The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
Reply to Thread Bookmark Thread
Posts 1 to 13 of 13
  1. #1

    User Info Menu

    I've always payed acoustic guitar, so I don't know much about electric ones. But I decided to buy a vintage Gibson ES 175. Some days ago a friend came home and told me that de single pickup was turned around (you can see it on the photo). And that's correct I've checked many photos in the internet Can some one please help me with some answers?
    Is there a reason for turning around the pickup? Is it just a mistake of the previous owner? Does that make any change in the guitar sound? Should I turn it around to the correct position?

    Thank you for your help
    Attached Images Attached Images Turned around pickups-img_20200907_140952-jpg 

  2.  

    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

    User Info Menu

    Next string change flip it ‘round and see, hear, if you like it. Not hard to do.

  4. #3

    User Info Menu

    The Good thing is being a single pickup, there's no phase issues!

  5. #4

    User Info Menu

    You will hear absolutely no difference after turning the PU around, unless you deeply wish to. In that case the difference will be profound.

    I would turn it around just for the sake of fashion.

    But it will be purely cosmetic.

    It is a nice guitar, so making it look “normal” is a perfectly pleasant idea.

    It will have absolutely no effect on the sound.

    *************

    Now, that “over-compensated” bridge is a different matter...

  6. #5

    User Info Menu

    The bridge on your guitar is a classic.

    Used on many many thousands of guitars with great sounds.

    Used by countless players making great sounds for all kinds of music.

    It is also an hilarious mistake.

    The compensation for each string is exaggerated.

    Your B string will be flat as you play up the neck.

    Bb, get it?

    The A and low E will also be a problem as you head up the neck.

    Or you can adjust for those strings and the rest will seem sharp as you play up the neck.

    ***************
    OR...

    You can ignore this simple fact, and just make great music as so many others have done with this bridge.

    ***************

    If you are happy with your intonation, join the many, many, many thousands of great players who are equally happy with that bridge.

    If you note some issues, then get either a simple straight-line compensated bridge, a T-O-M bridge, or a less absurdly over-compensated bridge.

    Either way, what makes you happy is what matters - not the Newtonian physics of the situation.

  7. #6

    User Info Menu

    Even if it were a dual p/up setup, there would be no phase issues when turning the p/up around.

  8. #7

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy Mack
    Even if it were a dual p/up setup, there would be no phase issues when turning the p/up around.
    Hi Jimmy,

    I was going to post the exact same thing, but then thought it through.

    If the string was moving in a substantially side-to-side way (which is not necessarily what happens usually), then it seems to me that there would indeed be a phase reversal if the PU was inverted.

    If our hypothetical string was making the fundamental vibration (ignoring harmonics for laughs) while moving from the low E side of the PU toward the high E side and this resulted in the ”positive” part of the sine wave, then inverting the PU would indeed produce the “negative” part of the sine wave during this same part of the hypothetical vibration.

    Now in practice, the string moves in a far more complex and changing way, but still - it is an interesting thought that Jads57 brings up, even if it is not really what we think of as phase reversal when the wires or magnet are reversed on a given PU.

  9. #8

    User Info Menu

    Peter Green famously had a Gibson Les Paul neck pickup the wrong way round, and he always sounded incredible. Fans copied him, and Gibson brought out a Peter Green model with the same wrong-way round pickup. Keep it as is, and one day you'll be as famous as Peter Green. Please don't say, "Who?"!

  10. #9
    Thank you all for your help.
    I'll flip the pickup next time I change the strings and see what happens.
    What surprises me now is what bezoeker says about the bridge I've been checking it with a tuner and effectively as you go up the neck the notes gets a little bit out of tune. Any way I think it's not so important and I prefair to keep the original bridge. it's a historical guitar from 1968.
    What I can't understand is why Gibson, who for sure knew that problem, kept up that bridge for decades. What do you need and over compensated bridge for?
    It is much easier to have a straight-line compensated bridge.

  11. #10

    User Info Menu

    That bridge design has been around for a very very very long time.

    Guild used it for many decades as the wooden arch top bridge. You can still buy them from StewM last time I checked.

    It may or may not be the actual original design used on your guitar.

    Anyway, with any modern string set, you will find it impossible to get a reasonable best-fit position for overall bridge compensation.

    The main problem is that the B saddle is set far too far back. But the steep slope from D to low E is also completely out of the realm of a normal bridge setup.

    It is an exaggerated cartoon of the most typical optimal bridge compensation.

    A simple sloped straight line (such as on Benedetto), while not absolutely perfect, is far closer for most wound-G string sets.

    But, again - countless fantastic pieces of music have been played on your bridge. Certainly just enjoying your guitar is one of the best choices available.

    If you set your own bridge position, I suggest setting for the high E and then finding a “best fit” position that compromises between the optimal position for the A and the D string. Then accept where the others end up.

    Great guitar

  12. #11

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    Peter Green famously had a Gibson Les Paul neck pickup the wrong way round, and he always sounded incredible. Fans copied him, and Gibson brought out a Peter Green model with the same wrong-way round pickup. Keep it as is, and one day you'll be as famous as Peter Green. Please don't say, "Who?"!
    Peter Green had the _magnet_ in his pickup the wrong way around. That resulted in the two pickups being out of phase with each other in the middle switch position, which is the "Peter Green sound" that people copy. I did this once inadvertently when I took a pickup apart out of curiosity and put it back together wrong. Flipping the entire pickup around makes no difference in the pickups' phase with respect to each other, and just turning the pickup around without also flipping the magnet around does not produce this effect. He also had the pickup reversed, but that has no discernible effect on the sound. [Conceivably, it might if the screws are raised to the point that they're almost falling out, but even then it would be very, very slight. Again, I say this from experience/experiment, not hypothesis.]

    John

  13. #12

    User Info Menu

    On a different note, the OP's guitar has a zigzag tailpiece where the bent wires come very near the center part. Apparently, there's variation in the originals, not just in the knockoffs.

  14. #13

    User Info Menu

    I'm surprised no one has mentioned that Wes Montgomery was photographed with a custom Gibson L-5 with the pickup turned around. Supposedly, he had this done to brighten the sound and provide more clarity.

    Turned around pickups-wes-backwards-pickup-jpg