For a Guitar How Can You Tell the Difference Between a Rhythm Pickup and a Lead Pickup?
This week’s question is a good one. Let’s have a look:
The Bridge pickup should be about 1k ohms more than the neck. HOWEVER, it is possible that both bridge and neck pickups have the same DC resistance, which means they are the same model of Burstbuckers. (This test is not as accurate as measuring at the leads, but is good enough for this purpose). It’s really a matter of taste – modern pickups favor a higher output bridge pickup, while in the original vintage guitars, the pickups were about the same resistance and output, give or take some randomness.
What you probably don’t want is neck pickup that has higher resistance / output than the bridge pickup, if that is the case, you may wish to reverse their positions.
The neck pickup being bright is a good sign you have them in the right way. That is the way a neck pickup is supposed to sound ( 
) with a PAF style pickup. Modern ones make the neck muddy and unusable, especially with the volume rolled off.
I agree with MJ’s answer. I feel thats the best way to tell what pickup you have. There is another way that is around 95% accurate. Most guitar pickup companies put the pickup wire at the bottom of the pickups. If you hold the pickup with the wires on the bottom (looking at the front) you will see 2 parts of the pickups, slugs and pole pieces. The pole pieces are adjustable and typically have a screwdriver or hex head while the slugs are flat. The adjustable poles typically face the bridge for the bridge pickup and face the neck for the neck pickup. This is only 95% accurage because some manufacturers use adjustable pole pieces on both sides. If you have a metal covering, the side with the adjustable pole pieces should be exposed. Look at a Gibson Les Paul and how the pole pieces line up with the body. Thats always a good rule of thumb. But using a multimeter is typically the best way to know.
Some pickups can be used for either Bridge or Neck. If you have the same pickup then this will also be a reason why it sounds a little brighter than other neck pickups because it’s rated somewhere in between.
Looking online, it looks like there is just one model of Burstbucker pro, so its probably the case, where you can put it in either position. Some guys like this. They are such a high quality pickup that you’ll get great tone. The difference is that when you switch from bridge to neck, you’re not going to get a HUGE drastic change in tone. Only slightly more bass, or treble. Some guys dig that because they will switch them throughout the song to cut through the mix better, or blend in. Some guys want to have that drastic bass difference in there sound.
It’s kinda like this: I use to have Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz combo in a guitar. The Jazz pickup sounds great, but it has almost too much bass. I compensated by simply rolling the volume knob back, but some guys don’t want to do that, so they use the JB/59 combo. The 59 in the neck isn’t quite as drastic of a change from the JB to the 59, as it is from the JB to the Jazz combo.
Also, check to make sure the pole pieces are going in the right direction, like someone suggested.