ChristopherG
Junior Member
- Messages
- 186
Yeah Cagey, but with the basalmic improve my tone?
What is the reasoning behind the big difference in outputs
- Thread starter ChristopherG
- Start date
JD0x0
Junior Member
- Messages
- 82
For a given pickup and pickup height...
Pickups positioned closer to the neck will sound fuller rounder, with more output
Pickups positioned closer to the bridge will sound brighter, thinner, with less output.
This is if we had matching pickups with matching heights. Originally Fender Strat and Gibson humbucker sets had no real calibration. One of the reasons for the 'hotter' bridge is that 'overwinding' or adding more winds to the bridge pickup, lowers the resonant frequency, smooths highs, and gives more output. That's pretty much exactly what you want if you find the bridge position thin, weak, anemic, etc. (Which was a big problem on strats)
It sort of became a thing because it seemed to bring a better tonal balance between pickups, depending on the calibration. With a 'hotter' pickup in the bridge of a Les Paul, (or any dual bucker guitar) you could EQ some mud out of the neck pickup, without having a overly piercing or thin sounding bridge, for example. It really depends on player's tastes. Some clean, country and rockabilly players might not like the hotter bridge pickup because they want to maximize treble frequencies, while a rock player might find that setup to sound thin in the bridge. Some people like a 1:1.2 inductance ratio, some like 1:1.5 and 1:2 ratios and you'll probably find factory guitars with ratios comparable to these, depending on the pickups, model, and make.
Pickups positioned closer to the neck will sound fuller rounder, with more output
Pickups positioned closer to the bridge will sound brighter, thinner, with less output.
This is if we had matching pickups with matching heights. Originally Fender Strat and Gibson humbucker sets had no real calibration. One of the reasons for the 'hotter' bridge is that 'overwinding' or adding more winds to the bridge pickup, lowers the resonant frequency, smooths highs, and gives more output. That's pretty much exactly what you want if you find the bridge position thin, weak, anemic, etc. (Which was a big problem on strats)
It sort of became a thing because it seemed to bring a better tonal balance between pickups, depending on the calibration. With a 'hotter' pickup in the bridge of a Les Paul, (or any dual bucker guitar) you could EQ some mud out of the neck pickup, without having a overly piercing or thin sounding bridge, for example. It really depends on player's tastes. Some clean, country and rockabilly players might not like the hotter bridge pickup because they want to maximize treble frequencies, while a rock player might find that setup to sound thin in the bridge. Some people like a 1:1.2 inductance ratio, some like 1:1.5 and 1:2 ratios and you'll probably find factory guitars with ratios comparable to these, depending on the pickups, model, and make.
