Does anyone actually use their neck pickup for rhythm playing?

[synthpenguin]

I never used to outside of some specific "jazzy" sounds (and my hollow body that only has a neck pickup), but I started using it that way more on my tele after being inspired by this video:

 

[ragingplatypi]

 

[Gary_W]

I’m a weird animal who will use anything for anything. I like the necks and bridges on my main guitars.

Having said that, my favourite three guitars have neck pickups that would be considered relatively low output. My Vela is from a few years ago and has the single coil (ish) thing in there and I love it. Also have a Tokai Les Paul goldtop with (traditional style) P90’s and a PRS Stripped ‘58 which has the 58/05 humbuckers. These are in a vintage direction and (for my ears anyway) still have a nice clarity on the neck. I might feel different if I had a set of nail bombs in these? Most of the tones I gravitate towards are clean / edge of breakup so that probably contributes to my neck pickup fondness. On the occasions I go for a gain monster amp model then I generally prefer the bridge.

I also prefer neck pickups on strat and tele to the bridge. Maybe I just like woofy things!

 

[rocknrollshakeup]

The Les Paul has the neck pickup marked "Rhythm" and bridge pickup as "Treble".

Jazzmaster has the "rhythm circuit" which turns on the neck pickup and a different set of potentiometers with a largely useless 50K tone knob so it sounds kinda dark.

I'm guessing this harks back to the time of early electric guitar when most players used a clean tone and guitar wasn't front and center, so a darker guitar tone let the singer shine through.

But do any of you actually use their guitars like this today?

A neck single coil can work just fine because it's inherently leaner and brighter, but a neck humbucker is IMO always too tubby and dark that I would never want to use it for rhythm on anything but a clean tone. I tried dialing my Mesa Mark V so that an overdriven rhythm tone worked on the neck pickup, but the bridge pickup then becomes icepick city.

The only time I use a Neck Pickup, is when I’m using the Middle Position even when I use Single coils,l so the Humbucker neck alone is mostly useless to me, except! When I use certain fuzz sounds, esp, with a Fuzzrite (bright and cutting).

 

[LCW]

Tom Morello played most of the big RATM riffs on the neck pickup. He dialed in his rig around the neck pickup sound though.

D

It blew my mind when I found that out!

It was after seeing this rig rundown:

 

[dk_ace]

It blew my mind when I found that out!

It was after seeing this rig rundown:

I heard it from Pete thorn. He was talking about how he could never get the tones quite right for that stuff when he was playing for Cornell. I think it was after the gig ended that he learned that Tom played that stuff on the neck pickup, and then realized why he couldn’t get it to sound right.

I think Tom dialed his rig in around the neck pickup sound though. When you dial a rhythm tone in on the bridge pup, the neck pickup is not likely to work well.

I generally dial my stuff in to work well across both pickups. That’s up to a mild crunch though. Once I get up to rock gain, I’m generally dialing everything in on the bridge pickup and then my neck pickup isn’t worth much either.

D

 

[Guitar guy]

The Les Paul has the neck pickup marked "Rhythm" and bridge pickup as "Treble".

Jazzmaster has the "rhythm circuit" which turns on the neck pickup and a different set of potentiometers with a largely useless 50K tone knob so it sounds kinda dark.

I'm guessing this harks back to the time of early electric guitar when most players used a clean tone and guitar wasn't front and center, so a darker guitar tone let the singer shine through.

But do any of you actually use their guitars like this today?

A neck single coil can work just fine because it's inherently leaner and brighter, but a neck humbucker is IMO always too tubby and dark that I would never want to use it for rhythm on anything but a clean tone. I tried dialing my Mesa Mark V so that an overdriven rhythm tone worked on the neck pickup, but the bridge pickup then becomes icepick city.

Neck pickup? Oh, you mean the Dazed pickup

 

[Orvillain]

I just use my ears, and I don't follow the labelling.

 

[TXSquarehead]

Anything Doyle Bramhall II going back as far as the ARC Angels in the 90's will have a lot of neck pickup rhythm. He uses vintage Gibsons so the neck pickups aren't going to be dark.

 

[TSJMajesty]

I absolutely LOVE the tone of the neck PU on my JP15/Majesties! So much so, that lately, it's all I've been using for the solos & riffs I've been practicing. Something I would've never said about my Les Paul or PRS.

It's just got such a nice, warm, creamy tone to it. I mean, I always liked it, but maybe never realized just how much I dig it!

It's the DiMarzio Rainmaker. They typically use the Illuminator in the JP15's, but mine has the same one as in the Majesty, possibly having something to do with it being a one-off. Maybe EBMM's in-house version of a Partscaster...? And a 15" radius Rosewood board, which I've never seen on any JP guitar. (17" and higher, yes. But never a 15".)

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Love the stock neck pickup in my IBG ES-335. Soulful low gain, funk and RnB rhythm playing is full and creamy without being muddy.

 

[Dez]

I absolutely LOVE the tone of the neck PU on my JP15/Majesties! So much so, that lately, it's all I've been using for the solos & riffs I've been practicing. Something I would've never said about my Les Paul or PRS.

It's just got such a nice, warm, creamy tone to it. I mean, I always liked it, but maybe never realized just how much I dig it!

It's the DiMarzio Rainmaker. They typically use the Illuminator in the JP15's, but mine has the same one as in the Majesty, possibly having something to do with it being a one-off. Maybe EBMM's in-house version of a Partscaster...? And a 15" radius Rosewood board, which I've never seen on any JP guitar. (17" and higher, yes. But never a 15".)

I really like the Rainmaker and Dreamcatcher - I’m a Duncan guy so it’s not a set I would have installed myself but they’re nice. When I play my Majesty through my Mark it’s like “wow ok this guitar was literally made for this amp”

 

[BFRaid]

I will use the middle position more often than the neck itself. I have one part in one song, I hit the neck pickup for 30 seconds. Like most guitarists, I live on the bridge pickup 99% of the time. The few times a year I play jazz or blues, I am 100% on the neck pickup.