Grateful Dead Music Forum

Hi all, very sorry if this has been discussed before but have any of you ever compiled a list of what pickups (split yes/no) Jerry uses per song.

I guess the easier way of asking is:
When does he use neck/bridge
Does he split either?
(my build only splits neck and middle)
Any particular advice as it relates to JGB?

thanx

The general rule of thumb on this forum is that he used the middle pickup split (meaning singe coil) most of the time, that being said, i've seen him use the neck on Birdsong, for instance. As a rule of thumb with Fender syle guitars (strats, tele's, and JG inspired builds) the bridge gives you that bright country spank and cluck, so any cowboy tune will sound more "right" on the bridge pickup.

One thing he didn't do, and is never played the 2 and 4 positions that give that strat quack tone used in funk and other styles of music a lot. Also, Jerry was a master improviser, and I think he liked to mix it all up once in awhile and couldn't be necessarily pigeonholed to using one position on certain songs all the time. Shit, he often times played totally different chords phrasings and positions on the same songs a lot of the time, the old saying "he never played the song the same way twice" can apply to more than phrasings and positionings, too.

One thing he didn't do, and is never played the 2 and 4 positions that give that strat quack tone

Hi, I'm not disagreeing with you, just saying I have wondered about this too. I feel like he did use position 2 on Althea at times -- but I don't have any evidence on hand to back up my claims. It's almost surprising that he didn't do that more, as we know he was a fan of JJ Cale, Knopfler, 461-era Clapton, etc. so presumably he enjoyed hearing that sounds from others.

Off to listen to some Altheas including the studio version to see if I'm imagining that...

John

to keep it simple, middle pickup, single coil - is the majority of his playing.

Jazz explorations (Bird Song, Eyes, Dark Star) included neck pickup, single coil

Country tunes (Mexicali, Mama Tried) included bridge pickup single coil.

He DID use "in between" positions, at times - with effects such as the Mutron -

and feel free to experiment - use the humbuckers, etc - the sound is more in the fingers anyway!

Sounds like he uses middle/bridge position on Mr. Charlie, especially Europe 72. Anyone else hearing that or am I off?

DeadAheadNH wrote: ↑Mon Nov 18, 2019 8:08 am Hi all, very sorry if this has been discussed before but have any of you ever compiled a list of what pickups (split yes/no) Jerry uses per song.

I guess the easier way of asking is:
When does he use neck/bridge
Does he split either?
(my build only splits neck and middle)
Any particular advice as it relates to JGB?

thanx

What kind of build are you getting? Seems strange if its a 3 pickup guitar not to have a standard 5 way selector switch?

Not that it matters much. I'm not a big fan of the 2 and 4 positions.

My tone preference has been very much shaped by Jerry's preferences.

Middle pickup - most of the time
Bridge pickup - country western type tunes (Cumberland, Sugar Mags, Loser, Me & My Uncle, Big River, Playin)
Neck pickup - like male nipples, mostly there for decoration

Hi, thanx for the feedback !
Its a res Eagle and it has the 5 way selector ..
I'm just playing around with the 5 basic options with the bridge/neck in split/hb mode ... too many sounds lol

bzbz wrote: ↑Fri Nov 22, 2019 8:15 amand feel free to experiment - use the humbuckers, etc - the sound is more in the fingers anyway!

...
I like the way you think!

One thing I don’t think has been mentioned yet, is that Jerry seemed to use the neck pickup more when he was using alligator and other strats.

Just to clarify- are there two components being discussed here- pickup selection and coil splits?

Re: the latter, thought I'd add, it's always an option to use a 3 rather than a 2-way minitoggle for the coil splits. On my own Jerrycaster (custom built for me by Phil Jacoby @ philtone.com ), for example, each HB has its own 3-way minitoggle yielding north coil, full HB, and south coil for each PUP. This enhances versatility, at no cost, which can be useful for those of us who use our Jerrycasters for a broader range of music than only Dead or to assist guitars for which the HBs may not be sited precisely the same relative to the bridge as on Jerry's to nevertheless obtain improved split coil placement.

Jon S. wrote: ↑Wed Apr 29, 2020 8:25 am....for which the HBs may not be sited precisely the same relative to the bridge as on Jerry's to nevertheless obtain improved split coil placement.

Which of Jerry's coils on the middle humbucker was hot when split? Neck side or bridge side?
I know that info is on this forum somewhere but can't find it.

Pretty sure Waldo said neck side at some point. Since he actually had the opportunity to do a rather close inspection of Tiger I'd tend to trust what he said.

PurpleTrails wrote: ↑Thu Apr 30, 2020 8:47 am Pretty sure Waldo said neck side at some point. Since he actually had the opportunity to do a rather close inspection of Tiger I'd tend to trust what he said.

My recollection, also.

On my one-off Philtone Jerrycaster pictured above, I prefer the bridge side SC when the middle HB is split. But if you look at how exactly the PUP ring is placed on the guitar's body, my bridge side SC is virtually just where the neck side SC sits on the real Tiger. This is what I meant, above, on how a 3-way minitoggle wired to allow you to choose between both coils can "assist guitars for which the HBs may not be sited precisely the same relative to the bridge as on Jerry's to nevertheless obtain improved split coil placement."

An aside: how you hold your pick, and its placement, while picking, relative to the bridge, are also important (sometimes we get so caught up in the gear we forget that our rig is a system in which we ourselves are the first and critical link).

I may be hearing things, but 70s Samson and Delilah sounds an awful lot like the in-between spot, between middle and bridge. (4?) And later versions bridge.