Kind of a poll.....

[bombtek]

When I first started playing ......Jesus ...30 YEARS AGO...my pickup selector switch never left the bridge position. I thought that there just was no need. The tone from any other position just wasn't as "heavy" or as clear cutting as the bridge and therefore I didn't like or need it.

It took a LONG time for me to really begin to appreciate the tones from the neck and middle pickups. A really long time. But.....now that I've "grown up" ...I've found that I use all the pickups and that in a lot of situations, I like the meatiness/creaminess that the other two provide that the bridge just doesn't have. I wonder why the hell I was so stubborn on the subject.

So my question is:

Who feels that the bridge pickup is KING and that any other pickup on a guitar is just a waste of routed wood, or who feels that any pickup position on a guitar is worth it's weight in gold?

Me......I definitely fall into the latter category. I'd have to offload any guitar now if it was bridge pickup only like say a Charvel Model 5A. GREAT fucking guitar, but not for me anymore.

[Shawn Lutz]

To me a single pickup guitar is as useless as titts on a tree. I have always liked neck pickups for thick lead tones and backed off volume less gainy tone. Even from my very first electric. I never use the neck for rhythm playing. On strats that have 3 pickups I sink the middle one down as low as possible and us that pickup when I do clean arppegiated parts.

If you can create dynamics on one PU guitars they can work out but I like thick, meaty LP/Strat neck PU tone. One of my favorites is Yngwie's neck pickup tone....love it but usually hate the guys bridge tone.

On another note I htink a lot of guys went with 1 PU because of EVH, sure there were 1 PU guitars out like the LP special but I find it funny people copy inadequate guitar teching...Eddie couldn't remember how to wire it up so he just slapped the bridge in there LOL

[DonP]

I still like single hum guitars. I hardly have any. Guess I haven't grown up yet?

A single or hum in the neck is fine too.

The neck tone I prefer is either clean or something like old school Metallica - Breadfan, Master of Puppets, Fade to Black, etc.

[etepbbb]

I use both the bridge and neck pups too. That said, I'm not selling my 5a. While it is less versatile, it still works fine for most of what I do. Most importantly, it's got a great feel to it.

[bombtek]

I'm with you Shawn. Only 1 slight disagreement. I LOVE both my strat's and LP's neck tone for playing rhythm on old school Sabbath songs. It may not sound spot on to the recording, but that thick meatiness really adds to those songs.

[shreddermon]

I usually use bridge for crunch, neck or neck + mid for cleans. Not exclusively, though. I sometimes use neck or neck + bridge for leads or cleans.

Single hum guitars look cool, but are too limiting tone wise. I had a GMW built many years ago that was single hum, but had a coil tap switch. That was the closest I've come to enjoying any versatility from a single hum guitar. I know lots of guys think they can get a decent clean tone by rolling back the volume a bit, but IMHO that's a non-ideal compromise at best.

[pianoguyy]

Personally, its only been this century that a neck pickup was used, and even this decade that a neck pickup has been needed.


And, since i too have hit the 30 year mark, i think it was the music of the time. We didn't need anything other than a hot bridge.

Today, unless i am buying some odd graphic that would only ever be seen in a rock stage, i can't see myself buying another one pickup guitar anytime soon. They are just too limited. I still use mostly bridge, but others are useful.

I have a middle pickup that i have lowered out of my way. I use it as a volume control since it has little volume. Position 4 gives bridge and middle, which is like a 75% volume. And position is 5 is 100%.
Its like a built in volume booster. Useful, but not mandatory. I could easily use the knob or a pedal.

[outlawten5]

Depends on what I am playing but bridge pup 90* of the time.

[Axewielder]

I will say I love doing the wiring on them. Minimalism baby! Either you "get it" or you don't. If you over-think it, you won't "get it". If you don't "get it", get you some neck and middle boutique pickups custom wound by Abigail Ybarra wired to a 35-way switch with 13 different series/parallel/splitting options and a tone pot that literally turns invisible when switched off for true bypass and paper-from-the-dead-sea-scrolls-in-oil tone capacitor with seven 9-volt batteries (individually switchable) for up to 63-volt operation. Either way, be happy.

[pianoguyy]

I will say I love doing the wiring on them. Minimalism baby! Either you "get it" or you don't. If you over-think it, you won't "get it". If you don't "get it", get you some neck and middle boutique pickups custom wound by Abigail Ybarra wired to a 35-way switch with 13 different series/parallel/splitting options and a tone pot that literally turns invisible when switched off for true bypass and paper-from-the-dead-sea-scrolls-in-oil tone capacitor with seven 9-volt batteries (individually switchable) for up to 63-volt operation. Either way, be happy.

I think I owned one of them once

[Force]

I was the same for a while, only used the bridge. But as your tastes & technique develop, those other formerly useless tools become valuable.

I rarely use clean but need various combos of the pups when I do. Other than that, bridge for rhythm 99% of the time, for lead 70% bridge & 30% neck.

[toejam]

In the '80s, all I used was the bridge pickup. I'll use a neck pickup every once in awhile now for a clean tones, but I actually prefer the simple one humbucker setup. I ordered my Carvin 7-string about three years ago with only one pickup and one volume (push/pull for coil split when I feel the need to play clean, and I'll lower the volume knob to also clean it up).
I'm actually about to order another Carvin 6-string with only one humbucker/one volume, Floyd, and I'm not even going to bother with a locking nut, just the standard graphite one!

[Nightbat]

I currently have a fusion with it's 5 way busted, leaving only the Bridge functioning
I personally dislike clean tones from solely a bridge p'up, and certainly for leads a neck p'up can sound maginificent,
but I found a little twist of the toneknob makes the bridge sing beautifully

[j2379]

depends, for rocking out a single hum in the bridge is all you need. when it comes to playing other styles its nice to have a neck pickup, and tone controls.

[Jayster]

IMHO it really depends on what you're playing. If all you play is grindcore, a 1 hum is fine. I haven't really used a single coil pup in as long as I can remember. I've owned a few guitars with them, but aside from a functionality check they remained unused. 95% of the time I play is with a distorted tone and I seldomly switch to the neck pup ever.... BUT, I'm no virtuoso. I went through phases of 'tone quest' but unless it's for some sort of recording - I'm happy with just getting 1 decent tone and playing through.