What's your favorite neck pickup?

[DarkstarII]

Best (for me) neck = PRS Mark Tremonti bass

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I find it interesting that a lot of rock / metal guitarists (myself included) have a preference for neck humbuckers that have single-coil characteristics, over single-coil pickups or humbuckers that sound like normal humbuckers. I guess they're "the best of both worlds".

The twang and attack of a single coil is cool, but they can definitely be a bit too open and low output. I like the PAF Pro because you can get that single coil clarity while retaining humbucker output and compression.

 

[Robslalaina]

Cruiser bridge in a 22 fret guitar: instant awesomeness as Andy Timmons found out decades ago. A regular Strat sized single coil also works.

 

[Drew]

I find it interesting that a lot of rock / metal guitarists (myself included) have a preference for neck humbuckers that have single-coil characteristics, over single-coil pickups or humbuckers that sound like normal humbuckers. I guess they're "the best of both worlds".

I mean, don't get me wrong, I LOVE neck singlecoils too - if I had to play one pickup for the rest of my life, it might be that. But, and maybe because my first good guitar was singlecoil, I do tend to gravitate to open, articulate, clear, and not-super-bassy neck pickups, just because that's the repsonse I'm used to.

 

[Drew]

Cruiser bridge in a 22 fret guitar: instant awesomeness as Andy Timmons found out decades ago. A regular Strat sized single coil also works.

I really need to give that pickup another try - I had a pair of those in my strat along with an AT1 years ago, but they were SO low output, I had a hell of a time balancing them with the bridge pickup, unless you were looking to get the gutiar audibly clean up when you switched to the neck. That said, I didn't do the install myself, a friend of a friend who doesn't normally work on guitars did, and there was a LOT of tequila involved - it's entirely possible he wired them up split, in "single coil" mode, since he thought that's what I wanted.

 

[MFB]

LOL, using a neck pickup, good one guys! What's next, you gonna tell me you also use your tone knob?!

 

[Emperoff]

Cruiser bridge in a 22 fret guitar: instant awesomeness as Andy Timmons found out decades ago. A regular Strat sized single coil also works.

Andy started using the actual neck Cruiser pickup years ago.

I really need to give that pickup another try - I had a pair of those in my strat along with an AT1 years ago, but they were SO low output, I had a hell of a time balancing them with the bridge pickup, unless you were looking to get the gutiar audibly clean up when you switched to the neck.

Probably intentional. He uses different distortion pedals for bridge and neck positions. Kinda overkill, but who can argue with those tones...

 

[fantom]

Would love to get multiple pickups if DMarzio and Seymour Duncan would implement a quick connect system. I would swap em in and out as I feel like on all my guitars.

Sadly they won't do it. So much money left on the table by these companies...

DiMarzio does offer quick connect...

Can I order a pickup with a plug-in base, like those on the Music Man Majesty or Ibanez 7-string Iron Label guitar? | DiMarzio

www.dimarzio.com

 

[Stiman]

DiMarzio does offer quick connect...

Can I order a pickup with a plug-in base, like those on the Music Man Majesty or Ibanez 7-string Iron Label guitar? | DiMarzio

www.dimarzio.com

I appreciate that, but having the option for it, and only on new purchases is a far cry from "all our pickups comes this way and always will, and the system is compatible with other major pickup manufacturers". That's more what I had in mind.

 

[Drew]

Andy started using the actual neck Cruiser pickup years ago.


Probably intentional. He uses different distortion pedals for bridge and neck positions. Kinda overkill, but who can argue with those tones...

It's too bad, because it really is a great sounding pickup, very glassy and a shoe-in for SRV type tones... but you can't set it very close to the strings at all or the attack gets very shrill and sort of non-linear. I kept hoping it was a wiring mistake and the pickup wound properly was fuller and didn't need to be so close to keep up with even a fairly low-output humbucker (which the AT1 isn't, it's pretty moderate, but I was also running that well off the strings to balance).

I still have a pickguard in my closet with the AT1 in the bridge, and - I think, I'd have to double check - a Custom 67 and Custom 61 neck and middle, which worked much better with a bridge humbucker, to my ears. I just prefer the Suhr ML Standards, and honestly the bridge singlecoil is a pretty cool sound for what it is too - if I was gigging I might switch it up, but jamming at home and recording, I'd rather just reach for something else if I want a bridge humbucker sound.

EDIT - this is really making me, as much as I love the Thornbuckers, want to grab a PAF Pro and AT1 in black or zebra for that Suhr Modern 6...

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

LOL, using a neck pickup, good one guys! What's next, you gonna tell me you also use your tone knob?!

I bet these nerds go passed the 12th fret

 

[SamSam]

LOL, using a neck pickup, good one guys! What's next, you gonna tell me you also use your tone knob?!

I think you need to try the PAF with the tone rolled off. And if you like that, then you should try splitting the rolled off tone

 

[TheDandy]

The only "good" neck pickup I've ever really played is the Liquifire and I love it. It has a (forgive me) liquid sort of sound that I really like, very smooth.

 

[lost_horizon]

The only "good" neck pickup I've ever really played is the Liquifire and I love it. It has a (forgive me) liquid sort of sound that I really like, very smooth.

It has the oversized double screws like the Suhr DSV+ so the treble is rolled off. Smooth.

 

[cindarkness]

The best neck pickup for me is a cheap Wilkinson Vintage staggered alnico single coil, that I put in my Pacifica. I pretty much only play that guitar just for that single pickup. Shame that I mostly own HH guitars though..

 

[shalev98732]

l500r, it does everything good, has clarity under any condition.

 

[tpl2000]

So, my favorite neck pickup... Is the Seymour Duncan Black Winter I have in my PRS SE Semi-hollow from '07. It's got the black nickel metal plate on it, and a series/parallel switch. It is the clearest, most detailed tone I could possibly have hoped for in my semi, and it can do cleans and metal screams at the literal/metaphorical flick of the wrist.

 

[ManOnTheEdge]

Favourite/best tone for me … BKP Nailbomb

Most fun… BKP Miracle Man (bridge hot rail in a strat neck pos as well) - just stupidly cool for high gain soloing

 

[primitiverebelworld]

The twang and attack of a single coil is cool, but they can definitely be a bit too open and low output. I like the PAF Pro because you can get that single coil clarity while retaining humbucker output and compression.

I should have gone for it instead of Liquifire. The latter is somewhat too wooly and "liquid" even in maple fb Ibby.

 

[Bearitone]

A Ceramic Warpig gave me some the fattest, yet chimiest cleans I ever had when I split it. I think because it’s such high output, the split coil tones are closer to an actual strat pickup.