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Using the pickup selector switch

louyueqing

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Jan 10, 2018
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Electric guitars use pickups to create their sounds, and most guitars are fitted with more than one pickup. On your electric guitar, you are likely to have a pickup selector switch which lets you choose which pickup you want to use.
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The above example shows a Fender Stratocaster guitar. A standard Strat (or Strat copy) uses 3 pickups: a bridge pickup (closest to the bridge), a middle pickup (in the middle) and a neck pickup (closest to the neck) – see the picture below. Moving the selector switch allows you to choose which pickup you want to use. The position of the switch matches the position of the pickup. In the above example, you can see the switch is pointing away from the neck, towards the bridge. That means that the bridge pickup is selected.

Each pickup has a different tone and sound to it. As a general rule, the closer to the bridge, the brighter and more trebly your sound will be. The closer to the neck, the more full and bassy your sound will be. It is a matter of personal preference on which pickup you like to use, and also the kind of sound you want to achieve.

I tend to use the bridge pickup 90% of the time, as I find that the other pickups sound too muddy when using distortion. However, for solos or cleaner, undistorted sounds the middle or bridge pickups can have a wonderful effect.
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Other makes and models of guitars may use only two pickups, and the selector switch will only move between two positions. Some guitars allow you to use multiple pickups at the same time.

NOTE: The pickup selector switch on a Stratocaster actually allows you to select 5 positions. By placing the switch in one of thein-between positions, you can select two pickups at the same time. Position 1 = bridge pickup, position 2 = bridge and middle pickup, position 3 = middle pickup, position 4 = middle and neck pickup, position 5 = neck pickup.
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Crazy fact: Brian May, the guitarist from Queen, has a homemade guitar with a unique selector switch system that allows him to choose 21 possible configurations!
 
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