Kind of a poll.....

[P I K A]

My neck pickup is for looks only. I dont like the look of a 1 hum guitar.

[roodyrocker]

My most recent purchase just so happens to be a 1 hum GMP V. While I have others with neck pickups the reality is the bridge pickup is what I use 95% of the time. I'll use the neck pickup for some select solos and the middle position for some cleans but they're not absolute necessities. Put it this way, they make 1 hum bridge guitars, can't say that I've ever seen a 1 hum neck guitar so tells me the rest of you use mainly the bridge pickup as well

[leftykingv2]

I think each pick up and each position have different uses. Yeah like everybody else I love the sound of my bridge pick up a whole bunch but I also love the neck pick up and the middle pick up on all of my guitars that have a different configuration other than hum-hum or hum-single. There is a right place and time for all three positions and I personally like having more options than a single pick up. I've always liked all the positions ever since I got my first guitar in 1984.

[toejam]

Put it this way, they make 1 hum bridge guitars, can't say that I've ever seen a 1 hum neck guitar so tells me the rest of you use mainly the bridge pickup as well

I've seen quite a few jazz guitars with only neck pickups.

http://www.cpthorntonguitars.com/15-archtops/the-improv/

[pianoguyy]

My favorite guitar is a 1hb. 90c with 1200 mid boost. It's a pretty hot sound.
It also has a wild graphic that can only be seen on some rock/metal stage.

But it doesn't play cleans. It doesn't play mellows. It is made for one purpose and one purpose only. All-out balls-to-the-wall rock. A blood curdling bombastic assault on your cerebral cortex. No pussies allowed.


I need other pickups configurations. It's the goto guitar for when I can be limited to the look and sound. That is all it does, but it is not all that I do.

[Hellbat]

You guys need to bone up on your history books!

Most of the first electric guitars only had a single neck pickup. (For example the Gibson ES150, introduced 1936, using the "Charlie Christian" blade pickup.) The bridge pickup came later as electric guitars starting becoming a lead versus a rhythm instrument and the players were looking for a brighter sound to cut through more with the larger bands.

[xenophobe]

All the "once you grow up" bullshit is kinda sad and funny at the same time.

Once you grow up you play whatever you want to play regardless of what someone else would suggest you should play.

So a bunch of cock sucking 80's hair metalers are now finding use for other pickups in their old age. Good for you guys!


Seriously though, I think 1 hums just sound better if you're only using that one hum. You can see the effect a neck pickup magnets has on the vibrations of the strings compared to a 2 hum. Does it really make much of a difference? Not a whole lot that's for sure. I prefer 1 hum guitars. For most of what I need to do, it does it and does it well.

I have a fair number of 1 hums and multi-pickup guitars... I grab what I want to play.

If I want a hammer, I grab a hammer. It doesn't need to have variety. It just needs to do one thing really well.

[BLOOD SPLATTER]

Depends on the music being played....1-hum is great for metal....can be limiting for other styles....ymmv!!

[atomic charvel guy]

it's not a point of one hum or not? charvel had an unusual random magic to their guitars. not all of them by a longshot, but sometimes when things were just right you got one that played and sounded ridiculously superior to other brands and other charvels too. unfortunately, I say random because sometimes they ended up being one hum, or if you were really lucky, they had lead and rythym pickups. of course it's always nice to have both, but perfection is not an accident, so when you got one and it was a single hum, you had to utilize the fucker regardless.

[artonsafari]

All of my guitars have 2 or more pick ups. I like the look of SSH and HH. A Strat doesn't look right to me with out the SSS layout. Tone wise, I enjoy the neck pickup clean or with a little overdrive.

Bridge is for \m/ëtål!! but I don't think I'd own a 1 pick up axe.

[dvscool]

I do think the bridge is king. I front a band, and I do a lot of the rhythm guitars. So for the most part I'm using the bridge. Having said that I LOVE the sound of the humbucker ( or a SC for that matter) in the neck. So when I do shred, alot of it is done in with the neck pickup. For fast picking I think the creaminess of the neck rules. The neck is also cool for clean tones. I also like the dynamics of switching back and forth between the neck and the bridge during shred. I wouldn't buy a guitar with just the bridge personally. It looks cool sure, but its too limiting for my tastes.....

[veemagic]

If I could only have 1 guitar, I doubt it would be a single pickup guitar. Fortunately having more than 1 to choose from, and I have all configurations, I can say they all have a place for me. I honestly think Mike said it very well, and quite eloquently, as he usually does. Play what sounds right!

[ulijdavid]

Always used neck and bridge pickups. Tried to copy every solo Michael Schenker ever played. I know he created some really "creamy" tones on many solos. Don't know if it was him and the Wah-Wah, the neck pickup, or the combination of the two. I have never owned a one pickup guitar.