5. Placement and Sounds

Apart from the various construction types, the placement of the chosen pickup also plays an important part in producing the character of the sound. Generally, the rule is that the closer to the bridge the pickup is located, the more the trebles are emphasized and the thinner and more percussive the sound becomes. The further towards the neck you move the pickup, the warmer and fuller the resulting sound.

In order to be as efficient as possible at picking up the sound of the strings, the pickups on offer are set up to work in the different positions. It therefore makes no sense to mount a pickup intended by the producer to be used in a bridge position on the neck. And vice-versa. If you are looking for a replacement pickup, you should follow the manufacturer’s advice on placement. Pickups which were developed to be used on the bridge are sensibly called bridge pickups, and pickups which perform best on the neck are known as neck pickups.

HINT: bass players who value as wide as possible a range of sound should definitely buy a bass with two pickups. The most popular configuration with those is the P-J combination, with a P-style pickup on the neck and a J-style pickup on the bridge.