by Jim Hepler » Fri Jan 05, 2018 8:03 pm
Greg, I don't think there is one best position. The closer you move towards the bridge, the brighter/thinner the sound. You probably already know this.
I have heard people claim there's a magic spot for harmonics, but that never made sense to me since every time you fret a different note, all the harmonics are in a different place. Furthermore, we think there's an open string harmonic 2 octaves up at the theoretical 24th fret (1/4 the string length), but actually that's a mode at that point where the string doesn't move when you play that harmonic (or the one at the fifth fret - same thing) so if you had a pick-up that only caught the vibration at that point, when you played that harmonic you would actually get no sound. I know this to be true because I have a bass with the neck pick-up at the place where you get the same harmonic as at the fourth fret (1/5th the string length) , and when I'm only on that pick-up I am treated to silence when I play that harmonic.
I imagine, in part, the pick-up right at the end of the neck came about out of simplicity. Some of them attach to the neck, and for those that don't, it may be simpler in some cases to have a mortise there for a pickup that might even allow access to the neck joint.
As far as what pick-up to choose, that depends on what you like to play and what kind of sound you want. I think of the standard archtop jazz sound as being a humbucker, but Charlie Christian pickups are single coil as are P-90's and various others. Typically humbuckers are rich and fat (or possible boomy and muddy) and single coils are brighter and more articulate (or possible thin and harsh). For what it's worth, I like P-90s. I haven't found one that will float though, so you have to cut a hole for them and screw them to the top (dog-ear style) or to something inside the guitar (soapbar style).These days I'm liking the neck pick-up sound a lot when I'm playing by myself. Further towards the bridge the sound seems to me to be a little less full and more focused which often works better for me when I'm playing with more other instruments. Kind of a long way of saying it depends... Let us know what you decide, and why, and how you like it.
jim