neck humbucker placement?

[rlscherer]

Hey,

Forgive me if this is in the wrong forum...

And I know the interweb has a bunch of discussions on this....

But, I'm a 99% neck-humbucker-player and I want that aspect of my build to be perfect (I'm gearing up to start a semi-hollow T-style build, most likely with Lollar Imperials)

Anyway, looking at, say a Les Paul vs. a Tele in terms of neck humbucker placement and it seems the Tele is slightly off. The Gibson LP puts the humbucker right under the harmonic (where the 24th fret would be) & the Tele is a little closer to the bridge.

Now, I know that once you fret the note, the harmonic moves, but I am going for that super-sweet neck humbucker sound. How much do you all think this placement affects the final sound?

Where does Warmoth place the neck hum route? Can that be moved?

Any ideas, advice, tips, etc?

muchas gracias,
RLS

 

[AutoBat]

What do you play right now?

A strat neck pup (single sized) is also in the 24th fret zone, if that helps any.
A humbucker ought to have the first set in the same place with the second bobbins below it (bridge side)

 

[rlscherer]

I play a 2 hum partscaster now and the neck hum is mounted in a pre-cut pickguard. I haven't measured carefully, but it's clear that the bobbins are too close to the bridge to really be under the 24th fret.

In my new build I am hoping to capture some of the Gibson-style neck HB sound and I am wondering about the subtleties of pickup placement.

 

[Cagey]

In my new build I am hoping to capture some of the Gibson-style neck HB sound and I am wondering about the subtleties of pickup placement.

You might want to start here for some discussion of nodes and antinodes. That ought to scare you off the idea that you can do any better than has been done.

The problem is, the locations of the nodes and antinodes changes with the length of the string, which changes depending on where its endpoints are. In other words, where it's fretted. Then, if you use wide (traditional) side-by-side coil construction humbuckers, then one coil could be well-placed while the other isn't. That's why those pickups always sound unique no matter where you put them, relative to vertically stacked humbuckers or single coils.