Members ModernSaloon Posted July 12, 2010 Members Share Posted July 12, 2010 I'm intrigued by the concept of a guitar with a single pickup in the middle position. Usually guitars with one pickup will have them either in the neck position (for jazz) or bridge position (for metal). Not many will have one single pickup in the middle position... I'm thinking the single-pickup Danelectros, maybe some models by Edwards... I wonder why -- worst of both worlds maybe? Anybody have some sound samples by these type of guitars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Willyguitar Posted July 12, 2010 Members Share Posted July 12, 2010 hah. That's funny - was dreaming about that the other night. I imagine it is, indeed, the worst of both worlds. Most people (actually not me included though), use the middle pickup of a strat the least, as a selection on its own. I reckon a tele bridge pickup, or good P90 in da middle would sound great though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dparr Posted July 12, 2010 Members Share Posted July 12, 2010 Pickups should be under one of the harmonic sweet spots in relation to the scale length of the guitar. There's a good reason why they place them in certain positions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 211dave112 Posted July 12, 2010 Members Share Posted July 12, 2010 Pickups should be under one of the harmonic sweet spots in relation to the scale length of the guitar.There's a good reason why they place them in certain positions. i don't know why the harmonic sweet spot myth is so prevalent. as soon as a note is fretted the harmonics are all relative to the new fretted note, surely?! sure, a neck pickup in that is under the imaginary 24th fret may sound good but i don't think that's because it's under some area of especially harmonic happenings. edit: as far as the middle pickup thing goes, i like the middle position on strats but i do find it a bit annoying sometimes as it kind of gets in the way, i would think a big humbucker right under where i'd strum the strings would be annoying, but if the sounds justifies the annoyance then i'm all for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ModernSaloon Posted July 12, 2010 Author Members Share Posted July 12, 2010 edit: as far as the middle pickup thing goes, i like the middle position on strats but i do find it a bit annoying sometimes as it kind of gets in the way, i would think a big humbucker right under where i'd strum the strings would be annoying, but if the sounds justifies the annoyance then i'm all for it. You got a point there... the middle pickup would be right under your pick most of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 211dave112 Posted July 12, 2010 Members Share Posted July 12, 2010 You got a point there... the middle pickup would be right under your pick most of the time. but then most people have learned to live with it just fine...so it may be just me. i actually ended up lowering the middle pickup on my strat and it was less annoying and also offered a different tonality, i.e. loud neck and bridges for crunch and lead and what have you then switch to the middle for cleans where the lower pickup height meant less output Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kap'n Posted July 12, 2010 Members Share Posted July 12, 2010 Lots of single pickup Japansese beginner guitars from the 70's have a single pickup in the middle, too. I'm thinking Normas, Kents, Telestars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike Fiasco Posted July 12, 2010 Members Share Posted July 12, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cobalt Blue Posted July 12, 2010 Members Share Posted July 12, 2010 (And I don't think that the sweet spot myth is a myth at all, and I base that on every Danelectro 56-U1 I have played. Whereas every neck pickup and every bridge pickup on the two-pickup Danelectro 56-U2 is not quite satisfying, the one pickup of the 56-U1 is, indeed, sweet.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted July 12, 2010 Members Share Posted July 12, 2010 My newest guitar currently has just a single pickup in it and it's sort of in the middle. Hot as far back as a strat pickup anyway. The pickup is a Dimarzio SDS-1 which has somewhat of a P90 flair to it. Pretty hot as well. Probably the hottest non-HB strat-sized pickup I've ever owned. Sounds great through a Tweed Champ. Never harsh. Having said that, next time I have it apart, I'll put something fairly traditional in the neck position and replace the tone knob with a 3 way switch. Stock, both pickups were always on and it really sounded like ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Operator Posted July 12, 2010 Members Share Posted July 12, 2010 Lots of single pickup Japansese beginner guitars from the 70's have a single pickup in the middle, too. I'm thinking Normas, Kents, Telestars I saw a kid in a band play a guitar like that, and I thought it sounded great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 211dave112 Posted July 12, 2010 Members Share Posted July 12, 2010 (And I don't think that the sweet spot myth is a myth at all, and I base that on every Danelectro 56-U1 I have played. Whereas every neck pickup and every bridge pickup on the two-pickup Danelectro 56-U2 is not quite satisfying, the one pickup of the 56-U1 is, indeed, sweet.) oh no there are def sweet spots but i dont think it has to do with being in "harmonic" area's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kap'n Posted July 13, 2010 Members Share Posted July 13, 2010 I saw a kid in a band play a guitar like that, and I thought it sounded great. It's an ES-225. I passed on one of those in blonde with a factory Bigsby for $800. Same store had a black refinned P-90 goldtop like Neils sans Bigsby for $1,400. :facepalm: Need I say more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Minnie The Moocher Posted July 13, 2010 Members Share Posted July 13, 2010 Here's my 1960 ES-330T. LOVELY guitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rex Machete Posted July 13, 2010 Members Share Posted July 13, 2010 My newest guitar currently has just a single pickup in it and it's sort of in the middle. Hot as far back as a strat pickup anyway. The pickup is a Dimarzio SDS-1 which has somewhat of a P90 flair to it. Pretty hot as well. Probably the hottest non-HB strat-sized pickup I've ever owned. Sounds great through a Tweed Champ. Never harsh. Having said that, next time I have it apart, I'll put something fairly traditional in the neck position and replace the tone knob with a 3 way switch. Stock, both pickups were always on and it really sounded like ass. I've seen this guitar before in a pawn shop- The action was too high to play, but it looked interesting- no selector switch with two pickups Also, I was wondering about this exact thing the other day- seems like middle pickups only get used for the 2 & 4 strat positions. I'd be interested in hearing a Les Paul Junior- style guitar with just a middle p90 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tiltsta Posted July 13, 2010 Members Share Posted July 13, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeadNight Warrior Posted July 13, 2010 Members Share Posted July 13, 2010 That'd pretty much be completely useless for me. I don't like the sound of middle position pickups most of the time. Having not played my Strat for a while (playing dual HB guitars instead), over the weekend I also noticed it gets in the way a bit. Not in the way of my pick coz I don't pick anywhere near deep enough to hit it. But it gets in the way of my fingerpicking. I kept hitting the pole pieces of that damn middle pickup with my nails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mister natural Posted July 14, 2010 Members Share Posted July 14, 2010 Here's my 1960 ES-330T. LOVELY guitar ohhh . . . hubba hubba that's a BEAUTIFUL guitar Minnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MahaloVision Posted July 14, 2010 Members Share Posted July 14, 2010 Here's my 1960 ES-330T. LOVELY guitar It's a beautiful thing. I saw Shelby Lynne years ago, and her guitar player was playing a nicely relic'ed version of that guitar if I recall correctly. I made a 12 string electric with a single pickup right in the middle, and it sounded really good. Nice balance, but the pickup did get in the way. Kinda like the middle humbucker on a 3 pickup LP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rusholmeruffian Posted July 14, 2010 Members Share Posted July 14, 2010 Guild's S-series had a model with a single humbucker in the middle. Ithaca Guitar Works had one back when I was at a certain university attended by Andy Bernard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gorego Posted July 14, 2010 Members Share Posted July 14, 2010 Here's my 1960 ES-330T. LOVELY guitar Oh my goodness. I didn't think pornography was allowed on here! That is beautiful. I've never seen a guitar with just a middle pickup, though I imagine that would sound pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted July 14, 2010 Members Share Posted July 14, 2010 Having a pickup in the center mimicks a sound hole of an acoustic guitar. They do place pickups to capture specific overtones/harmonics. When you fret the guitar, it will simply pick up multiples of the those harmonics. Heres an article that explains some of it. http://www.till.com/articles/PickupResponse/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members billy budapest Posted July 14, 2010 Members Share Posted July 14, 2010 Guild's S-series had a model with a single humbucker in the middle. Here's a Guild S-50. You play in front or behind the pick-up for tonal variations... bb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jpzko Posted October 21, 2014 Members Share Posted October 21, 2014 Found this forum as I'm just now planning a single pickup strat body build after enjoying playing middle position on my strat yesterday. Thanks for the input. Looking at a Warmouth solid mahogany rear rout body and a roasted maple/rosewood neck. Seymour Duncan P-Rail pickup. Of course that's just the current idea. May change several times before I buy and build. If I ever do. Gotta go downstairs now and work on a speaker cab I been buildin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted October 21, 2014 Members Share Posted October 21, 2014 Found this forum as I'm just now planning a single pickup strat body build after enjoying playing middle position on my strat yesterday. . . . Looking at a Warmouth solid mahogany rear rout body and a roasted maple/rosewood neck. Seymour Duncan P-Rail pickup. . . . It's normally considered bad form to resurrect a "zombie" thread like this one, which is over four years old. It will probably help if you start a new thread for your next post or reply to an active thread. However, I'm glad you've enjoyed the thread. Welcome aboard. FWIW, Paul Simon plays a Strat that just has a middle pickup. IIRC, it's strung in Nashville tuning. The P-Rail is a versatile pickup and IMHO it would be a good choice for a single pickup guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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