Distance from Bridge to Pickup

LPMojoGL

LPMojoGL

Well-known member
Was just talking with @scottosan when he pointed something out, that I never considered.

Different guitars have a different distance from where the string breaks on a bridge to the middle of the closest pole piece on the bridge pickup.

Curious, I measured all of my guitars.

My finding are as follows:
Gibson LP, 335 and Explorer = 1 1/8"

1 Strat and Fender CS Tele = 1 1/2"
CV 70s Squier Strat = 1 1/8" ???

24 fret Suhr Modern and Jackson Soloist = 1 3/8"

And get this, Gibson SG = 7/8" !!!

Mind blown.

Some things make sense now.
Especially this - a Burstbucker 3 (and many other bridge pups) sounded thin and trebly in my SG. That same BB3 sounded perfect in my LP, replacing a Seth Lover.
A Motor City Detroiter, screws (accidentally) rotated towards neck side, ended up being the pup that made the SG sound as thick as my other Gibsons. Now I'm thinking all all SGs should have bridge pups mounted with screws towards the neck! Also, that SG nails the tone on VHs 1984 more than any other guitar I've had. Could this be why?

Maybe it's not the maple cap that gives LPs a bit more bite than Strats and Charvels. Could it be that it's just the bridge pup is closer to the bridge?

I knew that the neck pup on 24 fret guitars was closer to the bridge vs other guitars, making them more bright. I never thought about pup distance to bridge in any other case.
Now I'm wondering if muddy neck or bright bridge pups aren't that way because of the wood or the pup, but maybe just where they're located.

Is this old news? Did Scott just enlighten me about something that everyone else already knew?
 
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No, it only confirms Scott knows more than everyone else. It also makes it all the more nauseating how people who think they know it all know nothing and posted hours on end about it trying to convince us and themselves to believe it.
 
My first partscaster was a Warmoth SSS routed body. I decided to make it HH so I bought a pickguard from WD Music and had a local luthier route the body using that pickguard as the template. Years later I bought a pickguard from Warmoth to replace the one from WD Music and they did not match. The Warmoth pickguard put the bridge pickup much further away from the bridge.

That guitar sounds more like a LP than any other Strat I’ve played and once I learned that I always thought that was a big reason why.

It’s probably had 3-4 pickguards and at least 4 necks but this is a very recent picture. Notice the wide gap between pickups?
IMG-1848.jpg
 
SpiderWars said:
My first partscaster was a Warmoth SSS routed body. I decided to make it HH so I bought a pickguard from WD Music and had a local luthier route the body using that pickguard as the template. Years later I bought a pickguard from Warmoth to replace the one from WD Music and they did not match. The Warmoth pickguard put the bridge pickup much further away from the bridge.

That guitar sounds more like a LP than any other Strat I’ve played and once I learned that I always thought that was a big reason why.

It’s probably had 3-4 pickguards and at least 4 necks but this is a very recent picture. Notice the wide gap between pickups?
Click to expand...

What's the neck on that made from? Is that the gotoh/wilkinson bridge?
 
NowYou'rePlayingWithPower said:
What's the neck on that made from? Is that the gotoh/wilkinson bridge?
Click to expand...
It’s a Warmoth roasted Maple/Dark Rosewood. I don’t know what Warmoth is doing to their ‘dark Rosewood’ but tbh it looks too uniform lately. Like there is something they are doing to make it dark and uniform.

The bridge is Wilkinson but it’s over 20 yo, I originally built that in the late 90s and that’s the original bridge. You can see where it’s shiny at the top where my hand rests.
 
SpiderWars said:
It’s a Warmoth roasted Maple/Dark Rosewood. I don’t know what Warmoth is doing to their ‘dark Rosewood’ but tbh it looks too uniform lately. Like there is something they are doing to make it dark and uniform.

The bridge is Wilkinson but it’s over 20 yo, I originally built that in the late 90s and that’s the original bridge. You can see where it’s shiny at the top where my hand rests.
Click to expand...

The pic on my end almost gives off mahogany vibes, but with some mineral is why I asked.
Also, looks like ebony fingerboard.
Not usually into bursts, but that is very nicely done!
 
NowYou'rePlayingWithPower said:
The pic on my end almost gives off mahogany vibes, but with some mineral is why I asked.
Also, looks like ebony fingerboard.
Not usually into bursts, but that is very nicely done!
Click to expand...
It is a little darker (both woods) than some others I’ve bought from Warmoth. The headstock was just clear nitro. Truoil everywhere else but I wanted to try the waterslide decal then spray/wetsand/spray/wetsand/etc. I told the waterslide guy ‘my last name but in a Fender font’ and it looks like Fucker. Perfect.
 
Part of what you're experiencing is the pickup "picking up" the different harmonics as the string vibrates. This contributes to the tone and one of the reasons pickup placement matters.

Real world example: I recently completed a bass build that has a Schaller double J in the bridge and neck. That particular pickup has 4 identical coils each with it's own leads. I set them up to select front or back J for the bridge pickup and regular or reverse P on the neck pickup. Those minor position changes make a large difference in the sound. The same principle will apply to guitar as well.

Here's a couple of visual representations. The last picture is of a bass guitar, but illustrates how the different pickup positions are centered on different parts of the fundamental and harmonics. Even the small distance between the 60's and 70's J bridge pickup makes a difference.


1740656259580.png

1740656311285.png



1740656284220.png
 
I have a couple of custom ordered guitars where I had the builder direct mount the pickup as close to the bridge as possible. All 3 of them are my favorites. But one of them is Gutierrez so that's kinda an unfair comparison. But the other 2 are Dean custom shop builds and are amazing too. I'm also a single pickup guy.
 
I went in depth on this a few years back when I built a partscaster, I ordered a pre-cut body with humbucker route which ended up being a bit too far from the bridge. Sounded a little duller and woolier no matter what I did. I ended up moving the route back closer to the bridge and cutting a new pickguard to cover the oversized hole, fixed the problem.

In the few other guitar bodies I’ve made I route the bridge pickup slot last, after neck is on and bridge is mounted. I string it up, set it up, and intonate with a spare pickup suspended above the strings, then measure from the saddles to decide exactly where I want the bridge pickup.
 
In a related note this is why it always takes me a while to get used to my Peavey Wolfgang compared to other guitars. It seems like the bridge and pickup are way further back than normal. I have to really concentrate to keep my hand back or I pick up weird harmonics from normal playing.
 
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