Do you believe in "sweet spots" for pickups?

[coy garcia]

For the best tone placement for a pickup I do.... for right hand position I do not

 

[MAJOR METAL]

Mmmm...... The Sweet Spot! Yes, it sure does!

The strain we put on our wrists to hit the sweet spot is worth it.

 

[HelpImaRock]

Actually, most guitar players don't generalize like that at all. At least not the ones I know. Lots of guitarists who love Les Pauls don't like SGs at all (and vice versa), exactly because of the different neck pickup positions. The tone you get from an SG neck pickup and a Les Paul neck pickup is quite different, even if the pickup itself is identical.

Of course, this is a matter of personal taste and not necessarily about a universally "ideal" pickup position or a "sweetspot". Like you said, play what sounds good to you.

But even a subtle difference in pickup position can make a HUGE difference and I do understand the use of the word "sweetspot". I never reach for my otherwise AMAZING Sandberg VS (P-bass split coil configuration) because the pickup is around 8-9 mm further back towards the bridge than the classic P-bass pickup position. Unfortunately I wasn't aware of this when I ordered the bass, which was a custom order passive. This was before Sandberg actually started selling passive versions so I had no chance to test if. I loved the necks and build quality of Sandbergs and figured I would get rid of the overly bright tone of the active ones if I custom ordered a passive, with a pickup of my choice. Huge mistake. It feels like all the weight and "heft" of my tone is gone when I play that bass with a band. And this is a passive Sandberg, with a vintage voiced P-bass pickup (Kloppmann PB63). I've even replaced the pots/cap with classic Fender values. You would perhaps expect it to sound like a P-bass but it really doesn't. Especially in the context of a mix/band. It just doesn't work for me at all. Those 8-9 mm of difference makes it a COMPLETELY different instrument than a classic P-bass and it's NOT just a subtle difference. So for ME there's definitely a sort of "sweetspot" at the traditional P-bass pickup position. It gives me the perfect balance between upper midrange presence and "heft" in the lows/low mids for MY tonal needs.

I invite you to venture to The Gear Page and read the carnage regarding pickup placement and number of frets. As a guitarist of 30+ years, these are unserious people.

 

[40Hz]

Arguments over religious beliefs are an exercise in pointlessness, and guaranteed to start a fire that generates far more heat than light.

This thread is basically about religious beliefs when you look at the number of participants stating "I believe" without providing any rationale for their position - yet somehow feeling like they made a point.

 

[Low Down Brown]

View attachment 5330261

 

[40Hz]

Is this another troll thread? I mean really.

100% a troll thread.

Yep.

 

[fourstringbliss]

I don't know about sweet spots for pickups but I find I prefer plucking between the pickups on whatever bass I'm using. I make wooden thumbrests for my personal instruments so I can do this, and I always prefer the sound.

 

[5aP]

No. It's like putting mic on your speaker - where ever, it'll be fine...

 

[Wisebass]

Some kind of hybrid sound?

the 790 was a typo! It's 770 mm. See my edit above.

thx for reminding me!

 

[chadds]

I'm sure some people have a preference, but it really doesn't matter to me. I can usually get what I need from a bass regardless of where the pickup are.

Frankly, a lot of that nuance is lost when you are playing with others. IMO, that is the whole point of being a bassist. So most of my time is spent making sure I'm prepared, and it's, granted making sure my timbre is appropriate for the job at hand, but my main focus is on musical preparation.

Of course you can get what you need wherever the pickups are. Yet based on the thread title the pickups in commercially successful basses are in sweet spots. These aren't esthetic placements. Leo used a jig to test this. What sounds "correct" is agreeing with the science of string vibrations noted in graphs above. You aren't playing basses that sound "wrong."

May I say? The nuance may be lost when "you" are playing with "your" others. Some of us could not work, have accomplished musician peers and fans if we were sloppy about this.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

I believe in miracles...

Where you from? (You sexy thing)

 

[jjk2007]

I'm not sure about sweet spots but I sure do love a good sounding MM Stingray!

 

[Deleted member 365158]

No. It's like putting mic on your speaker - where ever, it'll be fine...

Wherever may be "fine" but it will sound different depending on mic placement from the center of the cone to the edge as well as distance from the speaker.

as for pickup sweet spots… in my experiments an mm style humbucker shines about 3 1/2" from the g saddle.
Split coils vary depending on the pickup.
So do Js. All of this is subjective to the player of course.

 

[ravlin]

Yes. And Leo Fender hit the nail on the head with the P-Pickup position

which P-pickup position? Leo came up with a few.

 

[andruca]

I don't seem to deviate too much from MM/J/P really (or sound alikes). Have owned and played many others. Still stick to MM, full open or neck pickup Jazz and P, in that order. Furthest thing I own is an Epiphone EB-0. Really enjoy it and could definitely see more use if I played pop/indie stuff. Been wanting it to work for some of the punk stuff I record but P/MM/J always get in the way. Still not a "belief" thing for me, just plain bias.

 

[Turnaround]

Is this another troll thread?

We like a troll.
And a goblin.
And a gnome.
And an elf.
And an ogre.
And a dwarf.
And a hobbit.

Especially a hobbit.

 

[Iridescentone]

"The science is in, the debate is over"....people have preferences!

Who knew?

 

[JC BASS 91]

I don't know if I do or I don't. I will say that Leo Fender did spend a lot of time in his designs to find what he felt was the best position for the pickups from a sonic standpoint. Right or wrong, a lot of instruments sound the way they do because of where those pickups are. I know that the older Ric 4001 basses with the neck pickup closer to the fretboard sound noticeably different (at least to me) than the ones that came later where the pickup is moved further from the fretboard. I much prefer the earlier models where it is closer to the fretboard.

I think I also like the 70s bridge position for Jazz basses, better.

I think it is all subjective, though.

 

[MDBass]

Personally, I do not. If a sweet spot is based on a specific part of the string being over the pickup, would it not change every time you fret a note?

Edit: If a Sweet Spot is the best spot for a pickup to be placed to rest the thumb on, well now that's just purely subjective.

Whether we believe in harmonic nodes or not isn't really relevant: they still exist.

Try playing a harmonic with the neck pickup of a Ric soloed and you'll hear what I'm getting at.

The neck pickup on a Ric literally can't hear, and thusly can't reproduce, harmonics.

Whether someone prefers that pickup placement to the standard P pickup placement is entirely subjective though.

So yes, pickup sweet spots definitely exist.

They just aren't in an objectively set, universally agreed upon location

 

[bigdaddybass12]

in theory you are correct. The distance is based from measuring from nut to bridge. But sonically/vibrations/ the sweet spot is a set thing. I wouldn't call it a sweet spot, if you could move the pickup along the body the tone would change. Right against the neck or especially the bridge, it would sound bad. The sliding pickup is around,