Low clarity Full Shred ?

[lousy289]

Hey all. So I've had this guitar for years (white one). It plays absolutely amazing, but the sound has always been disappointing. When I first got it (used), it had some junk generic pickup a previous owner had swapped into it and it sounded horrible. I got (what I think is) an old SH-10 Full Shred from a buddy of mine at the time, and it was a significant improvement, but still leaves quite a bit to be desired. It has great presence and huge overall sound when it comes to chords, but completely falls flat when it comes to any kind of soloing. It's almost like the reverse of a compressor- instead of each individual note cutting through, it just gets lost in a pile of mush. Any ideas as to what could be causing this? Bad wind/cracked magnet/etc? Maybe labeled incorrectly?
Fwiw, the pot is 500k audio taper. The only other variable I can think of worth mentioning is that the cavity has a ground plate rather than the components all grounded directly to each other, but I wouldn't think this would completely ruin the sound and/or cause these types of issues, would it?

[ErikH]

The ground plate is just a substitute for running ground wires. If you look at it, the bridge ground and jack ground might run to that plate rather than the back of the volume pot. In that simple of a setup, I don't see a benefit of the plate to be honest. Could wire the bridge ground to the ground lug on the output jack, output jack to volume pot, etc.

As for the lost in the mud, did you change the volume pot when you swapped the pickup in? What's the measured value of the pot and pickup? A Full Shred should register around 14K on the ohm meter.

[Mincer]

Also, a Full Shred is the brightest passive pickup SD makes.

[hamerfan]

What Mincer said. I have a Full shred neck. I think you lack mids, because the Alnico 5 scoops the mids and the allen screws enhence the highs. I recommend to try a pedal for soloing and i guess a Tubescreamer (or TS clone) would be my first stop. The TS has a mid peak at 723Hz. I am sure you find a friend with a TS on his board or check a music store.

[Juanhanglo]

I have a set of full shreds. They are anything but low clarity.

When I was using them more, I would bump up the mids and bass to balance them a bit.

Opposite of a compressor? That's dynamics. full shreds are known for making your playing stand out, good or bad. Very dynamic.


I'm gonna say it's the guitar itself. Possibly the bridge or something. Especially if it always sounded like crap.

You can't expect a pickup to fix that, only make it clearer and more apparent.


Try that full shred in the other guitar, and you'll see.

[Rex_Rocker]

I would try 1 Meg Ohm.

Is it the BC Rich? I personally think slanted pickups are a problem. The bass notes become bassier and the treble notes become treblier.

Try a 1 Meg Ohm pot. If not, I think that's just how the guitar sounds.

[lousy289]

The ground plate is just a substitute for running ground wires. If you look at it, the bridge ground and jack ground might run to that plate rather than the back of the volume pot. In that simple of a setup, I don't see a benefit of the plate to be honest. Could wire the bridge ground to the ground lug on the output jack, output jack to volume pot, etc.

As for the lost in the mud, did you change the volume pot when you swapped the pickup in? What's the measured value of the pot and pickup? A Full Shred should register around 14K on the ohm meter.

The pickup measures 13.46k. Is that far enough off to make any major tonal differences? And I have never replaced the pot. Could that be a significant issue?

[freefrog]

I don't see any reason for high eddy currents or high stray capacitance in the guitar as it's built and described but such parasitic properties can be a plague for guitar tones and can't be detected without complex measurements involving lab gear...

Now, it shouldn't be too difficult to try another pot wired with the shortest possible cables (including another one than the original from pot to jack plug) and to swap the ground plate for an eyelet + a small screw in the wood. It should eliminate any risk of unrequested capacitive load or Foucault currents, and allow to check if the problem comes from elsewhere.

[marcello252]

It has great presence and huge overall sound when it comes to chords, but completely falls flat when it comes to any kind of soloing. It's almost like the reverse of a compressor- instead of each individual note cutting through, it just gets lost in a pile of mush.

you are describing a lack of mid content, I'd say don't waste time and money on that pickup, find a second hand different model, even a Duncan Custom could be an improvement, or for soloing a classic JB

[ErikH]

The pickup measures 13.46k. Is that far enough off to make any major tonal differences? And I have never replaced the pot. Could that be a significant issue?

That’s within spec. Should be fine taking to account the load of the pot on it. Are you sure it’s a 500k pot? I would change it out. That could affect it if it's bad. It’s the only thing between the pickup and the jack.

[IMENATOR]

Yes, maybe adding an overdrive pedal the bumps up the mids BUT won-t cut the lows. I would not choose a Tube screamer, but maybe an MXR M77 which has this extra knob for cutting or letting lows go thru. Full shred is alredy tight enough in the lows you dont want to cut any more. Also a Boss GE.7 to add mids and reduce a bit of highs in front of the amp, not in the FX loop, it is the guitar waht you want to fix no the amp itself.

[Mincer]

Also, if you can post a clip, let's hear it.