Neck pickups and bridge pickups are so different?

[Kensai]

I have a Stratocaster, and I bought a JB Jr. pickup for the neck position.
In fact, I posted some threads about it, because I didn´t liked the sound at that position, it was so muddy, dark, without treble frequencies or definition, yeargh!

So, I have an idea...to put the pup in the bridge position, to listen what happens.

Well...I love it!!

It´s very nice, the right amount of treble frequencies, sweet tone, fat but not too much, and I can use all the gain I want, whitout going nasty.
It´s weird, I can play with a little bit overdrive, or full 10 distortion, that sounds equaly well.

It´s funny, some years ago I bought a neck Pearly Gates, installed into bridge, and sounded so nasty, treble, and whitout bass, that I sold it inmediatly. I had no knowledge at that time, and the guy at the store, sold me a neck pickup, even he knew that I needed it for bridge position.

But this pup, is supposed to be a "neck" pickup that sound awfull at neck!!

Could be possible that SD packed a bridge pickup like a neck one, by mistake?
I was listening the JB Jr. sound clips, those that compare the "old" vs. the "new" ones, and sounds very similar to my pickup at the bridge position.

Are pickups to be used at neck position really so different to bridge pickups?

[mrturtle_91]

usually neck pickups are wound a little less hot than bridge pickups, and usually have higher resonant peaks, making them slightly brighter to work well in the neck position, which is naturally darker sounding due to the string vibrating more further from the bridge.

[Zhangliqun]

I'm pretty sure the JB Jr is SUPPOSED to be a bridge pu and that there is no neck model. The full size humbucker it's derived from has no neck model that I'm aware of, bridge only. Both are just wound too hot for the neck position.

Bridge pu's aren't always different. Back in the day there was never any difference, at least officially. They didn't start calibrating them for different positions til at least the late 60's. Some pickup sets have all 3 pu's pretty much the same because they're trying to recreate the vintage sound.

[DrNewcenstein]

That's my interpretation as well - there is no JB neck pickup, it's Bridge only (hence the Jeff Beck moniker, since that's what he wanted it for).

However, the JB does sound good in the neck, but not the JB Jr.

It's my understanding that the Jrs all have Ceramic magnets, whereas the JB has the Alnico 5. From what I've read here about magnets, that's where the biggest tonal difference is between the JBjr and JB.

[mrturtle_91]

apparantly there is a neck version according to the duncan website:
Available for both bridge and neck/middle positions; and in an incredibly versatile set with an SJBJ-1b JB Jr. in the bridge, an SDBR-1n Duckbuckers in the middle and an SL59-1n Little '59 in the neck.

Neck model is 9.6k with a resonant peak of 5kHz. I'm guessing it's the low resonant peak that makes it sound so muddy. A regular distortion neck model has a resonant peak of 6.5kHz, while a '59 has a resonant peak of 6.8 kHz for comparison.

[DrNewcenstein]

5kHz isn't all that low. It's in the upper midrange freqs, slightly below the 6.n kHz freqs. I'd think it had a sharp midrange spike with less sizzle than the 59 or DD.

Now if it was a sub-1kHz peak, then yeah, I'd say it was kinda low.

But then how do you tell if you have a JBJr neck?
I'm assuming it's marked?

[Lewguitar]

There is a neck version of the JB JR. and years ago, after trying both a bridge model and neck model JB JR. as the bridge pickup in my Strat, I also found that I liked the brighter tone of the neck pickup used as a bridge pickup better. I also liked the way it blended with the middle pickup better. The neck JB JR., when used as a bridge pickup, is a great pickup and just as Kensai describes it. Lew

[DrNewcenstein]

I once had a Hot Rails neck in the bridge. It rocked better than when it was in the neck IMO. The guitar it was in actually had two slanted single coil cutouts at the bridge slot, and originally came with a pair of Armstrong Rails. I had the Hot Rails N in the inner/neckward slot and a JB Jr in the bridgeward slot, and one of the switch positions turned on both pickups. OMG it was massively Metal

[Juanhanglo]

I have both. the neck is labeled "1n" and the bridge is, you guessed it, "1b"

I also liked the neck model in the bridge.

Didn't care for the p/u's in their respective "correct" positions.

[Kensai]

There is a neck version of the JB JR. and years ago, after trying both a bridge model and neck model JB JR. as the bridge pickup in my Strat, I also found that I liked the brighter tone of the neck pickup used as a bridge pickup better. I also liked the way it blended with the middle pickup better. The neck JB JR., when used as a bridge pickup, is a great pickup and just as Kensai describes it. Lew

Yes, I think the same, mixing the JB Jr. at bridge, and a middle single coil sounds very good...sweet and twangy.
Another good thing I like is the gain balance between the bridge, and the two single coils at middle and neck position.
The volume doesn´t JUMP when I´m going from neck or middle position to bridge, as usually happens using bridge humbuckers with single coils in a HSS configuration.

[malymal86]

Can I put a GFS fat pat neck HB in the bridge position of my strat? It's a hss config. The stock humbucker is no more hotter the the single coils. It's a Jay Turser strat.

[hamerfan]

Can I put a GFS fat pat neck HB in the bridge position of my strat? It's a hss config. The stock humbucker is no more hotter the the single coils. It's a Jay Turser strat.

Yeah do it. Some folks like lower wound humbucker (aka neck version) better in the bridge going with Singles. They are briter and lower volume and are better match.

[ehdwuld]

my buddy has a Dimarzio DP103 in the bridge of his japanese strat
he loves it
its like "butta"