Neck pickup position on 24.75" scale Warmoth necks/guitars

[Cederick]

I love the sound of 24.75" scale neck pickup sound, especially EMG 85, for that bubbly/full sounding shred sound.

But I know Les Pauls and Exporers "are made" for that scale, but Warmoth bodies will have the neck pickup in a slightly different place than a Les Paul, if I get a conversion neck, and if I get a 7/8 Strat, it must have 24 frets and therefor also having the pickup in another place than a normal Gibby would.

So my choices are either getting an actual Les Paul or Explorer, but I don't find that very "fun" because I like to tinker with stuff, and so far Warmoth is my favorite place for guitar parts.

I don't care for that "bolt on vs set neck vs neck through" thing, at all. I think it's a stupid discussion, because I've played guitars with all different constructions that has been bad and OK and good... So it's all down to the parts, not if it's attached with glue or screws.

So, will I get that sound I'm after with a Warmoth guitar or do I have to get a normal 24.75" guitar?

I'm leaning towards a Floyd Rose too, and while I know that wouldn't be "Les Paul true" I don't have a tonal problems with all my other Floyd Rose guitars, even tho there's a different with a tune-o-matic that COULD be beneficial for this kind of sound... But I love Floyds for tuning stability and just the pure fun.

I can play 12" radius, but I prefer compund radius so maybe a regular flatmount hardtail is better for this? Especially since I'n thinking of a superstrat type guitar  :icon_scratch:

But Regal would be cool too... I can't just have tons of superstrats at home  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Fat Pete]

It'd be the 24 frets, not the scale length, that would necessitate the pickup being in a (substantially) different  position.

 

[Cederick]

Yeah I know, so that would make the 7/8 out of the question then. I was just so tempted on a short scale superstrat  :toothy12:

But if I was getting a Regal, wouldn't that neck pickup be slightly too much to the neck side?

 

[pabloman]

Yes. Maybe a body with the neck pickup in the 24 fret reposition would work :dontknow:

 

[rapfohl09]

My question to you is, do you ACTUALLY think you will be able to tell a tonal difference from the neck pickup being skewed by at most 1/2"?

I would have no idea. When I was building guitars I honestly just put the bridge pickup "close to the bridge" and the neck pickup "close to the end of the fret board" There was absolutely no science, or even a ruler involved.

I wouldn't let it make it so you don't buy the parts you want.

 

[bagman67]

My question to you is, do you ACTUALLY think you will be able to tell a tonal difference from the neck pickup being skewed by at most 1/2"?

I would have no idea. When I was building guitars I honestly just put the bridge pickup "close to the bridge" and the neck pickup "close to the end of the fret board" There was absolutely no science, or even a ruler involved.

I wouldn't let it make it so you don't buy the parts you want.

^ This.

 

[Cederick]

Well, you know those people who are like "I dont like 80s superstrats because the angled humbucker make the low strings too muddy"? Hahaha. That's really not a lot but apparenly they notice it.

I am not sure if i would notice since I haven't tried the conversion stuff myself.
Maybe I wouldn't. I hope for that!

 

[river]

I say go for it and build your dream guitar. Put all the right ingredients in place, the pickup position doesn't seem like it would be the factor that makes or breaks it- and you can always tinker with the pickup height as well. A good example of a worst case scenario would be something like needing to use the middle position on a strat instead of the neck position. So maybe try out some strats and see what tones you can get out of the middle as compared to the neck. Or try go get your hands on an HHH Les Paul and play with the middle humbucker.

Here's something that might be helpful if you haven't come across it yet and want to get into the science a bit:

http://www.rukind.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=426&t=12827

 

[river]

It's a fascinating topic. Here's some more material if you are interested:

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/22-vs-24-fret-harmonic-node-myth.607131/
http://www.till.com/articles/PickupResponse/
http://www.frudua.com/pickups_placement.htm
http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?223213-Pickup-placement-so-what-s-the-deal