I am building my first CBG and plan on using a single lipstick pickup. When I called one of the manufactures for the pickup they suggested using one for the upper location (near fret board) and locate it in the "sweet spot", I asked where the sweet spot was and they said it is a trial and error thing. Where the heck is the sweet spot? I am using a 24.75" scale length and I am not sure where to locate the bridge either. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Comments
On a regular guitar they are placed around 6 inches from the bridge,on an acoustic guitar the center of the sound hole is also around 6 inches from the bridge.As Mike mentioned before you will find a harmonic there. I like to leave enough room behind the bridge to rest my hand when playing and ground myself on the strings going up to the bridge. KEEP YOUR SCALE LENGTH CONSTANTLY IN MIND WHEN LAYING IT OUT. 24.75" bridge to nut ...... Once you lay it out it will decrease your "options" to what you CAN do.
Hey Dan,
I suggest that you string the guitar up with the high string and tune it to the proper note. (G if you are tuning it GDG, for example.) Then, pluck the string while lightly touching the string somewhere up toward the neck. Touch various locations on the string until you get a harmonic or "chime". You could then mount the pickup directly under the point where your finger was when you got the chime and you should have a good "sweet spot". It's kind of a wild guess but I've had good luck on my last 3 builds doing that. I hope that helps. Shoot me a comment if you have questions and I'll try to help you out. For the bridge, just locate it 24.75 inches from the bridge side of the nut. Just be sure to lay the guitar out so that you have room on the box for it. A good old cardboard markup can help a bunch. Enjoy the build!