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how do you determine the placement of the pickup?

Put one close to the bridge,
and what I do, but I don't really know why, is put the fretboard pickup under the harmonic nearest the fretboard.
I don't really know if if it matters.
It would be nice to build a pickup placement test guitar,
so you could listen and hear the difference.

Generally on humbucker guitars, you put one next to the bridge and one as close to the end of the fretboard as possible. People talk about nodes and harmonics, but I really think it all comes down to the fact that most guitars have them in those locations, and it just looks right.
I wouldn't know how to find the nodes (if they truely exist), nor, in the absence of a string crossing over a fret, where I could find a harmonic. I really don't think it matters much. I've played guitars with 21 and 22 frets(where supposedly the neck pickup is positioned correctly over the node (whatever that is), and I've played guitars with 24 frets where they say the pickup is not positioned correctly over the node, and I'm darned if I can hear much difference, nor form a real preference either way.
In my first guitar, I intentionally moved the neck pickup away from the end of the fingerboard, hoping to get less mud in the neck only position. I don't know if that is the reason I got what I got, but the neck pickup is nice and warm, with no mud present.
IMHO, it's relatively safe to basically just follow what others have done before you, and just place them conventionally.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

id do as mike said at the end. do as others have done.
personally i plan my layouts with the neck humbucker right up against the fingerboard.
with floyd rose setup. i found while cleaning a guitar with strings still on.. from the front of the floyd
put the pickup ring an arm bar's thickness from the floyd. somewhere around 9-12mm

as for nodes. wondered what they were when reading mikes reply.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_harmonics
what i make of them. natural harmonics.. nothing more.

Move the pickup and you change the sound. How much of a move matters is personal taste.

There are folks who are completely convinced that the neck pickup needs to be at a certain location and they talk about nodes and harmonics. I've never found anyone who could expain their reasoning when pushed a bit. Usually they get mad when I explain that the position of the nodes on a string move when you fret different notes - You'd think I told them there is no Santa Claus. I've come to the conclusion that they are used to a certain sound which you get when a pickup is at a certain place - the harmonic/node explanation is just how they talk about it but it doesn't really make much sense. I am convinced that some people can hear the difference and it matters to them though.

John

the whole thing with different positions is that you are going to get a different timbre and that is due to the string movement you get a different emphasis on different partials depending on where you place the pickup, similar to how you get a much different sound on an acoustic guitar if you strum right next to the bridge or up near the fretboard. you are picking up different vibrations in different places the bridge is always going to sound more edgy and agressive and the further you get away from it towards the neck it will start getting more rounded thats why you normally have one bucker right by the bridge and the other right by the neck it gives you a wider variety in tone then having them close.

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~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

The "nodes" are the harmonic node points where if you touch the string there it stops most of the fundamental frquency vibration and leaves the secondary vibrations ringing. Guitarists call them "harmonics". If you put a pickup under one of these harmonic nodes, when you sound that particular harmonic, either at the pickup or the other end of the fretboard in the mathematically equivelant point, the harmonic won't ring through the pickup since the string is essentially not vibrating at the point above the pickup.

For instance on a strat, certain harmonics won't ring out in the neck position in open strings, but if you move the pickup selector to either the bridge or middle, the harmonic WILL ring out, and you can hear it through the amp since those pickups are under a point at which the string is vibrating.

For you strat owners, try this.
With the guitar unplugged, touch the string directly above the neck pickup, and see what harmonic is ringing. Find the equivelant harmonic at the nut end of the fretboard. This assumes your intonation is set correctly. Listen carefully to make sure the harmonic is ringing.
Now plug in the guitar, strike the harmonic and let it ring, and move the pickup selector around. The harmonic should jump in and out as you move the switch off and on the neck pickup.

Some people believe that placing the pickup under these harmonic nodes eliminates that particular frequency from the signal, "mellowing" the tone, but the instant you place a finger on a fret, the harmonic node point changes, nullifying whatever tonal benefit may or may not be occurring. The only note really affected specifically by this placement is the OPEN note for whatever string you are hitting and the associated harmonic above the pickup.

This will be true of particular harmonics WHEREVER you place the pickup.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

http://www.philandjoanworld.com/index.p ... /main/C13/

Don't know if any of you have come across this guy, but he builds some interesting stuff. This thread made me think of the beginning of this video. On that guitar, he installed the pickups onto the sliding bar of an old typewriter so that they can be moved on the fly.

Interestring points, git- whisper.
I just went downstairs and tried what you said, and I did get harmonics on the 5th fret,
with the git plugged in.
It was weaker than the 7th and 12th frets,
but that happens on an acoustic.
Actually, now that I think about it,
the main reason I go with the harmonic location, (5th fret location, from the bridge)
is that i make and play lap steel, so, it is like a fret marker for me when I play.
Hey, didn't someone make a guitar in the 70's with an adjustable pickup?
Armstrong???
Interesting o.p, skankstro.
i like the word, interestring.
I'll coin that one for use on the forum.

If you put it on the neck pickup, certain harmonics seem to disappear compared to other pickups.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

pinch harmonics work on the bridge pup but not so much on others.

the strat blur
esy sound from the neck pup has very few harmonics as its right on the (open string) harmonic node.

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