Is anyone else a neck pick up person?

[wakjob]

My neck pickups have to sound as clear as the bridge pickup.
I can't stand a neck pickup that sounds like the Tone control on the guitar got rolled back 3/4.

 

[Konfyouzd]

I use both pickups a lot

 

[mongey]

love neck for cleans

although often live I just keep it on the bridge when switching from high gain to clean for a part.

one less thing to think about . too many times on stage I'll go from a clean part into a chugging part and wonder why my chuggs sound weird to realize I'm still on the neck

 

[Science_Penguin]

One of my biggest influences as a lead player is Dave Murray, so... Of course! Plus, a nice PAF or single in the neck makes fast-picked leads sound amazing.

 

[orion]

none of those say neck

It still confuses me when people holding a Less Paul refer to the neck pickup as the rhythm pickup.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I'm a Strat man, so eye don't listen to people that hold LPs anyway

As if the sarcasm wasn't clear enough, I really do like neck pickups. Neck pickup on a Strat with >24 frets with a dash of dirt makes me moist. On non strats (still usually S shaped, but not Fender) with humbuckers I'll usually use both pickups at once for clean tapping and thumping, and the Ionizer 7 neck pup in my SIR is nice and clear and sings great on warm leads..

 

[Thanatopsis]

Not personally but one of my good friends is strictly a neck PU guy. In fact, he doesn't even have a bridge PU in one of his guitars.

 

[Tr3vor]

I'm a Strat man, so eye don't listen to people that hold LPs anyway

As if the sarcasm wasn't clear enough, I really do like neck pickups. Neck pickup on a Strat with >24 frets with a dash of dirt makes me moist. On non strats (still usually S shaped, but not Fender) with humbuckers I'll usually use both pickups at once for clean tapping and thumping, and the Ionizer 7 neck pup in my SIR is nice and clear and sings great on warm leads..

more than 24 frets? I thought those didn't have a neck pickup...

anyway, I like using the neck pickup for leads and cleans, but rhythm, I can't do it, too mushy for what I like to play.

 

[celticelk]

come on man you're on sso no one is gonna play rhythm on a neck pickup

Speak for yourself. I play the neck pickup 90-95% of the time. Granted, my tastes lean towards doom, jazz, dub, and other not-anally-tight styles, but those styles aren't automatically disqualified just because we're on SSO.

 

[symorian]

For shredding & a bit more technical solos that involves lots of string skipping&legato etc in the higher regions, I typically use neck. This gives more "definition" and a smoother/creamy, even sound on higher speeds.

To get enough clarity and the most out of low-end definition, I use bridge with tight & fast rhythm parts except if there are some parts where more articulation is needed in which case I use middle OR neck exclusively.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

more than 24 frets

Baaah, yeah I meant to turn that alligator the other way

 

[ncfiala]

I play with only the neck pickup most of the time these days. But I listen to mostly doom at this point.

 

[khe91]

I often use the neck PU for leads, especially for sweeps, as well as for clean sounds (wired paralell).

 

[Winspear]

Neck pickup or at least middle for absolutely everything except modern metal rhythm, for me.

 

[Edika]

Really depends on the style of music and what sound you're trying to emulate. I've been playing mainly metal so bridge was for rhythm and some solos and neck for the rest of the solos and cleans or the combination of the two for cleans and soloing again.

When I started playing with a friend more rock/hard rock, especially bands that use Gibsons like Zeppelin and AC/DC, something wasn't right with the sound for rhythm until I switched to the neck pup.

 

[Masoo2]

I mainly stick with the neck on my RG8WNF for everything except modern metal rhythm, but I find that I ignore the neck pickup on my 7 and 6 strings.

 

[tssb]

as most here, i use neck for :

• cleans - exclusively
• leads, sweeps

there is however something else i've been using it for : dirty, mean & offending low gain rhythm tones.
I should clarify : i built a neck pickup, from 3 different pickups : telecaster bridge, strat single coil and a single coil-sized rails humbucker.
The single coil is for cleans, and the rails and telecaster were taken apart and frankenstein-ed into a single rails, the catch being that i have only one of the poles active (as if coil-tapped). Used with a normal high-gain tone, this sounds gnarly and mean, with the clarity of a bridge and bass oomph of the neck, all at about 60% the gain you'd expect.

TL;DR : coil-tapped rails in neck, with telecaster bridge pup parts at 60% of normal output = awesome rhythm tones

 

[SubConArtist]

mainly, with a strat i go... bridge for rhythm and neck for leads. i like that thick do da de do tone on my leads.

 

[azyat]

It seems that I used to almost exclusively use the neck for solos and leads since one of my first guitars, which was LTD EC-1000 (that thick tone of EMG 60 spiced with delay and a hint of chorus, yummy...).
And nothing can compare to that tone of lower strings with clean tapping

 

[goldsteinat0r]

I am usually holding a Les Paul and I love both pickups for different things. Mostly the neck for leads and when I need a rhythm part to be mostly balls.