#108914  by austinhumphrey
 
me and my dad are building a guitar and i have some questions about pickup placement. i have got three stratocaster style single coil pickups and stratocaster electronics. i was wondering how do you know where exactly to place them and how much space to put between them. also if i need to angle the bridge pickup. or would i be better off just buying a template? this is my first time doing this sort of thing with a guitar and any advice would help a lot.
-Austin
 #108920  by TI4-1009
 
Take a ruler to a music store and measure or trace it out?
 #108922  by Rusty the Scoob
 
If you have an extra strat pickguard, that'd make a pretty good template. You couldn't quite route with it since the holes have to be a little longer for body mounting than pickguard mounting, but you could get the placement and spacing.

Or you could use a trick that I've seen - build the body and neck, attach the bridge and string it up. Then make some simple brackets to temporarily hold the pickups on the opposite side of the strings, where your strumming hand goes. Attach with masking tape, and you can then move them back and forth to find the sweet spots.
 #109004  by drewfx
 
austinhumphrey wrote:me and my dad are building a guitar and i have some questions about pickup placement. i have got three stratocaster style single coil pickups and stratocaster electronics. i was wondering how do you know where exactly to place them and how much space to put between them. also if i need to angle the bridge pickup. or would i be better off just buying a template? this is my first time doing this sort of thing with a guitar and any advice would help a lot.
-Austin
Contrary to some beliefs, there is no exact science as to where you locate PU's.

Except for the fact that, in general, locating closer to the bridge vs. closer to the neck changes the sound, there is no "perfect" position.

So unless you're trying to perfectly duplicate something else in terms of either look or sound, you can put them pretty much wherever you want, angled or not angled, whatever.
 #109066  by austinhumphrey
 
thanks for the feedback! i'm glad to hear that the placement isn't an exact science. if anybody else has any other info that might be useful or other guitar building tips, please leave em
-Austin
 #109074  by strumminsix
 
drewfx wrote:
austinhumphrey wrote:me and my dad are building a guitar and i have some questions about pickup placement. i have got three stratocaster style single coil pickups and stratocaster electronics. i was wondering how do you know where exactly to place them and how much space to put between them. also if i need to angle the bridge pickup. or would i be better off just buying a template? this is my first time doing this sort of thing with a guitar and any advice would help a lot.
-Austin
Contrary to some beliefs, there is no exact science as to where you locate PU's.

Except for the fact that, in general, locating closer to the bridge vs. closer to the neck changes the sound, there is no "perfect" position.

So unless you're trying to perfectly duplicate something else in terms of either look or sound, you can put them pretty much wherever you want, angled or not angled, whatever.
Hmm, I seem to recall reading about certain harmonics the pickups can be under which has an impact on tone.
 #109080  by drewfx
 
strumminsix wrote: Hmm, I seem to recall reading about certain harmonics the pickups can be under which has an impact on tone.
Yes, you probably did!

But the problem is harmonics move with every fret. So unless you're only going to play open or a single fret, the nodes/antinodes of each harmonic/overtone move. You get a node (the point where the string doesn't vibrate much) for a harmonic/overtone at the point where the string is divided evenly into equal lengths, which are the places where you would rest your fingers when playing a harmonic.

The theory some people propose is not to put the PU under a node, because it won't produce much output for a given overtone if the pole piece is right under the node where the string isn't vibrating (for that overtone). But they're always only talking about open strings, because they haven't thought it through and there's just no way you can "optimize" it for every fret.
 #109081  by strumminsix
 
drewfx wrote:
strumminsix wrote: Hmm, I seem to recall reading about certain harmonics the pickups can be under which has an impact on tone.
Yes, you probably did!

But the problem is harmonics move with every fret. So unless you're only going to play open or a single fret, the nodes/antinodes of each harmonic/overtone move. You get a node (the point where the string doesn't vibrate much) for a harmonic/overtone at the point where the string is divided evenly into equal lengths, which are the places where you would rest your fingers when playing a harmonic.

The theory some people propose is not to put the PU under a node, because it won't produce much output for a given overtone if the pole piece is right under the node where the string isn't vibrating (for that overtone). But they're always only talking about open strings, because they haven't thought it through and there's just no way you can "optimize" it for every fret.
That's awesome! THANK YOU!