ES-175 neck pickup: distance from the neck

[al5jazz]

I had a ES-165 Herb Ellis modified with a humbucker routed into the neck position. It was a reputable shop that did it but I think it's too far back. A friend emailed me that his 175 pickup measured 7/8ths of an inch from the end of the fretboard to the frontside of the pickup. If anyone has any info I would certainly appreciate it. Thanks!

[Versatile]

I have just looked at a pic of an early single P/U ES175...P90...

 

It does look to be 7/8ths or thereabouts

 

Bearing in mind unless specified to be 'vintage correct' the luthier may follow his own instinct...

 

For interest perhaps check out the single P/U ES330...I have also seen Joe Pass playing Ibanez'z with single P/U further back

 

Some luthiers place the P/U at a harmonic node point(that is the magnet poles)....

 

In the end, perhaps it sounds OK....

 

V

 

[al5jazz]

Thanks for your info! Mine is a 57 classic humbucker and the distance from the fretboard is 1 1/16". The harmonic is just over the front edge of the pickup, not over the pole pieces. I can't find another 175/165 to compare it to. I think mine is to far back because I've had several of these in the past and I could always pick behind the pickup without a problem. Now it seems as though the pickup is in the way. I know there is variance from the factory, but I think Gibson is fairly consistent with the pickup placement, barring minor offset problems due to the arch of the top.

Alan

I have just looked at a pic of an early single P/U ES175...P90...

 

It does look to be 7/8ths or thereabouts

 

Bearing in mind unless specified to be 'vintage correct' the luthier may follow his own instinct..

For interest perhaps check out the single P/U ES330...I have also seen Joe Pass playing Ibanez'z with single P/U further back

 

Some luthiers place the P/U at a harmonic node point(that is the magnet poles)....

 

In the end, perhaps it sounds OK....

 

V

 

[SpruceTop]

I have a early '70's ES-175T. The harmonic is between the screws and the front edge of the neck pickup. I think its a common harmonic position on Gibson 24.75" scale guitars, in this case as if the 175 had 22 frets. My '81 LP Custom has the neck pickup in the same spot. On the 25.5" scale, 20 fret Super 400, the neck pickup is right up on the end of the fret board. Thus, the harmonic is in the middle of the neck pickup. And yes, pickup placement does effect tone.

[al5jazz]

I have a early '70's ES-175T. The harmonic is between the screws and the front edge of the neck pickup. I think its a common harmonic position on Gibson 24.75" scale guitars, in this case as if the 175 had 22 frets. My '81 LP Custom has the neck pickup in the same spot. On the 25.5" scale, 20 fret Super 400, the neck pickup is right up on the end of the fret board. Thus, the harmonic is in the middle of the neck pickup. And yes, pickup placement does effect tone.

 

Thanks for your info! I've had all of those models in the past and I noticed that to. A couple of guitar buddies of mine just emailed me today. One of them has a 1992 ES-165 and it measured 1 1/8' (like mine) from the end of neck to the edge of the pickup (not surround) <neck]----[pickup>. Another guy has a 90's ES-175 and he measured 1 3/8" for the same measurement. The guy who originally informed me his 175's were 7/8", told me also they were custom orders from Gibson.

I'm not worried too much anymore because the harmonic seems to be just over the front of the pickup about a 1/3 of the way to the pole pieces. This is kind of where I remembered the harmonics where on the neck pickup on my old 175 and another 165 I used to have in the 90's.

I used to record with a old ES-295 w/P-90's in the late 60' to early 70's, when I was with Sunnyland Slim, but I never measured the distance or even thought about it: time to get back into that mode, haha :-).