JUNIOR HIGH

What on earth is the appeal of a single-pickup guitar and how can it help you to hone your modding skills? Dave Burrluck goes in search of a giggable 'Junior'...

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As we celebrate elsewhere in this issue, the Gibson Les Paul Junior continues to influence our taste some seven decades after it first appeared on the scene. Its reputation as the most stripped-back solidbody can pigeonhole it as a guitar just for rockers and punks, but there are plenty of times that a single-pickup guitar is all you need. When I looked at an upcoming gig setlist, I realised that 90 per cent of the songs I'll have to play are all on the bridge pickup and, inspired by that Gibson review, I quite fancy taking a 'Junior' to the gig. Bare bones, why not?

But also - why? Surely, you don’t just go onto your neck pickup and any dual-pickup guitar becomes a ‘Junior’? Fair cop, but many will propose that without a neck pickup physically attached to a guitar, there’s less potential string-pull from the missing magnets - therefore more sustain, man! - which is one factor why some believe single-pickup guitars, Juniors or Fender Esquires, for example, sound so good.

Whatever you believe or your experience itself tells you about that, any single-pickup guitar throws the focus on the pickup and the typically simple circuit, which can sometimes get forgotten about, not least if you're the type of player who uses their volume control to clean or increase the heat and your tone to pull back some highs.