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another dumb question


magicman

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When ordering replacement pickups, for example, a Seymour Duncan Jazz Pickup, you can order that model for the bridge position or the neck position. what's different in the two pickups wiring? and would the world completely end if I put a pickup built for the bridge position in the neck position? Hopefully I'm making sense, I tried to look this up online but couldn't find anything so hope you guys can help. Thanks!
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I'm no expert, but I believe that there are a different number of windings on the pickups. I believe the wiring is the same, therefore, the world would NOT end if you switched 'em.
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There are no such things as dumb questions, only dumb people asking and answering them. :D

 

Just kidding - that's not a dumb question at all. There's nothing to stop you putting any pickup in any position. Certainly the same pickup will sound different in a different position and so you may prefer the sound of one type in the neck and another in the bridge. It's possible that some companies have tried to tailor the sound to work better for one position or another, but that would seem to be really subjective, not to mention totally dependent on the guitar as to how it will sound.

 

So I'd say knock yourself out and experiment with all different pickups in different positions. One of those combinations is bound to float yer boat.

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I believe that neck pickups are wound a little quieter than a bridge pickup to even out the volume when using both. Strings are moving a lot more by the neck than by the bridge so they make a bit more juice in the windings which means more output.

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Originally posted by reachjkh:

I believe that neck pickups are wound a little quieter than a bridge pickup to even out the volume when using both. Strings are moving a lot more by the neck than by the bridge so they make a bit more juice in the windings which means more output.

you are correct, in order to balance the volume between the neck and bridge the bridge specific pickups tend to be hotter. but there is no law saying you can't put a neck position pickup in the bridge. you may even prefer it.

:wave:

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While we're on the subject. I angled the pickup( (a very big humbucker from a lap steel) that I put in neck position of my 335 style yamaha and am pleased with the result.The guitar was too bassy for my liking and the high strings too thin sounding.I angled it so the pickup ws higher on thr treble strings and lower on the bass. Now the treble strings have a warmer sounds and the bass strings don't boom out quite as much. I know there's nothing new in this idea - just wondering if anyone else has gotten good results by angling pickups.This is a low tech solution for something that had been bothering me for a while - probably just dumb luck that it worked. :rolleyes:
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Great responses so far.

 

I'll just add that in case you were asking about the "wiring" of the pickup to the switches and not the wiring (winding) of the pickups- the lead wires should be the same. Different pickups come with different amounts of wires though, whichever scheme they use there should be some documentation explaining how to wire them to your guitar. I just changed pickups for the first time in my guitar. It was really pretty easy.

 

Good luck!

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