Which is the front pickup?

Strat_a_tat_tat

I've never understood this one.

To me... it seems logical that the neck pickup would be called the front pickup... but I suspect I'm totally and utterly wrong!

olafgarten

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

I've never understood this one.

To me... it seems logical that the neck pickup would be called the front pickup... but I suspect I'm totally and utterly wrong!

You are right, the front is the neck pickup, to be honest it's a bit silly to say as it's not in front of anything.

Strat_a_tat_tat

olafgarten said:

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

I've never understood this one.

To me... it seems logical that the neck pickup would be called the front pickup... but I suspect I'm totally and utterly wrong!

You are right, the front is the neck pickup, to be honest it's a bit silly to say as it's not in front of anything.

Yeah... I can't understand the use of front and back in this context.... but people say this stuff.

... and I have to confess that I'm definitely not right... as I meant to type 'the bridge pickup' is the front pickup (but somehow typed 'neck'). So I'm doubly wrong... 1. It's not the bridge pickup... 2. I can't type what I mean to type.

It seems there's no hope for me... and musing over which pickup is which, is the least of my worries. Still... it's nearly time for my 5 o'clock medication.

usedtobe

When you've got your foot on the monitor, and you're pointing your guitar at the audience, the neck pickup is at the front. Simples!

SteveRobinson

Aren't they all on the front? 

Strat_a_tat_tat

usedtobe said:

When you've got your foot on the monitor, and you're pointing your guitar at the audience, the neck pickup is at the front. Simples!

Now that makes sense!

Voxman

For me its much more logical that the front pick-up is the bridge, and the neck pick up is the back pick-up - although I know that the reverse terminology seems to be the convention for reasons that never made any sense to me.  To my thinking the front of the guitar is the main body, and the neck and headstock are the back of the guitar.  If you pointed to each end of the guitar to 10 strangers in the street who knew nothing about guitars, I'm pretty sure all 10 would point to the body as the front of the guitar.  

There's been a thread on this before and I know the counter-arguments...but IMO its just illogical to have it the other way round. 

richardhomer

Can we all at least agree on which one's the middle pick up?

Strat_a_tat_tat

Voxman said:

For me its much more logical that the front pick-up is the bridge, and the neck pick up is the back pick-up - although I know that the reverse terminology seems to be the convention for reasons that never made any sense to me.  To my thinking the front of the guitar is the main body, and the neck and headstock are the back of the guitar.  If you pointed to each end of the guitar to 10 strangers in the street who knew nothing about guitars, I'm pretty sure all 10 would point to the body as the front of the guitar.  

There's been a thread on this before and I know the counter-arguments...but IMO its just illogical to have it the other way round. 

Exactly!  That's my logic... even if I didn't use the correct word in my original post.

Seems you and I are wrong... but I don't understand why.

ICBM

Front - neck. Back - bridge.

Voxman said:

If you pointed to each end of the guitar to 10 strangers in the street who knew nothing about guitars, I'm pretty sure all 10 would point to the body as the front of the guitar. 

Only on one of these…

http://archive.gibson.com/Files//USA/2007/DSRVTAGH1_.jpg

Even then the end you tend to point in the direction of the audience is the front, really.

Voxman

ICBM said:

Front - neck. Back - bridge.

Voxman said:

If you pointed to each end of the guitar to 10 strangers in the street who knew nothing about guitars, I'm pretty sure all 10 would point to the body as the front of the guitar. 

Only on one of these…

http://archive.gibson.com/Files//USA/2007/DSRVTAGH1_.jpg

Even then the end you tend to point in the direction of the audience is the front, really.

Using the words front and back pick-ups is IMO fundamentally wrong in itself, because it causes confusion, and is inherently unclear...as demonstrated by all the discussion threads on this subject including this one.  Bridge, middle, neck pick-ups...these are the most appropriate and clearest descriptions that every electric guitarist understands...whichever way round your Flying V is.

nick_s

If you have a single pickup guitar, it is both at the same time 

robgilmo

If you were loading boxes (of guitars to stay on topic) into a van through the back doors and someone said put the big boxes up at the back as you both looked into the van through its back doors, what would you do? Put the big ones in first or last?

fretmeister

Neck= front
Bridge = back

Strat_a_tat_tat

robgilmo said:

If you were loading boxes (of guitars to stay on topic) into a van through the back doors and someone said put the big boxes up at the back as you both looked into the van through its back doors, what would you do? Put the big ones in first or last?

If they were that finicky about how I was loading the van... I'd tell them to load it themselves. :-)

ICBM

Voxman said:

Using the words front and back pick-ups is IMO fundamentally wrong in itself, because it causes confusion, and is inherently unclear...as demonstrated by all the discussion threads on this subject including this one.  Bridge, middle, neck pick-ups...these are the most appropriate and clearest descriptions that every electric guitarist understands...whichever way round your Flying V is.

Some players call the thick E string the 'top E' too - which has some sort of logic to it, since it's at the top when you're holding the guitar - but it's still not the way it's understood by the vast majority.

This question only ever seems to be asked by people who think the front is the bridge - everyone else just understands that the front is the neck… it even turned out that Strat-a-tat-tat *meant* to ask because he thought it was the other way round .

mrkb

They should name all pickups either Rhythm or Lead as Gibson do, as that's much more logical.................doh!

Strat_a_tat_tat

mrkb said:

They should name all pickups either Rhythm or Lead as Gibson do, as that's much more logical.................doh!

... but then the middle pickup would feel a bit left out.

Philly_Q

So we're mostly agreed, the front pickup is the neck pickup.

But what's "position 1" on a Strat switch?

Strat_a_tat_tat

Philly_Q said:

So we're mostly agreed, the front pickup is the neck pickup.

But what's "position 1" on a Strat switch?

I've always thought position 1 is the bridge pickup.

Jack_

If you have a fake Seymour Duncan in the bridge, then you can have a rear pickup that's a front.