Favorite Positions

[Gordy01]

Get your minds out of the gutter!! You're steppin' all over mine.

The question I have is; Do you play your 2 humbucker guitar mostly with the

pickup selector switch on neck, both, or bridge.

The reason I'm asking is that is seems like most players prefer one pickup at

a time; seldom both at once.

Tell me all......

[Sjael]

Well then I'll be first to say I use both at once, albeit the bridge on full and the neck on 3-5 for a nice fat tone. Like this I can quickly switch to bridge-only for some flat rhythm work, or neck only to instantly clean up the tone, while maintaining a sweet, round tone that is good for just about anything.

[StewartB]

I'm probably opposite to Sjael. I like the neck full on and the bridge around 4/5 - sounds quite smooth and bluesy.

[regnar]

Never really thought about it but I run both at once usually. I seem to like the bridge full on and the neck around 7 or 8.

[Gordy01]

So we use both at once to warm up the tone?

Or fill it out?

[android13]

I just use treble because it helps me do pinch harmonics better…

although now looking at this thread, I'll try out the middle.

 

 

My friend, who plays an Ibanez with two humbuckers keeps it at the middle, with more of the neck pickup than the bridge.

[7C]

Up until recently I was a bridge pick-up on at 10/10 man, but now since I modded my LP Studio I find myself rediscovering the more rounded almost laid back sound of the neck. It may be something to do with the neck pick-up on my Studio (it has no markings other than 'PAF' stamped on the rear) I really like it, especially the tonal difference I get on that guitar as I put a bright P90 in the bridge.

cheers

7C

[smips65]

I keep mine in the middle position.

 

It's only way to "activate" the middle pup, which produces a slightly semi-hollow tone.

[Strumbone]

I sometimes use the neck alone, but usually both, with more emphasis on the neck.

[deflepfan]

Get your minds out of the gutter!! You're steppin' all over mine.

Damn . . . I thought maybe . . .

 

Okay, I play mostly with both pups, and experiment with one or the other, but I'm still new at this.

Sheila

[RSDx]

I often use both, adjusting the volume of one or the other to get the tone I want at that time....or I use the neck pup. I rarely use the bridge - perhaps, when I get around to a future upgrade, I'll appreciate the bridge pup, but the stock Epi in my LP just seems harsh and shrill to these old ears.

[Notes_Norton]

Depends on the song. Either one or both.

 

But then, I play many different kinds of music.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

[eor]

80/20, neck/broidge. but i use the middle position about -3% of the time. that 80/20, is mostly dictated by what i play, and not my tonal preferences. back in the metal days, that number would have skewed more toward the bridge.

[Hector Arcadius]

I think that the question boils down to the guitar that you're using each time.

 

When I'm playing my Gibson Studio, I tend to use the bridge pickup alone so much more, because it sounds killer. The neck is not bad and you can dial in some nice blues tones, but I tend to use it less. The middle position only every now and then, only when I want some rockabilly sound or similar...

 

With the Washburn Strat, it's mainly the neck pickup. I love that famous Strat-neck,bluesy, woody tone. The humbucker on it is not bad at all, but I have the Studio for better humbucker tones.

 

With the Epi SG Special, well... Bridge pickup is decent, the neck gets too muddy most of the times.

 

Generally speaking, I'm not a middle-positions guy. It's either bridge pickup and straight-forward tones, or neck for some blues.

[ReneBoedker]

I almost solely use the treble pickup. It has a higher output than the bass, and does therefore give me a more satisfying sound.

 

But I haven't been fiddling around with it that much - I'm only a beginner.

[Hector Arcadius]

I almost solely use the treble pickup. It has a higher output than the bass' date=' and does therefore give me a more satisfying sound.

 

But I haven't been fiddling around with it that much - I'm only a beginner.[/quote']

 

 

BTW, I LOVE the finish on your guitar man! Truly gorgeous!

 

 

PS: A couple of years guitar playing, with a family and all, qualify me only as a beginner as well...

[matiac]

Dude, I'm all over the place, and since I briefly owned the Les Paul Classic Gibson variant, because of the overly hot pickups, learned to use the volume/tone controls on the guitar instead of just cranking everything...can't really do that with hot ceramic pickups, and play what I like to play, but I mostly prefer using both pickups (switch in the middle) for a lot of stuff I do. Oh, amps usually set at Bass, cranked, mid, about 9:00, treble, about 1:00, presence (if equipped) about noon-ish. If the amps got a 10db gain switch, I usually turn that on. With the Zoom 505II, I usually use the "C3" selection, or "C1"...although I've been seriously dabbling with the "D1" selection, you'll hear it on "Nutter Butter"the phasy sounding guitar parts are "D1".

[bluesman345]

I like to use the bridge pup for palm muting and country/steel type bends, but for rhythm I like to use the middle (n & position, as just the neck is often too bassy. On the other hand, I have a 7 band graphic eq to further tweak the tone.

[mbberry]

it really depends on what im playing. a friend of mine borrowed a guitar for a gig and apologized when he gave it back for moving my knobs. i couldnt believe he thought it would be a problem. imho you have to get to know your guitar and know what it likes to do and what you can get out of it. i play a wide range of styles so im always tweaking the volume and the tone, usually during the song. the reason my dot is my number one is because of all the different tones i can get out of it.

[RobinTheHood]

On guitar, I play rhythm on the neck and lead on the bridge, everything at 10. But I'm really still in the experimantal stage when it comes to all of that on guitar. I dont really care for the tone with both PUPs on, but that may just be my pickups...Dimarzio Super-2 & X2N - They just seem to sound better seperately to me.

 

On bass, I play with both pickups on, volume at 10, everything else at noon (Bartolinis, heck yeah!). Sometimes I'll back off on one of the tone controls for a more Fernder-y sound, depending on the song.

[Dennis G]

As some have already mentioned, I think it depends on the guitar you're playing, the type of music, and the amp too. Each of my guitars react differently at different volumes, tone levels, etc. but I do have a tendency to use primarily the neck, and when I use both, it's usually around 60/40 or 70/30 or so neck/bridge. I too, rarely use just the bridge unless I'm looking for something "shriekey"

 

edit: duh, I primarily use the NECK not bridge....edited above

[RobinTheHood]

I'm about to whip out a few solos on the bridge pickup right about.............now!

 

Toodles till tomorrow!

[jcwillow777]

I use the neck pickup for lead and bridge pickup for rhythm. Sometimes I use both to get a crunchier palm mutted rhythm.

[lpplayer]

Most of the time bridge only, with the tone control rolled back a bit to take the edginess off.

 

I do like the middle position for some stuff, and I roll off the neck volume a bit.

[bill67]

When I played in a band years ago with my fender Jazz master I 100% played with both pickups I just loved the sound.