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Best Single Humbucker Location


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I'm building a guitar with one Seymour Duncan '59 humbucker.

One pickup out of choice.

I've heard so much about proper placement of pickups, and I am bit confused.

Is there a "sweet spot" for a single pickup?

Thanks,

Mike

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What can be defined as the "sweet spot," though? People like having bridge AND neck pickups because they sound so different and so characterful. Any sort of compromise is just averaging these tones out and getting what...? Vanilla. :D

If you're just having one humbucker, put it in the bridge position and have done with it. :D

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What can be defined as the "sweet spot," though? People like having bridge AND neck pickups because they sound so different and so characterful. Any sort of compromise is just averaging these tones out and getting what...? Vanilla. :D

If you're just having one humbucker, put it in the bridge position and have done with it. :D

Well, depends a lot on what you play.

In the history of guitars, the majority of them with only one pickup place it in what would be considered the neck position. This would be the range of Jazz guitars down to the lowly Fender Musicmaster. The reason is a nice rich sound. Good for rhythm.

The less than majority of guitars with only one pickup placed it in the bridge position. This would include the LP Junior and the Dan Armstrong among others. The reason is a sound that will cut through the rest of the band/mix. Good for lead.

Then there was the third group, numbering even less than the less than majority of guitars. These single pickup models, mostly being made in Japan when that means something less than desirable, although there were a few German/English models that did the same, placed the pickup in the middle. Don't know the real reason for this one, probably as a compromise between the two.

So, if you're a rhythm or backup guitarist, you can't beat the neck position. If your a lead or only guitarist, you really can't beat the bridge position. If you really can't decide - heck, put it in the middle.

No matter where you put it, the tone will change as you move up and down the neck, where you pick the strings and how you pick them.

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If its too close to the bridge it sounds bad, i find about 3/4 - 1" away perfect. You can easily see why if you take a guitar and start plucking right next to the bridge and slowly move the plec away from the bridge as you pluck. You will notice a distinct change in the sound around the 3/4" mark, the string isnt moving enough right next to the bridge to get a good signal and i would rather all of the pickup was under string that is moving properly.

It is believed by some that the 24th fret location is the ideal spot for a neck pickup because it is a harmonic node (like the neck pickup on a strat). This is rubbish as the string is actually moving very little at a harmonic node and if you could make a pickup that just sensed the node point it would be very quiet, lucky for us that pickups are relatively wide and pickup either side of the node as well. on 24 fret guitars you cannot have the pickup in this position and they do have less tonal variety (in general) than guitars that can. This is nothing to do with the node though, just the fact that having the pickup further away from the bridge one gives more tonal variety between the two pickups and obviously 24 fret guitars have less room for pickups so less tonal variety between them

So a bridge pickup should be close, but not too close, to the bridge. And a neck pickup should be as far away from the bridge one as possible for the greatest tonal difference between the two. Middle pickups can just be placed an equal distance between the other two.

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Thank you for that information.

So you're saying that all the talk about the mystic "24th fret" is hogwash?

Myself, I never could hear anything magical about that area.

That was the basis of my question. Does it really matter?

I'd rather have a stronger sounding pickup than one that is louder and muffled in the neck spot.

(Because to me, that's all a tone control is, a muffle control anyways. That's why I am not having one. And, I play with it on 10 all the time).

I think I'll go closer to the bridge.

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I dont know if i would say its 'hogwash', but i would definatly say that the improved tone some people hear in that position has more to do with the distance between the pickups (or from the bridge - how ever you want to see it) than anything to do with supposed 'sweet spots' or harmonic nodes.

and i should have clarified a bit more, with humbuckers i aim to get the polepeices at least 3/4" away from the bridge, not the edge of the pickup. Humbuckers are wide enough that it wont matter if they catch the bit of the string that isnt moving as much. To be honest, i mostly just eyeball the distance now.

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Thank you for the clarification.

I thought about the "24th fret" thing and realized, that unless it's an open note, it doesn't have any affect on a note, does it? It would change in relation to where you fret. The "spot" would continue to move.

Burton on Trent....where is that in relation to London?

I am off to Sevenoaks, Kent (in-laws) this Christmas. Curious as to where it is.

Mike

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Thank you for the clarification.

I thought about the "24th fret" thing and realized, that unless it's an open note, it doesn't have any affect on a note, does it? It would change in relation to where you fret. The "spot" would continue to move.

Burton on Trent....where is that in relation to London?

I am off to Sevenoaks, Kent (in-laws) this Christmas. Curious as to where it is.

Mike

Quite right, i forgot to mention that!!

Burton is in the midlands, a lot closer to birmingham than it is to london.

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  • 4 months later...
Then there was the third group...these single pickup models... placed the pickup in the middle. Don't know the real reason for this one, probably as a compromise between the two.

I'm picking this thread up again since I'm close to needing to make a decision about the pickup placement on the current project. It's going to have a single P90 (dogear).

I'm reluctant to place it at the bridge position, because, in all honesty, I just don't like that sound all that much--hurts my ears, and I'm not a good enough player to overcome the loss of sustain--so I rarely play with the bridge pickup alone on my other guitars.

The neck position...well, on this guitar, there is no neck position. Closest I can get to that would be with the poles at around the location of a 27th fret.

Which leaves the middle position...this weekend when we played out, I put my strat on the middle position the whole night, to see how that sounded...and really it sounded just right-- really gets that combination of highs-but-not-too-high, with good sustain but not the low-end fuzziness of the neck. I'm playing through an AC15 now, so that's probably a big part of it --the amp is really bright.

So other than the possible conflict between pickup position and picking hand (I'm not so sure that's an issue, didn't notice that much with the strat--but this guitar will have a compensated wraparound), can anyone think of any other objections to placing the single pickup in the middle?

And then there's the question about whether to angle it or not? (I'll let the string spread decide that part though).

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