Fight Club: Angled vs Straight Humbuckers

Learn more about all Warmoth's pickup routs here: warmoth.com/guitar-pickup-routs
Signal chain for this video: Warmoth Body of Tonal Discovery - - JB Humbucker - - EVH 5150 pedal - - Fender Hot Rod Deluxe - - SM57 - - Focusrite pre - - Reaper
00:00 Intro
00:29 Young Aaron
01:13 This Shootout is Fun!
01:37 Can't We All Just Get Along?
02:07 The Warmoth Soloist Body of Tonal Discovery
02:58 Test #1
03:15 Test #2
03:45 Test #3
04:17 Test #4
05:13 Test #5
05:47 Aaron's Observations
06:14 Lining up the Pole Pieces
08:20 Wrap Up

[@AnonContributor]

Dear Big Bosses... keep letting Aaron spend the money for the vids. This one was fun. Always wanted to compare this set up. Great job AC!

[@Unchainedmaple888]

A reverse angled humbucker option would be great, basically like the Jimi Hendrix reverse angled single coil option. One of the problems I always have with a lot of bridge pickups is ice pick treble and a reversed angled humbucker would help reduce ice pick treble.

[@whoisthenext1]

Totally agree with you.

[@michaelcottle6270]

I'm sure Warmoth would be able to do that if you ask nicely

[@nurk_barry]

I agree, taming the treble a tad and keeping the bass strings tighter is the way to go for me too, if I did an angle pickup I’d go reverse.

[@prodigal71]

100% agree

[@craigpoole2602]

If "ice pick" treble is an issue....reversing the pickup angle probably isn't your fix. I'm certain it would look different, cool is subjective, but not enough of a change to cure your problem.

[@mattb383]

Very close shootout but to my ears the angled one sounds a little sweeter as well as tighter on the rhythm playing. BTW, excellent song choices for this demo!

[@niclastname]

I'd be interested to hear it slanted the other way! I never need my low strings to have more low end on the bridge pickup (especially when playing lower tunings*), but I also don't need my high strings to to be so shrill. I've always wanted a strat bridge pickup to slant the other way for the same reason, or at least straighten it out to bring the treble side forward with the low side so that the high strings aren't so icepicky. I've never understood why they decided to slant it the way that it is. *You get issues with this when multiscale guitars don't slant their pickups to compensate for the slanted bridge saddles. The low strings will be a bit muddy when you try to play heavy chuggy stuff because they've essentially slanted the pickup the other way by moving the bridge back and not the pickup. Thanks for the awesome video as always!

[@ShredAimlessly92]

This was incredibly helpful, let the bosses know that we keep coming back for these videos with every upload!

[@valebliz]

I prefer the low strings on the straight config tbh, more definition. The angled is a bit more mellow as expected.

[@30pitchcleaver]

Yep, but now let's imagine it wasn't a JB but from a 335 @ 8 OHM ?

[@carloquibot]

@@30pitchcleaver i was thinking of doing this with my 335 shaped guitar. I was planning of putting in only a bridge seymour duncan invader pickup in it and when I stumbled upon these angled vs straight comparison. I thought to myself, maybe It would be best for me to angle it up since I love my palm mutes to be a bit more bassy and punchy than regular. Just a thought I'm not sure if it's a good idea hahaha

[@antoniopavicevac-ortiz8886]

Please keep these videos coming! Very informative and interesting!

[@atbear]

This was awesome. Great job, Aaron! Definitely keep these Warmoth vids coming!

[@JohnDoe9764]

Great vid as always, Aaron!

[@ExoShaman]

This is such an interesting video. Thank you for breaking it all down so clearly.

[@normanperkel139]

Very enlightening video Aaron…. surprisingly it made a bigger difference than I thought it would. Thanks for the great work producing this!

[@riniones]

these are great videos; very interesting and useful... thank you, Aaron

[@9642SM7¹]

Please continue these videos.

[@samferraro6756]

Another great video, I love topics like this, concepts guitar players have debated forever! Aaron, you're the "myth buster" of all things guitar!

[@eddiejr540]

Aaron...loved the shoot-out...and yes, you can still rock in America!!!!

[@warmoth]

Daddy checks....is everything OK? Not a sound as she makes her getaway!

[@nitramvoksmad2404]

Thanks to, Aaron!

[@8evolutions]

Great shootout! Angled vs. straight- I love the look of the angled humbucker. To me, the audible difference was more noticeable on clean-then again I’m listening on my cellphone speaker. Nice 80’s riffs! Loved hearing the White Lion! Thanks for sharing this!

[@moparbryan]

I’m an 80’s kid and it just sounds right to me angled. I wouldn’t be able to tell if I didn’t know you’d moved it but that said I did honestly prefer the “beef”. It’s subtle but it’s definitely there and I like it! Oh and keep up these kind of videos tell the bosses I said your doing gods work, or that it’s crucial to the integrity of our nation! Hell tell ‘em this is the only thing keeping you from selling your organs for picks and strings money just don’t stop what your doing!

[@godface81]

Cool Video Aaron, Thanks

[@blonk333]

I literally asked this question today. Thanks Warmoth for being rad.

[@tysonshirey1]

Most excellent video. Thanks bro.!!!!

[@tonya4157]

Cool stuff. It is useful. Thank you!

[@anthonycoraggio]

Perfect timing, I was just starting to look at a Mustang/JagStang type build and thinking about exactly this!

[@angusorvid8840]

Love the tone of the JB. Always awesome. Nice guitar.

[@sandywarmoth-hosfelt1769]

Love that photo for so many reasons.

[@murfmurphy6212]

I love these videos

[@jackp8583]

Thanks Aaron, that's a question answered! 👍

[@Jonathan_Brose]

Dude, I'm from Brazil. In my hometown, Porto Alegre, in the south of the country, there is a Luthier called Luffing. He's been building guitars since the 80s. I have one of his guitars from the middle of that decade, a Genese 1. Originally, it has two single coils. This morning, by chance, I found a 1983 Kramer Baretta on the internet and decided to install an angled humbucker. His video helped me a lot with this decision. Thank you very much!

[@TVoltG]

You Aaron? A Van Halen fan? You don't say... 😂 I love when you play Van Halen riffs.

[@666dreamboat]

Big bosses this man is doing God's work and is the reason I came across warmoth. Let's keep it up.

[@GregsGarage]

Test 5 seemed the most obvious. Great stuff Aaron. Thx for the bonus 80's riffage!

[@warmoth]

I thought so too! The low notes lost their snap and became much more round.

[@destiny-theseries]

Wow! A bigger difference in tone than I would have thought!

[@higgnbe]

I never thought it would make that big of a difference it does thanks

[@shaofu424]

holy majoly!!! that tele behind you on left is amazingly beautiful... wowzers, good work \m/

[@warmoth]

That's a Warmoth Meadowhawk. We released just a few. Hopefully a few more later this year. Very limited. kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4C5YqdqedmrmaM

[@DBSG1976]

Love that you showed the pics with your old guitars!

[@nohalo7]

JOURNEY!!!!!!!!!

[@warmoth]

I'm in a Journey tribute band now, so expect to hear many more going forward! ;)

[@sskopintsev]

Thanks! That was useful!

[@johncbeer]

Dear Big Bosses, we love Aaron's videos. They are entertaining, they are informative, they foster repeat purchases. So pretty please, with sugar on top, keep funding his efforts.

[@michaelcottle6270]

Excellent video, thanks Aaron. I preferred the sound of the angled personally - especially on the clean tones. Surprised by the variety of test tunes. Need more VH ;)

[@antv4408]

This is exactly what I needed at exactly the right time. Thank you!

[@GmanMusicProductions]

That's funny that you came out with this video 'cause I was looking at the Kramer Barretta with the angled P/U. You can hear a difference, I think I'd prefer the straight for more cleanish tones but for the Rock stuff the angled had more oomph. Another video shootout: Pickup mounted direct to body vs pickup ring.

[@warmoth]

It's on the list! :)

[@NickHillMakesMusic]

Fun experiment. I dig these types of videos. Keep it up Aaron. Can't wait for the next video!

[@baileywatts1304]

the angled sounds a lot more bell like on the arpeggios. I didn't notice much difference on just strumming as much, but it's overall just a bit more balanced. Looks like Eddie knew what he was doing on guitar, and that's not really shocking.

[@TheEchelon]

Eddie did it because the pole pieces didn't line up, as was described in the video at the end....

[@RyoCanCan]

@@TheEchelon Indeed that's pretty much it. There weren't many if any f spaced hb's at the time so by angling you get the outer strings to line up with at least something.

[@michaelpacinus242]

Eddie loved sex

[@ErikAnders]

Legendary

[@marcotaticchi5343]

Bravo Aaron! Thank you for the high quality of all your videos. 👏👏👏

[@kennyleejohnson5253]

I listened and tried not to look, but I could definitely hear the difference. May be my next mod..

[@soyborne.bornmadeandundone1342]

Great vid! I was honestly a month or two behind getting around to having you guys make me a body! And I was curious about the slanty bucker lol. Thanks!

[@jessenicholson1777]

Very cool comparison. Would be interesting to see with more of a PAF-style humbucker rather than the JB. I feel like adding the extra beef to a PAF-style pickup which would be much more mid and treble focused would work very well. In this test I felt like the straight layout worked better with the JB.

[@nellawell4976]

Yep, straight seems to be sharper.

[@cheenu711]

Listening to the angled pickup is like finally landing on the sound that you always had in your head. Exactly how I felt when I plugged my Kramer Baretta into an amp for the first time. There's just something about the single angled pickup. It is by far the best lead tone in my arsenal and it cost me sub 200 dollars and a 100 more in upgrades. Eddie was a genius.

[@sethcowan77]

This guy Aaron, does a good job of explaining stuff. I don't usually absorb info that well. Most people will tell me stuff, and my A.D.D. .....OH look ! A squirrel....

[@robmarmaduke]

Great work

[@dj_tmc]

Long live the Warmoth Body of Tonal Discovery!

[@warmoth]

Huzzah! Here, here!

[@knowwhey7559]

Let's not forget that the songs on the 1st album that don't have tremolo, were played on his Ibanez Destroyer. Straight pickup and a 24.75" scale length. It was all in his fingers.

[@dokterzorro]

Jup, that did it. Gonna try it, put a slanted humbucker in a Strat. It needs some fat tones on the bridge and the slanted one sounded just a tad fuller. Thanks for this vid, it's exactly what I needed to hear.

[@TechMetalRules]

Love me some Night Ranger! (and some DeMartini at the end, of course)

[@mrnobodyinvr9762]

Aaron, you rule bro, gotta love just hangin out with another guitarist talking shop. WARMOTH, you win with Aaron out here fronting your products.

[@jacksolomon451]

I'd be lying if I said I said I could hear a difference, but who doesn't love the JB? GOAT

[@scottmacphee35]

That was superb. I was surprised to prefer the tones on the straight to the angled.

[@warmoth]

Most surprising with the Every Breath You Take clip. Those low strings sounded really soft.

[@jessewilkins8415]

yep

[@noysydanon8804]

Angle just looks cool man. Who is sorber enough notice the sounds and besides it’s rock n roll after all

[@FunkyELF]

Damn, that green/teal guitar is beautiful in the background

[@trevordeke]

I would be grateful beyond measure if you could do the same thing with a Tele bridge pickup - there's all those fancy teles out there with a reverse bridge!

[@LeonRHarvey]

Yeah! Thumbs up for RATT! Way too cool!

[@Hexspa]

There’s a big difference. In the clean arpeggios, the straight one emphasizes higher harmonics whereas the angled one rounds them off. The chug-bend part had more “depth” with angled and the last muted arp sounded like the middle strings were louder. I retract (and redact) my statement about the harmonics; it’s a 5-1 bass pattern that I’m hearing.

[@sheldonkorpett1708]

Keeping making these videos.

[@The_Absurdistt]

Another winning video. Many thanks and keep them coming! Cheers.

[@andyt5559]

AWESOME AARON! Its not that distinct clean, but with distortion its noticeable, clip 2 to me the most! it looks a bit odd to be honest, i think if i was going to do it, i would loose the pickup ring and mount direct to the body, but thats what Eddie did! can't wait to see the neck pickup moved video i had a very early PRS Custom 10 top in vintage yellow 24 frets but favored the sound of my Yamaha SG 1000S 22 fret! KEEP THEM COMING, THEY ARE INFORMATIVE AND FUN, Not taking things too seriously! YOU know your stuff and play fantastically loved the Police, i do that to warm up gets the fingers stretching!🤟👍

[@Dejoblue]

New Warmoth product: ToneSlider pickup rings and route. Requires a ToneSlider route. Easily slide from straight to slant bridge pickup configuration with the push of a slider.

[@sunn_bass]

This is what I expected. I'm primarily a bass player and standard vs reverse P pickup positioning have a night and day difference from each other. Great video.

[@TheEchelon]

You call this a night and day difference?

[@sunn_bass]

@@TheEchelon There's a distinct difference in the side by side comparison especially on the bass side of the slanted humbucker. My ears gravitate to the bass end of the spectrum which is where i hear the difference. In a mix, probably not noticeable. Also the difference could probably be EQd to make them sound virtually the same anyway. Is it worth it? That's up to the individual.

[@MG-vo7is]

The angled pickup on tests #3 and #5 sounded sweeter.

[@BenBreard]

Brilliant and perfect execution! ..... maybe warmoth will innovate and invent a slick sliding pickup. .....like George Lynch showed us 30yrs ago in his REH instructional video! Anyway I can't wait for the 24 fret test next. I'm thinking that will make a bigger difference. Cheers

[@dag410]

I can hear a difference. The angled pickup is less harsh. Very beefy!

[@DevilsFourString]

Loving these videos. Aaron is a great host and guitarist, and I think you guys are uniquely positioned to do exactly these kinds of comparisons. Absolutely love it.

[@dumpedcabledumpedcable116]

Wow, really preferred the slant.

[@briandietrich1373]

The slanted seems to be a smoother sound... I like it!

[@briandietrich1373]

I think Ed was on to something!

[@diego_cl]

I would like to hear the difference with a strat, alla Hendrix... sometimes they are too shrill with distortion at the bridge pickup. flipping the bridge PU could help to unmuffle the tone and cutting some of the highs

[@MrJsteed2009]

I pick up additional harmonics from the Angled Humbucker. I just heard a recording of VH’s Panama with Eddie’s playing isolated. He has so many harmonics, feedback, chorus, echo and squealing going on that I think the Angled Humbucker really contributed to his tone. Interesting!

[@scottpeters4401]

I always thought Eddie slanted the pickup because he jacked up the cavity with a hammer and chisel when he put the Humbucker in the single coil slot…it ended up crooked….who knows…it does look cool though..

[@dennischarles9378]

That guitar on the far left looks incredible

[@runabout76]

Great video! IT was cool to hear the differences without any other variables. I need to know the story behind the guitars on the back wall... Different tops/paint stuff going on there is interesting.

[@warmoth]

Cool, aren't they? Those are the Warmoth Meadowhawk and Redshifter guitars. 40th Anniversary limited release. More details here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4C5YqdqedmrmaM and here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYW7qn-Kg6p7has There will be a few more released later this year.

[@jamesmurry5910]

Like the taped fingers! Lol Beyond awesome

[@warmoth]

Ha! Back in those days there were fewer grownup obligations and way more time to practice!

[@hallbergjonatan]

A great and very helpful test! :) It would be cool if you did the same test but you changed the angle so the treeble is closer to the neck instead of the base.

[@nurk_barry]

Dude, Aaron, thanks for doing this video. On my first build, I went with a single bridge humbucker rout but didn’t realize what I was doing fully, so I threw a normal Duncan SH-5 in the bridge position at a straight angle. I realized that I needed a Trembucker the 2nd time around when I built a sister to match the 1st one. I just love the recipe of a an Alder-bodied strat with a single bridge humbucker, roasted maple Gibson-scale neck, no 720 mod, string-through, tune-o-matic bridge and some HipShot open-gear tuners with 6100 Stainless steel frets. These Warmoth Strats are rock machines, truly great instruments. Thanks for all that you do, I did find this video highly informative and entertaining! One question, do you think it’s worth changing the Duncan SH-5 out for a trem-spaced version? It seems to sound good enough for me but I’m curious on your thoughts about using a humbucker without correct spacing?

[@mahdiyussuf9804]

Keep the vids coming Aaron! My most fav guitar vids on YT

[@moose6666]

I thought the real reason for the angled humbucker was the trem string spacing was wider than the Gibson pickup EVH put in Franky. The angle allowed the pickup to cover the wider string spread. Simple geometry

[@moose6666]

Well if I'd watched the video all the way through, I'd have seen you covered it. Sorry Arron

[@treyalexanderhaislip]

Very cool shootout! Seemed to be more noticeable to my ears when clean. Love these type of videos-thanks for sharing!

[@WiserInTime]

Question settled. This is tonal science here people.

[@moorecreativ]

great video Aaron! id love to see a test with a straight positioned pickup moved forward (away from the bridge) just a little. maybe a 1/2 inch? i always thought that would provide a nice warm tone from the standard position and would be a cool Warmoth option

[@alanbarry3598]

Very interesting! I wonder how it would sound to have the humbucker slanted the other way, i. e., low string side closer to the bridge and high string side angled toward the neck? Perhaps the Warmoth Body of Tonal Discovery can be adapted to another experiment.

[@antv4408]

Or angle the neck pickup and see what that does. Would it make a vintage neck humbucker usable with gain?

[@nigeldaddyo]

Reverse angled bridge pickups make more sense. I have them reversed in my strats (single coil) and never looked back

[@Fawkes1978]

RIP Eddie, He took after Leo Fender himself when he took an extra wide lap steel pickup and angled it to fit under the strings. Except both of them could have angled their pickups the opposite way and ended up with a more balanced sound since the closer pole pieces to the bridge give more definition to the low strings and the further pole pieces warm up the sound from the high strings. One of Paul Gilbert's signature models is like that. Would have been nice to see that test though...

[@nate6692]

Nope - no way Aaron will do that. Warmoth doesn't currently offer it and it'd only result in people bugging them. But yeah - I agree.

[@RudyJunior7]

I use a left handed bridge on my Tele doing just that. It’s one of my favorite guitars. Not sure how much that is making it sound so good but I’m not changing it back.

[@realoscaryarrito]

Great shoot out vid. I could hear a bit fuller sound with the slanted than with the straight. A few more mid and low end harmonics.

[@davidedwards7172]

I see a 22 vs 24 fret neck pup shootout coming.

[@hyramjackson]

That would be great!

[@davidedwards7172]

@@hyramjackson if you look at the way the neck pickup is routed. It’s routed for both 😁

[@themodernguitarist]

This video showed why I love those old Kramer Barettas and BC Riches, and Gibson Nighthawks, but would never own one lol. I'm super picky about the bridge pickup placement and some of my least favorite pickups had the bridge pickup a mile away. Honestly my optimal way of doing this would probably be the Jimi Hendrix angle. The bass string side would be closer to the bridge to retain that lower-string clarity, and the treble string side would be further to help mellow out the harshness.

[@ibalrog]

Very cool video! I like reasonably scientific testing. Personally, the only difference I could hear was due to palm muting changes in test #5.

[@angusorvid8840]

I owned a number of super strats in the 80s, including some Barettas, with angled buckers, usually a JB, Duncan Distortion or Custom or Full Shred. At the time I thought there was something to the whole angle thing, but then I got a number of axes with straight mounted buckers and I could not tell a big difference. These days I don't slant my buckers but I do make sure to get Trembucker spacing if they are Duncans or F-Spaced for DiMarzio, and these days it's all Duncans, often the JB, Full Shred or Screamin' Demon. In my experience angled buckers make a bigger difference with medium to low output pups.

[@luisownerbr]

3:46 Vito Bratta fans be like 👀 I'm usually very skeptical of anything related to what makes an impact in tone or does not, but I gotta say, this time I could definitely hear it. Also nice bonus haha

[@warmoth]

Wait....wait.....

[@kaeljoe]

Eddie was definitely onto something ......can see how contributed towards his brown sound

[@raspad_atoma]

The difference is bigger than I expected. I prefer angled.

[@Timbo1969]

Eddie did it so the humbucker would catch all the sound from the Floyd Rose bridge since the strings didn’t line up correctly. It was kind of a precursor to the Seymour Duncan Trembucker

[@angusorvid8840]

Eddie used a standard spaced JB straight mounted on his 5150. Sounded fine to me.

[@TahaNasser]

Wow it's actually much more noticeable than I expected! Slanted sounds much better on the riffing especially. Really shocked. Gonna have to change the design of my partscaster build!