Quote from Paul about neck pup relocation

[Floyd_Argus]

I've been unsuccessful after searching on the internet, to find a quote from Paul himself that explains his reason, in his own words, about why in his first PRS guitars, he championed a relocated neck pickup? Curious to hear from PRS himself whether he did it for certain tonal advantages - like less mud & woofiness from that neck pup position, and more Strat quack when the two humbuckers' inner coils are combined in parallel - or he viewed the relocation merely as an unfortunate but acceptable tradeoff in order to fit the 23rd and 24th frets into the design. Or some other reason I'm not aware of.

 

[Birdsofprey]

I’ve played and prefer 24 fret guitars since the very first PRSi and early Ibanez offerings. It’s my fav format and I have no issue getting the tones I want from them. As you can imagine there not just there to look pretty, I use them though basically on the G,B&E strings.

 

[Greywolf]

I've been building 24 frets as long as PRS , the slight tonal difference is something you account for in your pickup choice.
Some of the early Gibby's like the SG had 22 frets but still moved the neck back for more bite .. Greeny's LP , Wes Montgomery both flipped the neck pickup ..it's been around for 50+ years .. nothing new

 

[Bogner]

I Am All For 24 Fret PRS Guitars That Don't Have Thin Necks. I Get Great Tones From Them So I Have No Issues With The Pickup Placement.

 

[László]

Perhaps there's something about the pickup location in Dave Burrluck's Complete History of PRS book. I don't remember.

 

[Broseph]

I don’t mind the pickup sound. But that volume knob location on a custom 24 isn’t nearly as great for me as a McCarty! The extra spacing between the pickups on a 22 fret feels like home

 

[jamjam1]

The neck pickup placement in 24 fret guitars seems to be the complaint a lot of people have about them. Interesting to see that described as an engineered advantage.

I can't imagine it's for strat quack in single coil mode, since there is none. Must be for something else.

 

[Bogner]

The neck pickup placement in 24 fret guitars seems to be the complaint a lot of people have about them. Interesting to see that described as an engineered advantage.

I can't imagine it's for strat quack in single coil mode, since there is none. Must be for something else.

I See Two Things Here...

1. Marketing Spin
2. Fighting Familiarity

 

[Floyd_Argus]

Bump. I still have hope that someone has a link they can share to an interview w Paul where he talks about this.

 

[Floyd_Argus]

Perhaps there's something about the pickup location in Dave Burrluck's Complete History of PRS book. I don't remember.

About to find out....

https://imgur.com/a/RfqTaje

 

[deathworlder]

Not 22 vs 24, but 24 vs 27(?); at 1:47.

 

[Floyd_Argus]

Not 22 vs 24, but 24 vs 27(?); at 1:47.

Actually, I think what he says here at 1:47 does speak directly to what I was asking. So thank you very much!

In answer to Mark's question "why 27 frets?", Paul says (quote): "Well, I didn't want to move the bass pickup into a slightly more middle position and have a big gap". Meaning, his first intent was to move that bass pickup closer to the bridge, and finding a usage for the extra space that move created was a concern that came AFTER. If the intent was the other way around btw the two, he wouldn't have said it that way.

I was already inclined to think that relocating the bass pickup was the primary intent (vs adding more frets (24 or 27) was the primary intent), and this confirms it. Other factors that had me leaning that way was that the early custom 24s had the extra coil splitting pickup combinations via the rotary switch, one of which - both inner coils - sounds pretty Stratty - and that Strat character juat isn't there on Both Inners coils on a guitar where the bass pickup is in its normal location. The neck inner coil is not close enough to the Bridge inner coil to create that mechanical phase cancelation that Strat positions 2 and 4 achieve due to the proximity of the Strat pickups to each other. Plus, the muddiness of a humbucker pickup in normal position was a complaint some players had even back then, and that's another thing that Paul was probably trying to solve by moving the neck pickup a little closer to the bridge.

Don't worry - I'll still read and enjoy my new PRS book even if I have my earlier question answered to my satisfaction! :0)

 

[László]

In answer to Mark's question "why 27 frets?", Paul says (quote): "Well, I didn't want to move the bass pickup into a slightly more middle position and have a big gap". Meaning, his first intent was to move that bass pickup closer to the bridge, and finding a usage for the extra space that move created was a concern that came AFTER. If the intent was the other way around btw the two, he wouldn't have said it that way.

I think it'd be interesting to ask him directly; I didn't interpret his answer in quite that way.

If you compare the production CU24 and the 22 fret models, the bass pickup is in about the same position (just eyeballing them), and it's the location of the bridge and bridge pickup that changes.

The fretboard goes all the way to the bass pickup ring in both cases.

It doesn't appear that the bass pickup is located any differently on the body, it's all about the placement of the bridge and bridge pickup to maintain the 25" scale length on both 24 and 22 fret models.

In other words, he solved both the scale length problem, and the aesthetic problem, not by relocating the bass pickup, but by moving the bridge pickup and bridge closer to the bass pickup.

 

[alantig]

If you compare the production CU24 and the 22 fret models, the bass pickup is in about the same position (just eyeballing them), and it's the location of the bridge and bridge pickup that changes.

It's actually the neck pickup that moves. Relative to the fretboard, it looks the same, but the extra two frets force it closer to the bridge pup. The bridge and bridge pup stay the same. Other folks have said (and I believe them because I believe everything I read) that the neck pup location on a 22-fretter is at a harmonic node, which is where the 24th fret lies. Shifting the neck pup away from that node apparently changes the tone enough that some folks don't like it.

 

[László]

It's actually the neck pickup that moves. Relative to the fretboard, it looks the same, but the extra two frets force it closer to the bridge pup. The bridge and bridge pup stay the same. Other folks have said (and I believe them because I believe everything I read) that the neck pup location on a 22-fretter is at a harmonic node, which is where the 24th fret lies. Shifting the neck pup away from that node apparently changes the tone enough that some folks don't like it.

Looks to me like both pickups move in that animated drawing.

 

[Broseph]

Looks to me like both pickups move in that animated drawing.

I think it would a have to for it to maintain the same scale length. Cool illustration. I recall a mod hopping on a thread to dispute the pickup positions of a custom 22 vs 24.

 

[deathworlder]

Why does the bridge pickup need to move?
It's a rhetorical question; I'm just curious what some answers might be.

 

[Floyd_Argus]

I think it'd be interesting to ask him directly; I didn't interpret his answer in quite that way.

If you compare the production CU24 and the 22 fret models, the bass pickup is in about the same position (just eyeballing them), and it's the location of the bridge and bridge pickup that changes.

The fretboard goes all the way to the bass pickup ring in both cases.

It doesn't appear that the bass pickup is located any differently on the body, it's all about the placement of the bridge and bridge pickup to maintain the 25" scale length on both 24 and 22 fret models.

In other words, he solved both the scale length problem, and the aesthetic problem, not by relocating the bass pickup, but by moving the bridge pickup and bridge closer to the bass pickup.

Both the Cust 22 and Cust 24 have the same total scale length (25"), but because the room for the extra frets has been added onto the neck of the custom 24 (instead of intruding into/sitting on the top of the body), the bridge of the Custom 24 moves up closer to the neck on the Custom 24. However, since the scale length is the same on both guitars and the bridge pickup is located in the same place on both guitrs relative to the end of that scale length, the bridge pickup hasn't changed positions relative to the scale length. But the neck pickup has. The extra 2 frets shifted it closer to the bridge.

 

[Floyd_Argus]

Looks to me like both pickups move in that animated drawing.

Yes, because the whole 25" scale length changed position relative to the body and neck. But this discussion is about changes in position to things WITHIN those 25 inches of space, like extra frets and the 2 pickups. And in that regard, the bridge position stays consistent (stays sitting up against the bridge), but the neck is forced closer to the bridge, moving from after the 22nd fret, to after the 24th fret.

 

[Floyd_Argus]

Why does the bridge pickup need to move?
It's a rhetorical question; I'm just curious what some answers might be.

to maintain a distance (scale length ) of 25". And if you just made your neck longer by adding on 23rd and 24th frets, you have to make up for that somehow. If bridge stayed where it was even though the neck got longer, then scale length would be longer than 25".