Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

Neck vs bridge pickup on 2017 LP STD


EddieNYC

Recommended Posts

I have the Les Paul that I am running through a Marshall DSL 5CR. I always find myself using the bridge pickup because the neck sounds muddy in comparison. A couple of nights ago I saw Kenny Chesney in Austin and both his band and Old Domion (openers) always had their LPs in the bridge pickup too. I didn’t see it once in any other position.

 

Is that was most people do, or when do you go for both or the neck? This is my first Gibson electric and i’ve only had it for a month or two. I (try to) play old school metal (maiden, Metallica, etc) and some country (Chesney, Aldean, Eric church).

 

Thanks!

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the Les Paul that I am running through a Marshall DSL 5CR. I always find myself using the bridge pickup because the neck sounds muddy in comparison. A couple of nights ago I saw Kenny Chesney in Austin and both his band and Old Domion (openers) always had their LPs in the bridge pickup too. I didn’t see it once in any other position.

 

Is that was most people do, or when do you go for both or the neck? This is my first Gibson electric and i’ve only had it for a month or two. I (try to) play old school metal (maiden, Metallica, etc) and some country (Chesney, Aldean, Eric church).

 

Thanks!

Mike

 

 

 

Hi Mike;

 

Try lowering your neck pick up, that should clear out some mud. I've my neck set about even with the trim ring. There is no right or wrong height, just what sounds good.

 

Johnny

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I go about it the other way. I use the neck pickup on all my guitars. I seldom, if ever, touch the bridge pickup.

 

But unlike you I dont play heavy metal. So we are not comparing like for like.

I use minimal gain and balance EQ with a signal processor.

 

When Clapton used a Les Paul, he used the bridge pickup with the tone backed right off.

 

Its always worth experimenting with the pickup options though. Good luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you set your amp and pedals for the back pickup(bridge) on a Les Paul for both crunchy grindy chording and ripping a solo or three, the front pickup(neck) should be pretty good for soloing. If you want to crunch and grind or do some front pickup jazzing on a guitar like that, you will probably have to twiddle some knobs.

 

There is a lot of commotion above the front pickup, lots of string movement and a pickup right up close to all that string movement. Lowering the pickup will help a little, but in my experience setting the amp and pedals once for both front and back pickups on a two humbucker guitar is really hard. I would do it, and I'd live with the result, usually by picking back closer to the bridge when using the front pickup, sometimes I'd remember to push the trebs up on the amp.

 

Like those guys you are watching, I would not very often move off the back pickup on those guitars.

 

rct

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not a metal player either - my band plays blues, r&b, and some late 60s/early 70s psychedelic rock - and I use a decent amount of gain, but I use the neck pickup as my main lead pickup. It works for me because my band only has one guitar and no keyboard player - just guitar, bass, drums and vocals - and when you stop playing chords to play a solo, it leaves a lot of sonic space to fill. The lovely fat clarinetty tone of the neck pickup does that nicely. Home base for rhythm is the bridge with the volume about seven, and for lead the neck with the volume about eight (yay for Gibson's independent volume controls), with some songs having other settings. But if I was playing with a second guitarist or a keyboard player who could keep the chords going while I solo, the bridge would probably be better at cutting through the mix.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it’s a new Standard 2017 then those pickups shouldn’t be muddy by design. They are normally bright pickups.

As suggested, lower the neck pickup. Mine is actually about 2mm below the pickup ring. I set it by ear and didn’t worry where it was positioned. I just backed it down until it sounded right.

Look at all the classic rockers and their Les Pauls they have those pickups backed way down. That is why they’re adjustable!

I tend to have the low E side a bit lower than the high e side on the neck and the reverse on the bridge pickups (lower e and higher E sides).

Don’t be afraid to experiment with pickup heights. That’s the first thing you should do - long before you consider new pots or caps or pickups.

Most pickups are sensitive to very small adjustments so a turn or two of the screw driver might be all you need to clean up that neck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don’t be afraid to experiment with pickup heights. That’s the first thing you should do - long before you consider new pots or caps or pickups.

 

Absolutely! It's amazing how much difference you can make to the tone of your guitar with a few turns of a screwdriver. More people need to know this!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know what anyone else will say about this but (and I think this is kind of what RCT said above), I set up my tone on the bridge for a good hard rock crunchy grind with the pickup volume around 7-8. Then when I use my neck pickup with the volume around 4 I can get some really nice, cleaner mellower tones. If I crank the bridge pickup to 10 it gets a bit nastier and with higher volume on the neck it gets muddy fast for the rhythm stuff, but for leads can be very nice. All of that with no pedal or amp changes.

 

Of course, that's me with my amp, ears and taste. But, point is you can get a lot of different tones with just your pickup pots once your amp is dialed in. Don't be afraid of turning them too low.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can also adjust your amp settings and your guitar's volume and tone controls until you can get a sound you like from both pickups.

 

I find myself lowering the guitar volumes a decent amount to get a better sound and having to juice the gain more in the Amp. It’s just a tough comp compared to that amazing bridge pickup sound (to my ears at least).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you set your amp and pedals for the back pickup(bridge) on a Les Paul for both crunchy grindy chording and ripping a solo or three, the front pickup(neck) should be pretty good for soloing. If you want to crunch and grind or do some front pickup jazzing on a guitar like that, you will probably have to twiddle some knobs.

 

There is a lot of commotion above the front pickup, lots of string movement and a pickup right up close to all that string movement. Lowering the pickup will help a little, but in my experience setting the amp and pedals once for both front and back pickups on a two humbucker guitar is really hard. I would do it, and I'd live with the result, usually by picking back closer to the bridge when using the front pickup, sometimes I'd remember to push the trebs up on the amp.

 

Like those guys you are watching, I would not very often move off the back pickup on those guitars.

 

rct

 

Really helpful - thank you!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And thanks to everyone that I didn’t specifically reply too. I learned a lot here. When I get home tonight step 1 is going to be to roll down the neck volume a lot more than where I have it, and if that doesn’t do it step 2 will be to lower the pickup by 1-2 turns and take it from there.

 

I think I have been running with the volume to high based on the comments.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Off topic I know but I’m so glad that I bought my two acoustic Gibsons last year because I basically too a year off from playing my Strat because I was really into the acoustics. When I got back into electric mode I just couldn’t fret squat on the Strat and I hated the more curved fretboard. I was able to make a fantastic trade for this LP - these are such amazing guitars. I live everything aspect of playing it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If after lowering the neck pickup you’re still not happy, what i’ve done is swap out the pots for 500k ones plus a 0.015 cap. Gibson usually supplies guitars with 300k high tolerance pots so going to 500k with a smaller cap might give your neck pickup the brightness you need.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Def lower that neck pup.

 

the volume pots will work wonders.

 

also for the middle position, if you dial back the volume on the guitar a bit, you can get some great clarity from that setting too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always feel in my LP or in another guitars with such configuration, more volume at the neck pickup than at the bridge one for clean tones, I solved it with my bridge pickup volume i.e.: in 8 and the neck in 5 or 6, while with an overdrive pedal connected both sounds are even or close to, this is another way to solve.

Sometimes it is a matter of where you put your hand to strung the guitar, if you strung closer to the bridge the sound is more "tight" let´s say, while playing over the neck pickup even only with the bridge one connected, gives you a more open sound.

It is something that you need to experiment.

BR

Andy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the Les Paul that I am running through a Marshall DSL 5CR. I always find myself using the bridge pickup because the neck sounds muddy in comparison. A couple of nights ago I saw Kenny Chesney in Austin and both his band and Old Domion (openers) always had their LPs in the bridge pickup too. I didn't see it once in any other position.

 

Is that was most people do, or when do you go for both or the neck? This is my first Gibson electric and i've only had it for a month or two. I (try to) play old school metal (maiden, Metallica, etc) and some country (Chesney, Aldean, Eric church).

 

Thanks!

Mike

 

Those Country Boys LOVE the Twangy/Hot/Brite sound Country music lends itself to, surprised they weren't all playing Fender's. Stapleton may be the only heavy country player I have heard in a long time, BUT I am not much of a Country listener. I find myself on the Rythm P-UP 90% of the time, and the rest on the MIDDLE position, seldom do I hit the Bridge P-UP by itself. That being because the LEAD/BRIDGE P-Up on my 2017 Les Paul STANDARD is way too hot for my taste's. When I am in the middle position I have the Brdige P-Up Tone control down around 4-5=TOPS......I used to dig the TWANG/Bright/HOT sound out of a DIRTY FINGERS Bridge position P-Up on my ole '79 'SG' but somehow, after hearing the way it sounded when I recorded myself,not so much.Since that revelation (1997?) It is the HEAVIER and FATTER SOUND/TONE I am after.

and GIBSON guitars are GOOD FOR THAT ! When I need a li'l brighter sound, I stay away from the Bridge and put the Treble on my amps above the 6 they are usually set at.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Metal conundrum.. Have you ever noticed how some of the really hot guitars designed for playing metal have a single really hot humbucker and sometimes no tone control. Its mostly because when heavily over driven the bridge humbucker is the only one that can punch through overdrives and give you some piercing clarity. To get any usable sound from the neck humbucker you have to back off the power quite a bit. So if you are playing some sort of metal don't worry about using the neck humbucker, cause nobody else playing metal can use it either, its too muddy. Only the bridge humbucker can provide the metal sound you are after.

 

This is could be one of the reasons the Lee Malia signature guitars use a hot bridge humbucker and a neck P-90. Surprisingly a P-90 neck pickup can handle overdrive without getting too muddy.

302842.jpg

As explained in earlier posts, if you want your neck humbucker to sound good, you have to adjust your amp and effects specifically for that pickup..Save your bridge pickup for punching your leads through.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Mike;

 

Try lowering your neck pick up, that should clear out some mud. I've my neck set about even with the trim ring. There is no right or wrong height, just what sounds good.

 

Johnny

I recently acquired a 99 Hamer Stellar II 24 fret as a project guitar that looked like it had been sitting in a corner for several years. I normally only use guitars with P-90's. This one has Duncan Design Humbuckers and I was wondering why the neck pickup was so incredibly muddy.

 

With the switch in mid position, I started lowering the neck pickup until got it to squawk and sound usable. After this the neck pickup by its self was way cleaner. So the bridge pickup is adjusted to about 1/8" from the strings and the neck pickup is barely above the plastic frame, a little more than 3/16" from the strings. Volume wise they are pretty well balanced now.

 

I have finished restoring guitar, it looks beautiful and has a really solid neck. But lowering neck pickup, balancing the sound between the bridge and neck, really made a big difference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

With the switch in mid position, I started lowering the neck pickup until got it to squawk and sound usable. After this the neck pickup by its self was way cleaner. But lowering neck pickup, balancing the sound between the bridge and neck, really made a big difference.

 

 

This is exactly how I set up all pickups in all my guitars. A screwdriver and my ears, same with pretty much the rest of my set ups too. Couldn't tell you any exact measurements.

 

If it sounds good and feels good, it is good.

 

Johnny

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...