Bright humbucker guitar, will 250k Pot help much?

[JimmyO]

I put together a parts caster last year using an alder charvel style body and a maple neck with maple fretboard. It has an original Floyd rose with big brass block. I was after an 80s hot rod style so have a Super Distortion bridge and Paf 36th neck wired to a 500k volume pot with a 3 way toggle and no tone control. The guitar is bright acoustically and when played through multiple amps gets a bit 'ice picky' and piercing using bridge or neck pickups when digging in and bending strings in the higher registers. The rhythm sounds are good and clear but overall the PAF36th seems brighter than I was thinking it should for a neck pickup. Should have strung up the guitar before ordering the pickups....doh.

I probably should have installed a tone control, but was hoping to have a 'back to basics' van halen control layout.

Some of the options I am thinking of, starting with least invasive/expensive:

-Replace the 500k volume pot with a 250k pot.
- Drill a new hole and install a tone control.
- New pickups, maybe alnico ii (custom custom bridge and alnico ii pro neck)

I don't really want to add a tone control as a want a real simple looking aesthetic for the guitar.

Would using a 250k pot make enough of a difference in filtering out some of the ice pick?

Any advice/experience here appreciated.

Ps couldn't figure out how to rotate the image but here's a picture of her.

[darthphineas]

Re: Bright humbucker guitar, will 250k Pot help much?

dude, hate to tell ya, but the best thing for you to do is to send that guitar to me for testing. I'll even waive my fee on this one.... that's how I roll.


but yeah, a 250k might do it for ya. try it and see, as it's not that expensive to swap out and probably the best place to start if you don't want to mess with your amp settings. other things to consider could be tweaking the amp - which is free. or maybe finding pickups better suited to this piece of lumber - which is not free.

[JimmyO]

Re: Bright humbucker guitar, will 250k Pot help much?

dude, hate to tell ya, but the best thing for you to do is to send that guitar to me for testing. I'll even waive my fee on this one.... that's how I roll.


but yeah, a 250k might do it for ya. try it and see, as it's not that expensive to swap out and probably the best place to start if you don't want to mess with your amp settings. other things to consider could be tweaking the amp - which is free. or maybe finding pickups better suited to this piece of lumber - which is not free.

Thanks for the offer but I think I'll hang on to her for a bit longer :-)

The 250k might be the place to start. Was wondering if anyone had similar experiences, I'd heard the JB sometimes does better with a 250k in brighter guitars.

[Inder_Cine_Mann]

Re: Bright humbucker guitar, will 250k Pot help much?

I would def start with a 250k pot if you don't want to bring in a tone pot.

Can't you also add a different value capacitator? That I don't know much about..

[blueman335]

Re: Bright humbucker guitar, will 250k Pot help much?

One 250K won't do much by itself. I've found that usually two pots are required, either a 250K and 500K, or (more often) two 250K's.

[Aceman]

Re: Bright humbucker guitar, will 250k Pot help much?

A 250k is a place to start.

That said, if it doesn't work, and you want to stay DiMArzio, a Super2 for the bridge might work. Not sure about the neck. Swap the mag for an A2 maybe.

Or, since you mentioned VH, a Custom Custom will likely give you some righteous VH tone in that! (A2P for the neck then...)

[JimmyO]

Re: Bright humbucker guitar, will 250k Pot help much?

Thanks for the feedback folks. Will probably go one step at a time so I don't change too much at once. First the 250k pot. Then I'll get my drill warmed up to install a tone pot. Then I'll get my cheque book ready for some new pickups. I put the guitar together wanting a lot of clarity to cut through in a band, and it certainly does this, just a bit too much in the high frequencies with single notes, the rhythm guitar sounds great, chunky but well defined if that makes any sense.

It's funny I was originally thinking of the custom custom and Alnico ii pro combo but wanted to try Dimarzios for the first time. It works for some of the bands I listen to like Iron Maiden. I like the core tone of the pickups but just need filtering out some the the highs. The guitar has a real live sound. Anyone have experience with magnet swapping Dimarzios like the SD's ceramic for an alnico ii ?

[Lewguitar]

Re: Bright humbucker guitar, will 250k Pot help much?

I think removing the 500K pot and switching to a 250K volume pot will make quite a difference. Always has for me. So do that first.

Then, if you need to, you can install a tone control.

I think if it was my ax I'd put the volume control where the switch is now and the tone control where the volume control is now and then maybe add a 3 position switch (maybe a mini-switch?) to select the pickups somewhere in the area that it would be on a regular Strat.

There's a few combinations you could do, all of which will sound slightly different, and all of which you might want to try:

250K volume & 250K tone
500K volume & 250K tone
250K volume & 500K tone
500K volume & 500K tone

And you can use a .02 mfd cap, .047 mfd cap or even a .1 mfd...although I usually only use a .1 cap on Strat single coils.

There's always some treble that leaks through a tone control even when it's 500K and even when it's turned up all the way. So just adding a tone control is going to make that guitar lose some treble. It'll lose more treble with a 250K pot than with a 500K pot.

And there's the 50's mod. If you attach your tone control to the middle terminal of the volume pot the guitar will sound a little brighter and clearer when you turn down the tone control.

If you attach the tone control to the input of the volume control you'll get a slightly warmer tone overall and also a slightly muddier tone when you turn down the tone control - but most people find this to be a more pleasing tone and this is way most tone controls are connected in a master volume/master tone control type of guitar.

You have a lot of options.

[JimmyO]

Re: Bright humbucker guitar, will 250k Pot help much?

I think removing the 500K pot and switching to a 250K volume pot will make quite a difference. Always has for me. So do that first.

Then, if you need to, you can install a tone control.

I think if it was my ax I'd put the volume control where the switch is now and the tone control where the volume control is now and then maybe add a 3 position switch (maybe a mini-switch?) to select the pickups somewhere in the area that it would be on a regular Strat.

There's a few combinations you could do, all of which will sound slightly different, and all of which you might want to try:

250K volume & 250K tone
500K volume & 250K tone
250K volume & 500K tone
500K volume & 500K tone

And you can use a .02 mfd cap, .047 mfd cap or even a .1 mfd...although I usually only use a .1 cap on Strat single coils.

There's always some treble that leaks through a tone control even when it's 500K and even when it's turned up all the way. So just adding a tone control is going to make that guitar lose some treble. It'll lose more treble with a 250K pot than with a 500K pot.

And there's the 50's mod. If you attach your tone control to the middle terminal of the volume pot the guitar will sound a little brighter and clearer when you turn down the tone control.

If you attach the tone control to the input of the volume control you'll get a slightly warmer tone overall and also a slightly muddier tone when you turn down the tone control - but most people find this to be a more pleasing tone and this is way most tone controls are connected in a master volume/master tone control type of guitar.

You have a lot of options.

My brain just exploded. Boooom.


Seriously though, great post, lots of good info. A tone control would give me lots more options. Will probably end up adding one if the 250k volume pot is not enough.

[elelpe]

Re: Bright humbucker guitar, will 250k Pot help much?

I put the guitar together wanting a lot of clarity to cut through in a band, and it certainly does this, just a bit too much in the high frequencies with single notes, the rhythm guitar sounds great, chunky but well defined if that makes any sense.

Turn the presence and treble down. Use EQ pedal.

[darthphineas]

Re: Bright humbucker guitar, will 250k Pot help much?

Turn the presence and treble down.

^^^ this ^^^

[ItsaBass]

Re: Bright humbucker guitar, will 250k Pot help much?

First of all, no to the new pickups! That's a beautiful set of pickups, and they can give you what you want. Don't go with the most expensive and least effective option here.

Then, just adjust your amp.

If, for some strange reason, that does not work, I'd install a tone pot. If you don't want to drill another hole, use stacked pots.

I would not go to 250K, personally. It's better to have excessive brightness on tap and to just roll it off as needed, than it is to need more brightness and have nowhere to turn in order to get it. A guitar that is too bright is never a problem, since brightness is so darned easy to get rid of with simple tone adjustments. It's when you have a guitar that is not bright enough that you run into a wall in terms of adjustability.

P.S. Are you judging your tone in a real-world scenario, with a band, inside a venue, or alone in your practice spot? A tone that sounds too shrill and bright alone often sits perfectly in the mix.

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Bright humbucker guitar, will 250k Pot help much?

Would taking the 2K slider down on a Graphic EQ get you what you want? That could keep your current tone intact. Graphics and Parametrics are fun to use and they can be a great learning tool.

Bill

[JimmyO]

Re: Bright humbucker guitar, will 250k Pot help much?

First of all, no to the new pickups! That's a beautiful set of pickups, and they can give you what you want. Don't go with the most expensive and least effective option here.

Then, just adjust your amp.

If, for some strange reason, that does not work, I'd install a tone pot. If you don't want to drill another hole, use stacked pots.

I would not go to 250K, personally. It's better to have excessive brightness on tap and to just roll it off as needed, than it is to need more brightness and have nowhere to turn in order to get it. A guitar that is too bright is never a problem, since brightness is so darned easy to get rid of with simple tone adjustments. It's when you have a guitar that is not bright enough that you run into a wall in terms of adjustability.

P.S. Are you judging your tone in a real-world scenario, with a band, inside a venue, or alone in your practice spot? A tone that sounds too shrill and bright alone often sits perfectly in the mix.

Thanks for the advice. I noticed this with the band, drums, bass and another guitarist. The bassist noticed when I use that guitar and dig in and do string bends past the 12th fret on the top 3 strings it can sound a bit shrill. When I don't dig in its not such a problem and the guitar generally sits in the mix well. I'm going to get the guitar setup just to make sure there's no weird fret stuff going on that end of the neck.

Tell me more about the stacked pots, I don't really want to change the look of the guitar and they could be what I'm after. Could you send a link to an example?

I could use an EQ pedal but then I would have to buy one. I'd rather control things from the guitar.

Thanks for the suggestions

[JimmyO]

Re: Bright humbucker guitar, will 250k Pot help much?

Ok, just looked up those stacked/concentric pots, they look like what I need. Going to start with a 500k/500k and take it from there. Appreciate the folks on the forum for the advice and proposing simple solutions first before considering new pickups etc.