Re: 498T not doing the job in my all-mahogany Les Paul
I'd start by lowering it as far as it can go into the cavity without it falling off the height adjustment screws. (This usually means that the top of the pickup ends up a little below the top surface of the pickup ring.) Then bring the screws on the screw coil up to about 3/16 - 1/8 inch from the wound strings, just as a starting point. Then make slight adjustments of the screws to balance the pickup-to-pickup volume and string-to-string volume the way you like. Aside from the fact that lowering pickups makes for a less bassy sound, you will also have made a de-facto Burstbucker by using this trick, with the influence of the slug coil being less than that of the screw coil. As a result, you will get more hum, but a brighter and edgier sound. Basically, the height of the pickup controls the tone (higher = more bass), and the heights of the pole pieces control the volume. Don't use overall pickup height adjustments to control volume, only to control tone.
I suggest starting by pulling out the pickup ring entirely, and lowering the pickup to the ends of the height screws, then reinstalling the ring. That way you cannot accidentally have the pickup fall off of the screws, and have to loosen your freshly installed and properly wrapped strings to get the pickup back on the screw.
