Pickup Position you Prefer

[Jcurl02]

Just wondering....  I prefer the sound on the neck.  Even playing acoustic, I tend to strum closer to the neck.  I prefer that sound.  When I noodle I'm usually in the Neck or Neck and Middle postion. 

Now I know I'll get a lot of responses that it depends on the sound you want, if you playing lead or not, but I'm not looking for that answer.  What I want to know is, what tone do you actually prefer?  Just you and your guitar...... arty07:

You see a lot of guitars with only the bridge pickup but I've only seen a few with a neck only pickup config.

 

[rockskate4x]

Mini rant here...

You should be able to find good uses for all of those sounds. Take an extra pickup that you have lying around and solder to an extra output jack. Strum your guitar while holding the pickup above the strings. It will sound like an "ah" closer to the bridge, and an "ooh" closer to the neck. When you sweep the pickup back and forth it gives you kind of a wahwah effect as you hear the range of sounds in between. Combining pickups will also cut out some of the frequencies shared between them. Having all of these colors to paint with gives you the ability to blend in and stand out with a variety of mixes. Share frequencies with another instrument on doubled parts and find the sound that makes sure you are heard for your solos, etc etc etc...

Learning how to use all of your options behind the output jack to their fullest potential will allow you to to be very dynamic with fewer amp channels, dirt boxes, boosts, and compressors after the output jack. It's easier on your back and your wallet, and makes you a more valuable musician no matter what the band setting is and what gear you are using.

That said... i do have favorite sounds and I do like using lots of stages of gain, compression, eq, and fx after my guitar, and i encourage the use of these tools... but I feel that we should all know and love the basic sounds that EVERY electric guitarist has at their disposal.

That's it. peace

 

[line6man]

I love neck pickups on Strats.
Bridge pickups on Jazz Basses.

 

[SixString]

No contest for me....neck for sure, just seems to be the warmest/fattest of all the positions, especially when driven.  Neck/Middle would be my second fav.

 

[Steve_Karl]

You left out neck, middle and bridge!

 

[crash]

Clean - Neck/Middle or Middle/Bridge (parallel)
Distortion - Neck or Bridge

 

[TBurst Std]

I can;t vote. I have guitars that don't have 3 pups

The fact is, ALL positions are usable. Listen to your sonic floor and fill it.

PS: I will say I play my Doozy a lot in the middle. That is half a HB and a P90 combined with a cap. Its a classic Doozy sound though most Doozy owners don;t seem to use it, then question why their Doozy doesn;t sound like a Doozy LOL.
My Strat, what ever is called for. I do seem to be more willing to use positions 1 3 5 than others.
My Les or Godin, yes all of them.

 

[The Norwegian Guy]

I switch positions all the time.
Most of the time depending on the dynamics.

 

[Jusatele]

can't answer, it is not a preference, it is what the sound I need for that song

 

[hannaugh]

I'm usually in the neck & middle, but it depends a lot on what I'm playing and what effects I'm using.

 

[AutoBat]

i primarily use bridge. I occasionally do a bit of neck and sometimes neck/middle. never middle alone or bridge/middle.

 

[Bruno]

S/S/S ==> middle+bridge
S/S/H ==> bridge
H/x/H o H/S/H==> neck

 

[kboman]

I play almost exclusively through my neck pickup. It just sounds waaay better than the bridge position. It's always been like this for me.

 

[Cagey]

For me, it depends on the guitar and the pickups installed. Some have a neck sound that's just magical, others it's the bridge, others it's some combination. I've even got one I don't particularly care for no matter what I do. They're good pickups, but I did some unusual wiring in that one on a whim that didn't pan out, so I've got to operate on her again. I thought I'd learn to love it, but you know how that goes.

 

[greywolf]

I spend most of my time in neck or neck mid

 

[JonatanOTG]

Well, I don't think there's a "real" answer to this question considering there's just so many other things that matters for the actual sound you get.

Still, it's a fun topic.

If I use my strat, I'll use the neck most of the time unless I'm after more of a distorted rather then overdriven sound. Then I use the bridge, of course, not only for the power but also for the harmonics. But I generally don't like strat bridge pickups, they tend to sound way too thin to handle any distortion. My strat has a DiMarzio singlecoil sized humbucker in it, thats's the only reason I'm ok with it I guess...

Gotta say though, one thing I keep on coming back to all the time is this: I don't really need all these pickup combinations in a 3-pickup guitar. I'd do perfectly fine with just neck & bridge to be honest.

 

[swarfrat]

I never ever used a strat bridge pickup by itself, and certainly not clean, until I got a set of EMG SA's.  Only then did i really discover the three single pickup positions.

 

[wombi8]

middle humbucker does it for me,

 

[mullyman]

I will stick to the question at hand, and add, yes, I use various positions for what is being called for. With that said....

On my SSH strat I really like the front/mid combo. I have a set of Van Zandt Blues in those positions.

On my Music Man, HH, I really enjoy the sound of the neck.
MULLY

 

[dudesweet157]

First, to the newbie, awesome necropost! :headbang1:

To the question posed, it depends on the style of music I'm playing.  I've played country music almost exclusively for the past few years, and that style lends itself to clean, snappy tones from the bridge or bridge/middle on my Strat or the bridge and bridge/middle on my Tele.

If I'm playing RAWK, I tend to use the bridge or bridge/middle position for rhythm and the neck  or neck/middle position for leads.  Rhythms are more crunchier and leads are more smoothier.

Or, ya know, whatever I'm feeling like at the time. 

Or a tone that complements the other players.  I try to play a different type of guitar than the 2nd in my groups.  If they play a Strat, I'll play the Tele, if they play a LP/SG/(insert other humbucker guitar here), I'll play my Strat.  I only really play my humbucker guitar in a single guitar situation.  I find it really hard to share sonic space and have a tone that I like using humbuckers with my rig.