Best free mod ever

[charliechitlins]

I love my 1 pickup ES175 so much, and the pickup being away from the neck gives it enough treble to be an all-night Blues monster.
So I thought I'd try flipping the neck pickup on my Lester.
So far it's pretty damn amazing.
Can't wait to take it to rehearsal and see how it really works.
Of course, the pic I took is "too large for the server".

 

[charliechitlins]

That's better...
Cropped9

 

[corpse]

Can you tell us (me anyway) about this guitar?

 

[charliechitlins]

It's a pretty pedestrian hacked up '71 Deluxe gig dog.
It has the most lovely '59 carve neck, though...
The previous owner brought it hoping to trade for an amp I had.
It had more red flags than a Chinese New Year parade.
I played it just to be polite and fell in love.

 

[Any Name You Wish]

I've wondered about this, and I wonder why Gibson puts them in the way they do. I wonder about a lot of things though.

 

[charliechitlins]

I wonder why, on the ES175 they bothered pushing the pickup back from the neck instead of just flipping it.

 

[J T]

The pickup posts are under the string harmonic in that position.

 

[Greywolf]

Wes Montgomery was doing that 60 years ago , PRS does it like that on their Special semi-hollow.

 

[poor man's burst]

I'm not sure I got the thread's topic well, but, are you aware that both the screw coil and the slug coil sense the string's vibrations?

 

[Wilko]

Doesn’t make any difference.
Your 175 pickup is upside down. It’s in the same position as a Les Paul neck pickup

 

[c_wester]

Why would that do anything? I have flipped it many times just for the Peter Green look. But it does nothing to the sound.
Maybe if the poles are sticking up very much.... which they don't in the picture.

 

[charliechitlins]

I'm not sure I got the thread's topic well, but, are you aware that both the screw coil and the slug coil sense the string's vibrations?

Yes, but the screw going up and down has an effect on the tone. It also has an effect if you change its position on the length of the string.

 

[poor man's burst]

Yes, but the screw going up and down has an effect on the tone. It also has an effect if you change its position on the length of the string.

Makes sense.

 

[charliechitlins]

Makes sense.

Of course it does.
It's an old trick with Gretsch Dynas.

 

[Big Al]

Flipping the pickup has no audible effect on tone. The magnetic field is from screw poles to slug poles. The ES175 pup should be in the same place under the harmonic node. A GREAT guitar. Try adjusting your tone on your amp for the neck pup and use the guitars bridge pup controls to shape your treble tones to taste. It might help.

 

[Big Al]

Makes sense.

nope

 

[poor man's burst]

I said it makes sense. I didnt say to what extend.

 

[charliechitlins]

Flipping the pickup has no audible effect on tone. The magnetic field is from screw poles to slug poles. The ES175 pup should be in the same place under the harmonic node. A GREAT guitar. Try adjusting your tone on your amp for the neck pup and use the guitars bridge pup controls to shape your treble tones to taste. It might help.

It only has one pickup.
It's the one in my avatar.
And if the position of those pole pieces along the length of the string is so important as to place them under the harmonic node, wouldn't moving them have an effect on the tone?
I'm pretty sure it made a difference on my Lester.
The slug poles are under metal covers, and the metal is not magnetically transparent. Anybody who has ever switched metal for plastic covers on a P90 knows this.
I've been playing that guitar a long time and it sure sounds different now, but I'm going to A/B it and see what I get.
Unfortunately, I don't have an accurate way to record anymore.
Also...what actually is the idea behind putting the poles under the harmonic node if the node moves when you fret a note?

 

[Wilko]

it makes almost zero difference. It could make some difference if you adjust those poles way up past the cover. Other than that. Nope.

The magnetic field, as Big Al said, is between the two coils. The pickups are actually placed away from the important nodes to have the least cancellation effect.

 

[poor man's burst]

While it is obvious that the pickup position along the string changes the tone, IMO it has little to do with an aim to avoid or favor harmonic nodes, as the harmonic node place relative to the pickup changes every time you play a different note (or fret) on a string.
As said Wilko, unless one adjust the screws way differently than the slugs, the difference in tone in each coil will be minimal.