pros and cons of mounting the neck pup in the wood vs the pickguard?

discuss...

Solid contact to the body, vs not. Also ease of removing the pick guard. I bought a used Strat from a store and when I carried to work, a guy said he'd traded that off a week earlier 'cause he wanted a solid body (he got a Tele). He said the difference was the sustain. And we're in Nashville, so go figure.

There is a definite sound difference... but whether it is better or not is a matter of personal preference.

So mounting directly to the body is supposed to yield more sustain, all other things being equal?

I prefer mounting the pickup to the body. The only con is that you have to remove the pickguard to adjust it but you really only have to do that once.

I just changed the neck pickup on my CV50 from body mount to pickguard mount and to me the difference was insignificant.

The pickup was mounted wonky from the factory (bought a GC floor model for the purpose of modding) and rather than fiddle with re-drilling the holes to line it up correctly I chose to mount it to the pickguard.

Insignifcant to me.

IMO pickups are mounted to the pickguard because it is easier in a production environment than mounting then to the body and having the pickup hole line up on every guitar. It is a streamlining of the mass manufacturing process.

Is there a discernible difference? I suppose body mounted might have a tiny improvement on sustain. It may also look neater to purists. It is a pain to adjust if you need to though, so I prefer guard mounted. Two little screw heads showing don't bother me none.

Kristina

+1

The only difference is appearance and ease of installation and adjustment.

For Guitar companies that produce a go-zillion guitars a day, it's better to have them on the pickguard.

But it's kinda cool to have the clean look around the pickup...

And as stated a pain to adjust pickup height. But not a common requirement.


In all honesty, I have no earthly clue how a pickup mounted to the body could even begin to add or subtract from sustain! Are we saying that the vibrations of the body would somehow be transferred through the screws to the magnets and change their behavior? Come on, y'all been huffing too much bakelite dust!

one would argue that if the pup is sitting on the body, the pup will vibrate with the body and hence the string is subjected to changing magnetic field, making a richer tone.

like i said i cant hear any difference. but then again, my ears are pretty dull...

i consider that a blessing in disguise tho :razz:

The G.E. Smith Tele has pups mounted to the body. He swears by the tone. He said that the old fender lap steels were body mounted and he loved the tone so he had his signiture tele made that way

It seems to me that the degree to which mounting to the body would make a difference would correlate to the degree that the pickup was microphonic. More microphonic, greater difference. Perhaps the early lap steel pickups where fairly microphonic.

The G.E. Smith Tele has pups mounted to the body. He swears by the tone. He said that the old fender lap steels were body mounted and he loved the tone so he had his signiture tele made that way

Eddie Van Halen too.

Hard to argue when both ends of the Guitar player spectrum agree. :cool:

I agree with BigMikeSimpson It's easier at the factory to mount pickup to the pickguard,everything lines up easier.I have 2teles one is mounted to the body the other to the p/g makes no difference to me anyway

In all honesty, I have no earthly clue how a pickup mounted to the body could even begin to add or subtract from sustain! Are we saying that the vibrations of the body would somehow be transferred through the screws to the magnets and change their behavior? Come on, y'all been huffing too much bakelite dust!

Could you imagine that a loudspeaker bolted firmly to the floor might sound different than one dangling from a cable on the ceiling?
It's probably not a huge difference, but finish, body wood, fingerboard material, bridge plates, saddles, and yes, pickup mounting, all make a tiny difference according to at least some of us.
And yet we'll all fully admit that guitars do sound different, even guitars with identical pickups and wiring, so maybe, just maybe, those tiny differences all add up.

Could you imagine that a loudspeaker bolted firmly to the floor might sound different than one dangling from a cable on the ceiling?
It's probably not a huge difference, but finish, body wood, fingerboard material, bridge plates, saddles, and yes, pickup mounting, all make a tiny difference according to at least some of us.
And yet we'll all fully admit that guitars do sound different, even guitars with identical pickups and wiring, so maybe, just maybe, those tiny differences all add up.


We're not talking about dangling the pickup in the vicinity of the strings.... we're talking about mounting it on

a) springs or a rubber mount to a pickguard which is securely mounted to the body of the guitar

or

b)springs or a rubber mount to the body

Plus, if the pickups were screwed down too tight and adjusted back up, well then the screw holes will be loose(r) and then you've ruined the whole equation...


My CVC has it mounted to the body and I do like it. I'm in the midst of building a few teles as well and will be mounting to the body as well. But, I'm doin' it cause i like the clean look better... and I cna admit I'm all about appearances! :mrgreen:

a) springs or a rubber mount to a pickguard which is securely mounted to the body of the guitar

or

b)springs or a rubber mount to the body

+1

From what I have heard, Eddie Van Halen mounted the pickup straight into the body without springs or tubing.

That makes sense to me and I certainly can imagine it would make a difference.

But height adjustment would be either impossible or very difficult, maybe using shims...

Just my two cents :grin:

If it is mounted to the body you can change pickguards without readjusting your pickup.