Jazz neck is muddy in my LP

[samwheat]

Well, I replaced the PAF (neck) with a Jazz neck in my les paul custom and its muddy. Doesn't sound like the clips at all. Its a little less muddy than the the PAF and less output. I tried disconnecting the tone pot to no avail. Any tips?

[Chi3f]

Re: Jazz neck is muddy in my LP

do you have a 500k volume pot running it? if not i would try it out

[Benjy_26]

Re: Jazz neck is muddy in my LP

lower the pickup's height and raise the polepieces. It worked for me when I had a 59 in my Lester.

[rspst14]

Re: Jazz neck is muddy in my LP

The Jazz should definitely not be muddy. Try the suggestions above.

Ryan

[hacker]

Re: Jazz neck is muddy in my LP

you may want to check your amp settings also. the les paul neck position is supposed to be thick, but one person's thick is another person's muddy.

The jazz has the least mud of any pickup Ive ever tried.

[samwheat]

Re: Jazz neck is muddy in my LP

How do I raise the polepieces? Are they the screws on the pickup?

[BlueSnMettle]

Re: Jazz neck is muddy in my LP

How do I raise the polepieces? Are they the screws on the pickup?

Yes, first set your pup around an eighth of an inch from the top of pick-up to the low E, then raise the pole pieces slightly to match the radius (curvature) of the fretboard. If you still got mud, lower the pup in small increments till she cleans up. Good luck.

Peace,


Darrin

[Inge Malmstein]

Re: Jazz neck is muddy in my LP

I think you should change the pots. The Jazz neck is the most hollow-sounding humbucker in the Duncan-line, which i know. I like it's clarity in darker guitars.

[Simon_F]

Re: Jazz neck is muddy in my LP

Definitely change the volume pot(s) to 500k audio taper. It makes a big difference - opens up the sound of the guitar and makes it more versatile.

[Aceman]

Re: Jazz neck is muddy in my LP

Three things:
#1 - It's a Paul. The nature of the beast is that it's bassy/deep/muddy/fat/woman-toney or whatever you want to call it in the neck
#2 - Let's hear it for whoever said check the amp settings - I know a lot of people who can play the hell out of the guitar, but can't "play" the amp to save their lives. (SRV's tech said Stevie was like that!). I often kick the bass back a couple of notches!
#3 - All the rest of the suggestions are great, so try them (especially the pickup pole adjust). You can make some major tone tweeks by changing the height/curve. Any guitar fix it book at barnes/noble or borders will tell you the standard Gibson measures and how to do it (screwdriver and a ruler).

But I get back to a classic Guitar Player April fool's article that told how to get "Malmsteen's" tone from a Gretsch hollowbody. I think it would have worked, but buying a strat would have been easier. Are you sure a Paul is what you want

[Lightning]

Re: Jazz neck is muddy in my LP

Well if you are that happy with your bridge pickup. Is it a keeper? A bright bridge pickup will cause you to eq the neck muddy so maybe a fatter bridge pickup and a brighter amp eq.

If bridge PU is a keeper the Pearly Gates neck has a gutsy brightness about it…Also try this eq with the Jazz...bass 2, mid 8, treb 6.

[Xeromus]

Re: Jazz neck is muddy in my LP

yeah in my LP style guitar (esp eclipse) I found the jazz "muddy" too. I actually favored the '59 over it and put that back in. Go figure.