i was wondering if there's a difference between neck and bridge pickups... i use my bridge pickup when i play metal and neck pickup when i want to play clean..but if i want to play only metal on my guitar then can i put a bridge pickup in the neck position? will it help in improving the tone and make it heavier? also will there be any side effects?
Bridge pickups sound much sharper and hard. Neck pickups sound rounder and smoother. But that difference in tone is not because of the difference in pickups, its because of their location.
..but i've seen on bajaao.. they've mentioned in their names.. "neck pickup" or "bridge pickup".. are they not built differently?
They maybe or may not be. Do all e string come in 9 gauge? NO! Some may be in 10, some in 8, some in 11. BUT, whichever case you take, its gonna sound higher than b string. Thats whats the diff about neck and bridge positions. Do a simple thing. Play your guitar while picking just above the bridge. Compare that to picking above 24th fret. This is the difference in tone. And you may change the material of string, change the gauge, but the difference will still persist.
thanks for ur explanation .. but i read somewhere that the winding in neck and bridge are different in terms of number of turns, which makes the difference.. so i was wondering if i cud use the bridge pup at the neck position to make my guitar sound more heavier..
not really. the neck has fewer turns than the bridge because the amplitude of string vibration is greater towards the centre of its length and minimal at the ends, i.e. near the nut and the bridge. the bridge pickup is thus wound hotter to meet the output level. the difference in tone is because of the harmonic content at both places, like alpha1 said. by interchanging the bridge and neck you might get a bit more output from the neck pup but a lot less from the bridge. personally i think extremely overwound pickups kill dynamics.
