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Is there a basic rule of thumb for placement of pups and humbuckers?
If so, where is the reference point (the nut or saddle)?
And while I`m at it, what is the reason for the bridge pickup on Strats being set at that angle?
I`ve been looking for this info off and on for some time now, but can only seem to find vague and passing mention to my questions.
Coe Franklin

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Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

One basic rule of thumb (really basic) is that the closer you get to the bridge, the "brighter" and more trebly it's going to sound, and the closer you go to the neck, the bassier/"warmer"/"darker" it's going to sound. I don't particularly like a bridge pickup to be too close to the bridge, but that's just me. As a ballpark figure, I usually put the far end of a humbucker cavity around 1" away from the scale length line. I have a testbed guitar I made too, that allows me to easily swap out different pickups and move them around. Different pickups sound good in different places. It's fun and interesting to use.

You might also read/hear things about putting or not putting pickups under nodes. I think that is hooey, unless maybe you only play the open strings, or just play one chord. Once you fret a different note, the nodes change.

The strat bridge pickup is angled to give a more balanced sound. If the bass side were as close to the bridge as the treble side, it would be a pretty weak, tinny sound. Not that I love the sound of a bridge position single coil anyway....

Hope that helps a little.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Yeah - adding to what Mike said...

as we know electromagnetic pickups convert the kinetic energy of the moving string through the magnetic field into a voltage signal...
depending on where your two primary static 'nodes' are - your bridge and nut, or your bridge and fretted position, you can roughly figure how much exitation - or motion the string will have. Obviously this gets a little more complex when you introduce dynamic nodes based upon different modes, but like Mike said, I have not really seen this to make a difference (but his word is greater than mine)...But anyway, more string motion above the pickup is going to produce fuller bass into mids (i.e. at the base of the neck) while little string movement accentuates the trebles (i.e. at the bridge position). You generally only have about 6" to work with anyway, so you can fudge the pickup position a little bit to achieve a sound that is more geared to your ear...

Stephen

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www.ziegenfussguitars.com

Thanks for the reply, guys.
I think I`m starting to get my head around it.
Any more input would be appreciated.
Coe Franklin

_________________
Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

Whilst agreeing with Mike that the placement of pickups relating to nodes etc is something that goes out the door as soon as you start fretting, there is IMHO one inportant exception,
If you use open string harmonics at the 5th fret location, then a neck pickup placed exactly where the 24th fret would be will not register the sound.
This is the case for a standard telecaster neck pickup.

Coe-

If you don't have it already, reading Guitar Electronics For Musicians by Donald Brosnac will help you understand how and why pickups work. It is fairly simple - kind of the "guitar electronics for dummies" before the dummie books came out.

Hope this helps-

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds