Help! Can't figure out an overly bright guitar

[Silvergtr]

I am at a loss with one of my telecasters! This particular model has a mahogany body and a full humbucker in the bridge. No matter what pickup I seem to put in that bridge position, it always sounds ridiculously bright and harsh. I have tried the Duncan custom, JB, screamin demon, pearly gates, and now a diMarzio air classic. All of them sound way too harsh and bright. Both of the pots are 250K, and it has a .047cap. What else could possibly be causing it to come off as so bright like that? Even compared to my telecasters with single coil pickups, this thing just sounds unbearably harsh on the top end

[dominus]

Re: Help! Can't figure out an overly bright guitar

It's a bright guitar, I've had that before.

Try an Air Zone, Tone Zone, Invader, or Custom Custom.

[Silvergtr]

Re: Help! Can't figure out an overly bright guitar

Been thinking about the custom custom. Just tried staying a little lower output.

[ex-250]

Re: Help! Can't figure out an overly bright guitar

Do you still have the Custom? Spend $2 on an A2 magnet and you have yourself a Custom Custom.

[Petros]

Re: Help! Can't figure out an overly bright guitar

May not be the pickups, though many people seem to say the Pearly Gates humbucker in the bridge position is too bright and harsh. Maybe it's how you've got the bridge pickup set up. You could sink the pole pieces down lower than normal and then back the pickup away from the strings a bit more than normal. You lose some output this way but you'll get a tone that is less bright and harsh.

[Silvergtr]

Re: Help! Can't figure out an overly bright guitar

I no longer have the custom, and that swapping it for other gear. I have the pick up backed away from the strings fairly far, but with every pickup I have tried on this guitar, there is just a no taming of the high-end.

[Silvergtr]

Re: Help! Can't figure out an overly bright guitar

For now I am going to throw a JB back in it and back it off a little bit to try and bring the output down. I think on this guitar that's going to be the best bet unless I can try a custom custom.

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Help! Can't figure out an overly bright guitar

For now I am going to throw a JB back in it and back it off a little bit to try and bring the output down. I think on this guitar that's going to be the best bet unless I can try a custom custom.

To my ears the JB is a BRIGHT/Biting pick up.
Putting that in an all ready bright guitar is gonna be uber brite !

Look into : Duncan A2P or Phat Cat neck unit in the bridge pos / BK Black Dog or Juggernaut or War Pig / DiMarzio Air Zone


PS, and remember to play with your pole pieces & pick up height too !

If everything else fails, you can always add a capasitor that you can toggle in-and-out of the curcuit, like the bloke did in the vid below :



<---- very simple - very clever / skip to 2m25sec.

[blueman335]

Re: Help! Can't figure out an overly bright guitar

No matter what pickup I seem to put in that bridge position, it always sounds ridiculously bright and harsh. I have tried the Duncan custom, JB, screamin demon, pearly gates,

To me, all three of those PU's are bright and harsh in the bridge slot of most guitars. No wonder why you're coming up with those results. Even though a Custom is 14K and high output, part of that's due to the strong ceramic magnet. A CC, while 14K too, has noticeaby less output because of the relatively weak A2 manget. A JB2 is a much warmer and fuller sounding PU than the stock version. An A2 would warm up the Full Shred also. I think your solution lies in magnets, not to keep buying more PU's.

[blueman335]

Re: Help! Can't figure out an overly bright guitar

Look into : Phat Cat neck unit in the bridge pos.

While very warm in the neck slot, a Phat CatN would be a major disappointment for him in the bridge slot. The Phat CatB is wound hotter than the neck, and in the bridge slot it's 'weak and thin' (quote from Zhang). Since he already has a couple 250K's and can't stand how bright and thin the PU's have been, he needs to focus on overwound HB's and try them with warm magnets.

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Help! Can't figure out an overly bright guitar

To me, all three of those PU's are bright and harsh in the bridge slot of most guitars. No wonder why you're coming up with those results. Even though a Custom is 14K and high output, part of that's due to the strong ceramic magnet. A CC, while 14K too, has noticeaby less output because of the relatively weak A2 manget. A JB2 is a much warmer and fuller sounding PU than the stock version. An A2 would warm up the Full Shred also. I think your solution lies in magnets, not to keep buying more PU's.

Agreed. Since he has a JB a JB2 would be very cost effective to try. Also if he still has the Demon he could try an A2 mag and replace the hex screws with fillister screws.

He probably has a maple neck shaft and that will be a bit brighter even with the mahogony body.

[Scott Olson]

Re: Help! Can't figure out an overly bright guitar

Agree with going the route of the Custom Custom or mag swapping to A2 (and if you aren't comfortable with mag swapping the Custom Shop will do it for you for $20). Also try adjusting the pole piece height. Higher cap value?

Does rolling back on the tone knob not help?

[Silvergtr]

Re: Help! Can't figure out an overly bright guitar

The jb has tamed the brightness a lot. I had an ap2 also, but it was also notoriously bright. The tone knob helps the top, but muddies the mids and lows. It is a magnet/winding issue. This is why many of the hotter pickups have a darker tone. And most of the vintage output pick ups tend to be brighter even though they use a two or a five magnets. I have been more concerned that I was missing something that was causing all of these pickups to sound this way, but I have a feeling it really is just that this is a very bright guitar. My PRS has the exact same problem, but my other telecasters and gretches sound great

[blueman335]

Re: Help! Can't figure out an overly bright guitar

most of the vintage output pick ups tend to be brighter even though they use a two or a five magnets.

A5's are the brightest alnico, A2's the warmest; opposite ends of the spectrum.