Seth Lover & Antiquity combination on Gibson ES-335

[Gaboni]

Hi all,

Several months ago, I wanted to replace the stock '57 pickups on my 335 for a pair of vintage-stype PAFs, with alnico 2 magnets, low output and unpotted.

In that moment, I had at home a Seth Lover pickup (7.10K) and an Antiquity one of neck position (7.18K). I replaced all the electronics and the wiring of the guitar with 500K pots and orange drop capacitors. I leave the connections with the pickups accessible to change them easily in the future.

I put the Seth lover in neck position and the Antiquity in bridge position, because the reading with the ohmmeter was higher.

Now, I realized that:

- The output of the SL is much higher that the Ant, so I've have to adjust the bridge pickup so close to the strings, and the neck pickup so far.

- Due to that, the volume now are the same, but the sound is so different. The bridge ant sounds with less bass and a lot of "bite". I love this sound with crunchy sound. Its magical...

- The neck SL sound so different... with a lot of bass. It sound very "natural" and it's nice with clean sounds. It's also more modern-sounding that the Ant.

I love how sounds both pickups, but I find it very different. I think that this is mainly due to the difference in the output and the height of the pickups. I would like to find a better combination, to equalize the output and the timbre of these pickups.

What would you do? Swap the position? Swap also the magnets? Replace the SL with another Ant?

Thank you so much for take your time to read this.


Gaboni.

[uOpt]

Re: Seth Lover & Antiquity combination on Gibson ES-335

I think your problem is that the neck position of this guitar is too boomy.

The Ant neck is a bit slimmer than the Seth, it would help a bit.

Or the de-mud mod posted here (little electronics circuit).

[Luke Duke]

Re: Seth Lover & Antiquity combination on Gibson ES-335

I believe one thing you are hearing is the ages components that the antiquity uses impaired to the new components the Seth uses. If it was me I'd go with an Ant. In the neck as well and call it a day.

Luke

[blueman335]

Re: Seth Lover & Antiquity combination on Gibson ES-335

Seth's aren't a 'modern sounding PU' by any standard One of the biggest differences between the two is that Ant's have aged (degaussed) A2's, which reduces treble and output. They're going to be pretty warm and rounded in the neck slot. Not much treble there. Some of us here don't care for aged A2's, and do mag swaps in our Ant's.

[jeremy]

Re: Seth Lover & Antiquity combination on Gibson ES-335

just getting a bridge model of one of the two pups would help a lot. I have a set of antiquity neck and bridge humbuckers in a guitar and it sounds wonderful

[blueman335]

Re: Seth Lover & Antiquity combination on Gibson ES-335

just getting a bridge model of one of the two pups would help a lot.

+1. That's why the Ant in the bridge slot sounds bright and has 'bite'; his Seth would do the same thing there. Most of the tonal difference he's hearing is from the location, more then the PU's themselves.

[LtKojak]

Re: Seth Lover & Antiquity combination on Gibson ES-335

Hi all,

Several months ago, I wanted to replace the stock '57 pickups on my 335 for a pair of vintage-stype PAFs, with alnico 2 magnets, low output and unpotted.

In that moment, I had at home a Seth Lover pickup (7.10K) and an Antiquity one of neck position (7.18K). I replaced all the electronics and the wiring of the guitar with 500K pots and orange drop capacitors. I leave the connections with the pickups accessible to change them easily in the future.

I put the Seth lover in neck position and the Antiquity in bridge position, because the reading with the ohmmeter was higher.

Now, I realized that:

- The output of the SL is much higher that the Ant, so I've have to adjust the bridge pickup so close to the strings, and the neck pickup so far.

- Due to that, the volume now are the same, but the sound is so different. The bridge ant sounds with less bass and a lot of "bite". I love this sound with crunchy sound. Its magical...

- The neck SL sound so different... with a lot of bass. It sound very "natural" and it's nice with clean sounds. It's also more modern-sounding that the Ant.

I love how sounds both pickups, but I find it very different. I think that this is mainly due to the difference in the output and the height of the pickups. I would like to find a better combination, to equalize the output and the timbre of these pickups.

What would you do? Swap the position? Swap also the magnets? Replace the SL with another Ant?

Thank you so much for take your time to read this.


Gaboni.

The cheapest solution is to change the magnet of the Seth to an A3.

That'll help to better match'em both volume- and tone-wise.

I can help you with the mag. Just PM me. Se habla español!

HTH,

[Gaboni]

Re: Seth Lover & Antiquity combination on Gibson ES-335

Thank you very much for your answers!

I konw that there is a tonal difference between bricge and neck pickups in all guitars, because they are placed in different positions. But I think that my main problem is that the Ant pickup that I have placed in the bridge position has lower output than the SL in the neck (due to the ). To compensate the volume difference, I had to place the pickups like that:



As you can see, the bridge pickup is almost touching the strings and the neck one is a distance of 1/4" aprox.

What I want is to match the level of the pickups, to put them at the same distance of the strings, so the tonal difference is much less than now.

I think that if I put the higher output pickup (SL) in the bridge position, it will work much better... but I actually love how sounds the Ant in the bridge, that is why I dont know what will be better:

- Put the SL in bridge and Ant in neck. (will I loose that lovely tone in the bridge?)
- Simply swap magnets.
- Sell the SL and buy another Ant (I prefer options 1 or 2).

Thank you for your help.

[scottish]

Re: Seth Lover & Antiquity combination on Gibson ES-335

+1. That's why the Ant in the bridge slot sounds bright and has 'bite'; his Seth would do the same thing there. Most of the tonal difference he's hearing is from the location, more then the PU's themselves.

Agree with this. You could try swapping the magnet but i really think you are better off trying to match the pups. I would swap them around, see if you prefer the ant or the seth in the neck and then try to find a bridge model for whichever one you like better.

[LtKojak]

Re: Seth Lover & Antiquity combination on Gibson ES-335

To compensate the volume difference, I had to place the pickups like that:

I've seen a lot worse.

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Seth Lover & Antiquity combination on Gibson ES-335

The winds are so close that your issues are a boomy neck slot paired with a strong magnet in the neck plus a weak magnet in the bridge...

If both mags were full strength (like the Seth) or aged (like the Ant) you'd have less of an issue with this set up.

That said I vote for get a correct bridge for one of those pickups and call it a day...thats the easy way.

Mag swaps and other such chicanery is more than likely going to fall short of correcting your current issues.

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Seth Lover & Antiquity combination on Gibson ES-335

The cheapest solution is to change the magnet of the Seth to an A3.

Pepe...can you find a pickup post where you did NOT suggest a magnet swap?!

[Gaboni]

Re: Seth Lover & Antiquity combination on Gibson ES-335

Ok, I will try first to simply swap the pickups and put the strongest one in the bridge.

If I don't like the result, I will have to change one of the pickups and have the two of the same type.

Thank you so much for your help and comments!