Duncan 59 in everything... and it sounds freaking GREAT! Different in every guitar that you put it in, mind you, but in a great way. Smooth and fat in a les paul, jangly and biting in a superstrat, but all variations on the same great flavor.

Bridge pickups ARE really tough. I've definitely got it narrowed down to a few specific duncan models. The hard part wasn't really finding which pickup, but find out out which guitar to put it in, to make it work.

 

[austin]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

I happy with all sorts of bridge pickups, but neck pickups are a harder nut to crack. It took me years to find some neck humbuckers that didn't sound/feel "woofy" to me. I play humbuckers almost exclusively btw.

-Austin

 

[uOpt]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

Neck is incredibly much harder.

First of all, in the bridge I like both vintage class and hotter and hot pickups (except in Strats). So there's a much wider collection available for the bridge.

Then, I need a certain sparkle in a neck pickup that I don't get from dead quiet production pickups, while I don't mind in the bridge if there are other qualities present.

Then, in a Les Paul or in a hardtail Strat, half of the PAF style humbuckers are so boomy that they remind me of a trash can full of pickle glasses rolling down the stairs of the statue of liberty on a cold morning. No such problem in the bridge.

The only exception is a SG which is easy to make sound good in the neck but causes headaches to achieve a valid EQ in the bridge.

 

[blueman335]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

The only exception is a SG which is easy to make sound good in the neck but causes headaches to achieve a valid EQ in the bridge.

+1. SG's can be fussy, but once you get the right PU/magnet in the bridge, you're golden.

 

[Jessie Sammler]

Re: What is harder to design/buy/find? (Bridge vs. Neck pickup)

I play humbuckers about 95% of the time, and I'm pretty easy to please with the bridge pickup. I feel with those, the tone really is mostly in my fingers, until I start getting picky -- which I do.

The neck pickup is different for me. I think that neck pickups are at least as different as bridge pickups, and I for one am more particular about them. I just hate playing the neck position if it doesn't sound right to me. There are different kinds of "good", but only one "right". I can make do with the bridge, though, if it isn't quite to my taste.