bridge and neck ....the difference

[versusrider]

Hi all, go easy on me I've only been playing for 43 years and now that I am building a guitar from scratch and looking at what pick ups to use I would like to know the difference between a pick up suitable for the neck position and the bridge position. Technically speaking please, i.e. different magnets/windings etc. Have seen a bridge pick up at a good price but could it work at the neck.

[richard]

Generally speaking you'll want the neck pickup to be lower in output than the bridge pickup. There is more string vibration under the neck pickup so it'll be louder than a pickup of the same output at the bridge. Having said that, Gibson didn't make different pickups for neck and bridge in the early years.

As you'll no doubt know you get a lot more treble bite from the bridge position. A pickup wound specifically for the neck position may have too much top end in the bridge. There's no hard and fast rule - I've read of lots of folks that put bridge pickups in the neck and vice versa. Only your ears will tell you whether you like the sound or not.

Most, but not all, BK pickups use the same magnet for neck and bridge. The difference is in the wind.

What bridge pickup have you seen for a good price and why are you thinking of putting it in the neck ?

What type of guitar are you building ? What do you want it to sound like ? I'm assuming you're talking about humbuckers rather than single coils ?

[versusrider]

thanks for the reply, guitar is an american walnut solid body jaguar style with strat neck, 25.5" scale. I like the strat sound on the neck pick up, in fact I liked the sound of my '73 SG1 with a seymour duncan mini humbucker, it only had the one pick up at the neck. That also was walnut. I may just use one pick up on this one to start. You know I cannot remember what pick up it was now, I have looked at so many. My biggest problem is I cannot describe the sound I like but I was looking to get a jazz guitar sound, mellow and not to sharp in the treble, I believe the jazz style humbuckers still sound good with rock when overdriven. I am under no illusion that I will get it right first time.

[Telerocker]

I can tweak some nice jazztones out of the Mule-neck. On the other end of the spectrum, the Warpig-neck is used by several jazzplayers. Ask the BKP-team about it, they will confirm that.

[ericsabbath]

mules are amazing for everything

[richard]

Bit confused - are you thinking of having a pickup in the neck position only ?

Have you decided on a humbucker or a single coil ?

Where have you been looking at pickups ?

Are there any particular players whose tone you like ?

Are you able to post any Youtube clips of someone using the sort of tone you are aiming for ?

[versusrider]

 :oops: just looked at the SG1 and the pick up is nearer the bridge. I will definitely be going for two humbuckers, which ones I am not sure, a mule sounds like a good starting point. I think I need to listen to some of the players I like and take more notice of their sound. I really don't want to rush into this and get it wrong.