Originally Posted by: atroahey all, got a question for anyone that can help. i am a rythem guitarist, and i am trying figure out what position works for me on my pickups.. my axe is a les paul baritone guitar tuned to an A with two humbuckers and a three position switch and one tone knob (and obviously a volume knob). i never really focused on humbucker position before and i was wondering if anyone can give me an explination to what pickup does what, and why.. and also the differences of all three switch positions. and what difference does the tone knob make in these positions.

if this is a lot of questions im sorry, im just a lil frusterated and could use some outside help ya know?

thanks

Alex

Ok, what do the pickups do? Simply they are magnets that give off a magnetic field. As the string vibrates it oscilates the field and the signal is sent down the cable to the amp as an electrical impulse. The amp processes the signal and sends that out to the speaker which vibrates to give the sound.

As for the pickup positions. These are reletive to the strings. The bridge pick up being placed close to where the strings meet the bridge mean that the vibration from the string will be faster at that point giving a brighter more brittle sound.

The neck pickup being further away from that point will feel a greater degree of string oscilation meaning the string travels further through the magnetic field which in turn gives the field a greater intensity and a fuller tone.

Using the tone control is much like a car muffler. It adds a greater resistance to the signal when in the full on position thus muting the signal and muting the sound. you'll notice there is a slight volume drop off when tone is used to a great degree.
By using the central switch position you will get a fuller sound to your rhythm playing for most styles of music. So the ideal solution would be to use that setting and play around with the tone control to find sound that suits you.

I know this is technical but i hope this explains how the pickups work and how to get the best of them.