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i'm sure this has been covered here at some point, but i couldn't find it via the search, so here we are.
sometimes neck pickups are tilted toward the neck. and so is the pickup ring. why? if i invert the ring, will i die? i know this is intentional, but i wonder why, and why so few guitars have it. my byrdland has it, and i could have sworn a few other archtops do, as well.
i personally don't mind all that much, but the highest point is roughly where i like to pick, so i hit it sometimes (which tells me i'm probably correct to avoid middle pickups). or is it that the guitar has thoughtfully provided me with an area to pick that maximizes it's tonal properties, between the sloping pickup and the neck?
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01-14-2019 04:12 AM
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There have been lots of speculation about it on this (and most probably other) forum. I don't think that there is any specific reason
for that. Had the same on my ES 335 and just turned around the pickup ring and now the pickup is perfectly parallel to the strings.
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This is always a fun topic for a thread -- we'll see if it gets ugly !
The ES-175 I bought last year from CME has the tilted neck pickup and I have left it that way. It sounds great & I don't give it a second thought anymore. When I first got the guitar, I too was curious about this design (or design flaw depending on your attitude). As I recall, I found something on the Gibson website claiming that the tilt design was to reduce feedback. I also recall mentioning this on the forum and getting poo-pooed by forumites in the "it's a design flaw" camp.
Always entertaining to revisit a potentially contentious Gibson guitar topic !!!!
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OK, here we go...
If it was a design flaw/mistage, don't you think they would just change it? Sure would be easy enough.
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Seems to me that if the humbucker pole pieces are closer to the strings it would place the secondary (humbucking?) coil slightly further from the strings, that secondary coil would have less effect on the overall tone. I'm sure there wouldn't be a massive difference, but knowing how obsessive some of us guitar players are at wringing out every vestige of tone, if it can be heard even a little bit I'm sure some players would do it!
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i didn't realize this was such a polemic topic. it doesn't mean much to me; i'm only even aware of it because i have a byrdland and those pickups are squished together anyway. i wasn't aware of it being a thing until it happened to me. i don't know if it supposed to be a standard feature on some guitars, or there is a compendium that lists which get them and which don't. i was just curious. it must be a thing if epiphone/terada chose to do it, too. i'm sure any change in tone were dwarfed by me swapping out the pickup, bridge, and electronics, so whatever.
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If it bothers you [it bugs me] simply take the p/u surround off and reverse it.
You'll have to take the p/u out and turn it so that the pole piece coil is nearest to the fbd.
Replace mount.....issue sorted.
Next
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It's common on ES-175s. Lots of player just turn the mounting ring around. Some leave it.
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No poo intended, but this is the way I see it:
Factory molded pickup rings have fixed geometry. Guitars have not.
Spring mounted adjustable humbuckers don't automatically get square with the top of the pickup ring. If you want it square you'll have to make it square - an operation that could be quantified and priced.
A humbucker square to the strings makes a fatter sound provided the coils are of equal wind (which they may not be). Pickup adjustment is part of the setup process where you make the guitar perform according to your personal preference.
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What I'm about to say is completely uninformed speculation.
The people who designed guitars way back when were competent enough, but they weren't designing a Space Shuttle. I think that somebody designed a pickup ring for the humbucking pickup that held the pickup parallel to the strings, on the guitar it was originally designed for. I further imagine that once they had the mold for that pickup ring they continued making and using the ring, even if the geometry of a new model guitar caused that pickup ring to support the pickup in a position not parallel to the strings. The guitars performed well enough, as the manufacturer saw it, and so they didn't go to the expense of altering the pickup rings.
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I believe this is a fairly recent phenomenon. I am pretty sure they weren’t tilted in the old days. None of my vintage Gibsons have tilted pickups. I have corrected it on my newer Gibsons by either turning the pickup ring around or replacing it with a “flat” ring. It seems to me that the tilt would likely affect the performance of a double coil pickup. Furthermore, it just looks ugly to me. I have attached a picture of my 2007 L5CES with a replaced pickup ring. That’s how I want to see a pickup aligned.
Originally Posted by dconeill
Keith
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Can you post a picture? Seem like something maybe bent, broken or twisted.sometimes neck pickups are tilted toward the neck
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My 2011 L5 Wes (Patrick2s old guitar) has the pickup tilted, the side closer to the bridge is lower than the side next to the fingerboard edge. Kinda ridiculous in my opinion. I haven't tried turning it around. The bottom of the pickup ring is fitted to the curvature of the top anyway and it would just tilt the other direction.
Three details that always made me roll my eyes on this guitar, 1) the pickup tilt, 2) the pots should have shorter shafts or be installed lower via a spacer as there is a big gap between the top of the guitar and the knobs, looks ugly, and 3) I'm being picky but the lack of finishing under the fingerboard extension.
The rest of the guitar is flawless. These details could easily be perfected to if they wanted to do it.
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Doug, Originally Posted by Gitpicker
My 2011 L5 Wes (Patrick2s old guitar) has the pickup tilted, the side closer to the bridge is lower than the side next to the fingerboard edge. Kinda ridiculous in my opinion. I haven't tried turning it around. The bottom of the pickup ring is fitted to the curvature of the top anyway and it would just tilt the other direction.
Three details that always made me roll my eyes on this guitar, 1) the pickup tilt, 2) the pots should have shorter shafts or be installed lower via a spacer as there is a big gap between the top of the guitar and the knobs, looks ugly, and 3) I'm being picky but the lack of finishing under the fingerboard extension.
The rest of the guitar is flawless. These details could easily be perfected to if they wanted to do it.
My 2006 WESMO has the old school PUP that is just like Keith's in his post above ( so I think the slanted PUP is either a late model decision or just laziness on the part of Gibson), but I also have the too tall pots that cold be fixed with spacers (I guess I am as lazy as the Gibson assemblers as I know it could be fixed, but in the 17 years that I have owned the guitar, I have never done it). I think Gibson sprays their guitars with the necks already on, so the area under the neck extension may be impracticable to finish better than they do.
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Lol.
You Guys are overestimating Gibson if you think they are > intentionally < tilting the pickups.
"How do you know -are you Robert Gibson?"
No . But there are 2 main possibilities:
Carvin/Kiesel has long had 3 screws on the pickup mounting ring so that the user
COULD TILT the Pick Up INTENTIONALLY.
- So possibility
1) Gibson IS tilting the pickups INTENTIONALLY but are unaware of the incredibly advanced concept of adding a screw .....
Meaning some are overestimating them.
2) It's just sloppy workmanship or slight design error and some think it's for TONE .
Meaning some are overestimating them. .
My guess despite always having a tech install new pickups is that:
For some reason the pickups are slightly unstable and in shipping or storage develop the
Tilt.
T
i.
l
t.
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This. All my archtops are this way (Benedetto, Triggs, Gibson, Gretsch, Painter). I believe it's pretty much standard practice to fit the neck before spraying the laquer. Originally Posted by Stringswinger
FWIW, my Painter also came with the PU tilted. I turned the PU ring around, so the PU is now parallel to the strings. I can hear no difference in sound.
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Buy a screwdriver. A small philips type.
I completely turned the neck p/u around on my L5CES. So now the adjustable pole pieces are an inch closer to the bridge, p/u angle is better and I like the tone better. Brighter.
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lol, mine is installed the other way; screws down, slugs up, and the ring's slant is a little steeper, i think. Originally Posted by Gitpicker
reading through the posts, i think there could be only one definitive answer.
gnomes.
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I found the same problem on both my 175 VOS and my '98 L5 Wes. It doesn't make sense to me to leave it that way, because if I want to emphasize the screw coil, I can just raise those pole pieces individually. I rotated the rings and in both instances, had to do some sanding. There is a video of Dan Erlewine (or maybe it is in one of his books) where he covers the top of the guitar with tape, then lays sand paper face up, then sands the contour of the pickup ring back and forth over the fixed sand paper to fine tune the arc of the pup ring.
I had to take more plastic off the 175 ring than the L5, then did a little fine tuning of the shape with the above method and now, both coils are pretty parallel to at least the plane of the neck.
To be honest, I didn't hear much difference, but I feel better, which sometimes is more important! At least I'm getting more even output from both coils, even if it's truly negligible. I have a couple of LPs, a 335 and a GB10 - they all came with the coils parallel to the plane of the neck, so it makes sense that all humbuckers should be fitted that way.
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IMO if it teases one's need for aesthetic, particularly for the OCD type guy like me; then by all means make the pup parallel to strings regardless of its actual effect on tone!
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I LIKE that. Originally Posted by floatingpickup
I believe this is a fairly recent phenomenon. I am pretty sure they weren’t tilted in the old days. None of my vintage Gibsons have tilted pickups. I have corrected it on my newer Gibsons by either turning the pickup ring around or replacing it with a “flat” ring. It seems to me that the tilt would likely affect the performance of a double coil pickup. Furthermore, it just looks ugly to me. I have attached a picture of my 2007 L5CES with a replaced pickup ring. That’s how I want to see a pickup aligned.
Keith
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This post is still going?
Just fix it or leave it alone.
Just play your guitar.....
[To mix my emoticons]
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Rotate the plastic ring. No wiring, Takes about 5 minutes. Originally Posted by Gitpicker
My 2011 L5 Wes (Patrick2s old guitar) has the pickup tilted, the side closer to the bridge is lower than the side next to the fingerboard edge. Kinda ridiculous in my opinion. I haven't tried turning it around. The bottom of the pickup ring is fitted to the curvature of the top anyway and it would just tilt the other direction.
Three details that always made me roll my eyes on this guitar, 1) the pickup tilt, 2) the pots should have shorter shafts or be installed lower via a spacer as there is a big gap between the top of the guitar and the knobs, looks ugly, and 3) I'm being picky but the lack of finishing under the fingerboard extension.
The rest of the guitar is flawless. These details could easily be perfected to if they wanted to do it.
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Originally Posted by DRS
Ya I tried it just to see, on my guitar it just results in the pickup being stated the other direction, it doesn't end up being level.
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Yes, and that isn’t quite right either. Just replace it with a “flat” ring like my picture above. Originally Posted by Gitpicker
Keith
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