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I had a PATB-1 in one of my strats for years. I recently got another one to put into an ash body/maple neck strat. Though it's ash/maple, it's not necessarily a bright guitar overall. I had a JB in there and it wasn't doing it for me, so I dug in my drawer and found a brand new PATB-1 that was sitting in the box for about a year. I installed it and found it to be a bit bright and a little bit thin except for the low end. I went back to my alder strat that has a PATB-1 and it's warm and fat with just the right amount of presence. I checked my wiring, which is pretty simple because I'm using Duncan YJM's in the neck and middle, and there's nothing out of phase and everything is correct. So I pulled the PATB-1 from my alder strat and installed it, and of course it took on a bit of ash characteristics, but is fatter and warmer than the new PATB-1. I re-installed the new PATB-1 and it went back to being bright and thin.
Now when I say bright and thin, I don't mean as if it's out of phase or anything. It just doesn't have the warmth and roundness of my other PATB-1. It also FEELS flat. It doesn't have the same squash when I'm picking that my other PATB-1 has. It's just kind of plinky and flat in the way a real mid-scooped pickup feels. The difference between my old PATB-1 and new one is not a lot of difference, so don't think that it's exaggerated or anything. It's a small difference between pickups, but enough to notice. Like I said, it's not the wiring because I use the simplest form of wiring possible. I use a 3-way switch and don't do any kind of splitting, parallel or anything. I just switch between individual pickups and that's it. I'm using 500k pots in both guitars by the way.
I give this explanation because I don't want to get caught up with wiring issues, etc.., because I'm sure it's wired perfectly. What I'm talking about is a small but noticeable difference in the sound of the pickups. I've examined the pickups, peeled the ribbon to look at the coils, and checked everything out, and it's in perfect physical order.
My old PATB-1 is probably about 5 years old, and my new one is about 1 year new (never opened until the other day). I remember noticing something similar between two Custom Custom pickups that I had once. One was a little grainier and noisier, the other was smoother and sweeter. Given everything, this has led me to some questions:
Could there have been some change in the type or brand of wire, magnet, baseplate, etc..., that Seymour Duncan used in that time period, or some other material factor that could account for the difference in tone?
Could it be that the same model pickups can vary in tone slightly because it's not a perfect science?
Could there have been a tiny little imperfection during manufacturing that's not physically visible?
Unfortunately, since I bought the pickup a year ago, I can't exchange it. I didn't really want to go with a PATB-1 in this guitar anyway, but since I'm stuck with the pickup I have to either get it to sound exactly like the other one or sell it. What are your thoughts on this issue?
Now when I say bright and thin, I don't mean as if it's out of phase or anything. It just doesn't have the warmth and roundness of my other PATB-1. It also FEELS flat. It doesn't have the same squash when I'm picking that my other PATB-1 has. It's just kind of plinky and flat in the way a real mid-scooped pickup feels. The difference between my old PATB-1 and new one is not a lot of difference, so don't think that it's exaggerated or anything. It's a small difference between pickups, but enough to notice. Like I said, it's not the wiring because I use the simplest form of wiring possible. I use a 3-way switch and don't do any kind of splitting, parallel or anything. I just switch between individual pickups and that's it. I'm using 500k pots in both guitars by the way.
I give this explanation because I don't want to get caught up with wiring issues, etc.., because I'm sure it's wired perfectly. What I'm talking about is a small but noticeable difference in the sound of the pickups. I've examined the pickups, peeled the ribbon to look at the coils, and checked everything out, and it's in perfect physical order.
My old PATB-1 is probably about 5 years old, and my new one is about 1 year new (never opened until the other day). I remember noticing something similar between two Custom Custom pickups that I had once. One was a little grainier and noisier, the other was smoother and sweeter. Given everything, this has led me to some questions:
Could there have been some change in the type or brand of wire, magnet, baseplate, etc..., that Seymour Duncan used in that time period, or some other material factor that could account for the difference in tone?
Could it be that the same model pickups can vary in tone slightly because it's not a perfect science?
Could there have been a tiny little imperfection during manufacturing that's not physically visible?
Unfortunately, since I bought the pickup a year ago, I can't exchange it. I didn't really want to go with a PATB-1 in this guitar anyway, but since I'm stuck with the pickup I have to either get it to sound exactly like the other one or sell it. What are your thoughts on this issue?
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