Does the neck pickup change the TONE (of the BRIDGE PICKUP?!) - TELE vs ESQUIRE
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- čas přidán 25. 02. 2022
- A look at the single pickup guitars (Esquires, Les paul juniors) sound better than their dual pickup counterparts (Telecasters, Les Paul Specials) theory.
The theory goes that, as electric guitars have steel strings, and the pickups on a guitar are made of magnets, by way of a guitar not having a neck pickup, a string should have less magnetic interference and therefore ring truer/sound better.
For today's experiment I'll be comparing recordings made using the exact same amp settings, pick, playing etc. between my Fender Esquire with one pickup, and then with a neck pickup in situ (no wiring involved), to explore whether there is a tonal difference.
Gear Used:
Fender Esquire - Made in Japan '89
Victory V40 Duchess
Orange OR15
#telecaster #esquire #guitar - Hudba
There is a guitar player who works as a physicist who had an interesting take on the single pickup guitar. He said it's not about the "string getting pulled by the magnet" that changes the tone but rather how the magnetic field from the pickup at the neck position affects the harmonics which is what we hear when the sound is amplified. When played acoustically, there should be no inherent difference.
I own two Fender Esquires and two Fender Telecasters. I love all four of them. Oh and one 1957 Gibson Les Paul Junior 😅 and Tweed and Blackface amplifiers all are needed 😎
Awesome video man. Well done and fair comparison
Great comparisons. Thank you.
Definitely a change in the EQ, no question
Great tone!
Cool video mate, it’s certainly a hot topic! Looks like you enjoyed putting it to the test too 🤘🏻
Thanks mate, yeah it's something I've always wondered about and even more so since connecting with the Esquire so much
Single pickup sounds more open sounding and the double pickup sounds more focused or compressed. I like the open sound but maybe others like the more compressed sound especially if you're playing higher gain
I found the same, it's a slight difference but there's definitely something going on there
Blues players need neck pickups. A Strat neck pickup in a Tele is the ultimate sound to my ears :)
Strat neck pickup & tele bridge is one of my favourite pairings too 🎸
Ok I wasn't really expecting much but I definitely hear a difference consistently in all the samples. Single pickup is more open and introducing the neck pickup sounds slightly more compressed. I wasn't expecting to hear it, and I have no idea why, but it's there to me.
Hello, maybe a close up high speed video of the strings vibrating with and without neck will show a physical difference in behaviour?
The single pickup sounded better to me.
To my ears, I would say the neck pickup is actually adding to the resonance of the strings. Perhaps the extra magnetic field pulls the strings more and moves the string for a bit longer?
This is true .
Ought oh. W the neck pickup wired and on, some of its magnet's strength would go to creating the signal , so unwired is different. Putting a 250K resistor between the leads but not connected anywhere else might yeild a difference since there will be a magnetic field in the coil just like a normal on hookup. Edit : and there might be a difference w one end of the resistor grounded. And which end might be a factor as well.
I think it makes about the same amount of difference (or maybe a little more) than tonewood, but obviously a different TYPE of difference. What I wonder is if having a single movable pickup would be of benefit or not, or if you can just EQ a neck sound (or bridge sound) into a single pickup guitar.
I'm listening w a trio of JBL Flip 5s in party mode. Flat responce for guitar frequencys. W the neck in, it actually did seem a little muffled or more of the fundamental. Not enough to worry about. I don't think distortion masks differences. More that it does the opposite, exaggerates them.
Ok, here's my take on it. I'm no guru at all but I do play guitar. What I hear on the overdrive parts is no difference at all....however the finger picked and more quietly played bluesy parts definitely had more clarity with the neck pick up in place......like the EQ had just been tweaked to brighten it up a tad and make it clearer to hear, a bit like an out of focus picture brought into focus
Great video! The clips with only the bridge pickup sound more harmonically rich, with better sustain. I never realized how much the magnets in the pickups affect tone until I did some experiments on my guitars - My Strat and Tele didn't have those classic Strat and Tele tones. All I did was lower the pickups, which made the magnets stop pulling on the strings so much. Suddenly they sounded like the guitars they were meant to be, and the strings were also easier to bend and play.
Thanks Ian, I definitely noticed it on the sustain when editing the clips.
Pickup height can definitely make a tonal difference too. It can be cool to experiment with the height of a middle pickup in a Strat to change the out of phase tones
@@jamesfranklandguitar That's exactly what I did on my Strat! My Strat didn't "quack" in the in-between positions and it drove me nuts. I lowered both the middle and bridge pickups and it got the quack back. Likewise, my Tele always sounded kind of dull and never really twanged. All it took was lowering the bridge pickup and suddenly it was bright and twangy like I always wanted a Tele to be!
I wanta remove neck pickup.can I just cut the wires and tape um up?
I would think removing wood right where the neck joins would be a factor too. I bought a ebay single route Esquire body for a great one-of Tele bridge pickup that doesn't combine w neck p ups well, just to hear 1 vs 2 for myself. When its done, waiting for warm weather to apply the Epoxy finish, I'll post again w my impressions.
when i was playinng gigs and traveling with my guitars, i settled one pickup for simplicities sake. if there are less parts of a guitar theres less to break, less to fidget and fight with on the guitar. if i want to make tonal adjustments i will do it through pedals, the amp head,or my modeler. but thats what i preffer, i think alot of the discusions about tone are subjective
With the neck pickup in guitar sounds slightly muted.
Wowwww that introooo
Thanks man 🙏🎸
ironic, I've visited a luthier yesterday and he said that my problem with the guitar is the magnetic field of middle and neck pickups
Hope you get the issue sorted man, reducing the pickup height may help if they're causing too much magnetic pull
@@jamesfranklandguitar already solved it! thanks a lot, man! guitar is a very nuanced instrument, so I never stop learning haha
😮
Many pickup comparisons yield little to no obvious difference through shitty iPhone speakers. I was surprised as to how much of a difference I heard through my phone. Two pickups sounded twangier, single pickup sounded more open and fatter.
Magnetic pull is also a factor. That is, if the pickup is on and wired unlike the video
Magnetic pull is there whether wired up or not ! !
@@moonshot1999It actually would change a tiny bit at least. W the p up wired and on there would be a magnetic field generated by the induction of the coil. Some of the magnets field would be used to generate the signal.
@@terryenglish7132 the magnetic field of the pickup exists whether its connected to the wiring loom or not !
@@moonshot1999 Yes, but the magnets field creates a field in the coil thats opposite when its a circuit . Thats where the signal comes from. The energy used by the signal is no longer there to interact w the strings
@@terryenglish7132 what does "creates a field in the coil that's opposite" mean ? the polarity obviously remains the same, so what's the evidence for👈🏿?
Myth busted!
How to spot an English guitarist, point to the pickguard and ask him what it is. Obviously neither is correct or wrong for the name, but it seems to be a thing
Definitely a difference