question about humbucker positions...

ok that title probibly isnt the best but...


Ok I have a strat with a humbucker in the bridge position and I see that quite a bit, but every once in a while I see a tele with a humbucker in the neck position and Ive never been able to play one so I was wondering whats the idea behind this? WHats it sound like?

In my head Ive always thought to have the humbucker in the bridge and use it for distored rhythem and Ive always thought id use the single coil pickups in the neck.ect...

I believe it all comes down to personal preference.

I prefer to use single coil neck position for rhythm, and my single coil bridge position for lead, though sometimes I use the bridge single coil for rhythm if it needs some bite.

A humbucker in neck position would probably give a real thick tone, maybe kind of like a jazz guitar.

Dave Murray put humbuckers in both the bridge and neck of his strats.
Its all taste,I like a stock strat,Useing the bridge pickup on most everything the neck for a warm strat neck sound and the middle to fill the extra hole in the pick gaurd lol.
A bridge humbucker on a start I like or hard rock/metal for a ballsyer sound,but buckers lack the dynamics I like for straight out classic rock.

those replys pretty much covered it.

I noticed my neck humbucker is more bassy, and not as sharp as the brigde pickup. I like the tone the brigde pickup gives me more.
I rarely switch pickups or use both of them.

As for my other guitar: 3 single coil pickups.
I use the brigde and middle pickup for my clean sound, and the brigde only for distortion.

why do I have neck pickup anyways lol :)

I use the neck position almost exclusively on my Strat copy. I find the bridge position too weak and piercing, especially with my Celestion redbacks.

I use the neck position, when playing clean, on my strat about 80% of the time. When I play dirty, I use my himbucker about 95%.

and I find my self using the coil tap on my PRS around 30-55%. Although that is not neck position

I used a tone zone in my bridge position (usually with a PAF Pro in the neck position) for a while, but I got tired of it fast. The lower midrange area...just waay too muddy. If I want something high output, but a little less muddy I use the Evolution bridge now.

Neck pickups (usually) sound thicker and more fat than bridge. A lot of it is personal preference, I've never really like the sound of bridge pickups.

My Telecaster has a humbucker in the neck position. It gives a richer fatter bluesy tone, while retaining that tele twang from the single coil in the bridge. I have a coil tap on the humbucker, so I can switch to a single coil if the need arises. With the coil tap and a 5 way switch (1. Neck only, 2. Bridge/Neck in series, 3. Bridge/Neck in parallel, 4. Bridge/Neck in series/out of phase, 5. Bridge only) I can pull almost all of the tones I'll ever need out of one axe... The only thing you'll never get out a Tele is the sustain a Les Paul will give you...

Originally posted by Jerry68
... The only thing you'll never get out a Tele is the sustain a Les Paul ...

or a Yamaha SBG, will give you. :D