Any pickup mod idea before selling a Jumbo MFD equipped G&L ASAT special?

[marcello252]

Let's start with this: my G&L tribute ASAT Special is an awesome guitar.

The finish is beatutiful, hardware is Fantastic, it sustains for ever and the neck and fingerboard are flawless. Even the pots are high quality stuff.

BUT

I can't get along with those pickups. On paper they are high level, low noise and everybody rave about them with superlatives, even the look is beatiful, but with my style, my rig, my hands, in my ears they are simply too much loud , too much flat , neck is too much stratty and, worst of all, simply DULL, they give me back in my hands nothing. I worked with volume and tone , I'm not a 'always on 10' guy, there's nothing I can do.

the thing that really upsets me is the fact that there are no real alternatives, I know someone did a P90 version in the same format, but I don't want P90 on a tele, I want... a tele.
Nordstrand makes a AL-SAT pickup but it's not cheap, I've not the chance to hear the set and I see an impedence of more or less 8K+, a bit too high to imagine something in the ballpark...

so.... is there anyone with any idea on make some mod to 'eq' at least the tone, giving a more interesting vibe?

The only alternative I see is selling this beauty

 

[GuitarStv]

Stupid question, but you've dicked around a bunch with pickup adjustment, right? It usually takes me weeks of playing around with pickup position before I'm happy, backing it waaaay off, bringing it up too close, changing the angle of the pickup, etc. I think you can also mess with the pole pieces on the MFD as well, right? (Flat vs a vintage stagger is a difference that may or may not work better for your ears.) The changes can really alter how a pickup sounds and feels.

 

[Mincer]

You could get the Custom Shop to make whatever you want, but yeah, that isn't cheap. Pickups that are too weak can be boosted, but pickups that are too loud are a little trickier. Maybe an EQ pedal? It won't change the 'feel', but it will change the sound.

 

[jeremy]

does yours have a pickguard? if so, you can get a new pickguard made and use whatever pups you want as long as they fit in the rout.

 

[freefrog]

they are simply too much loud , too much flat , neck is too much stratty and, worst of all, simply DULL, they give me back in my hands nothing. I worked with volume and tone , I'm not a 'always on 10' guy, there's nothing I can do.

the thing that really upsets me is the fact that there are no real alternatives, I know someone did a P90 version in the same format, but I don't want P90 on a tele, I want... a tele.
Nordstrand makes a AL-SAT pickup but it's not cheap, I've not the chance to hear the set and I see an impedence of more or less 8K+, a bit too high to imagine something in the ballpark...

so.... is there anyone with any idea on make some mod to 'eq' at least the tone, giving a more interesting vibe?

The only alternative I see is selling this beauty

If it was for me, I'd try to connect some dummy coil(s) in parallel with these pickups.

Related link, FWIW: https://forum.seymourduncan.com/for...-changing-the-voicing-of-pickups…#post6244220

 

[marcello252]

but you've dicked around a bunch with pickup adjustment, right?

yes, I tried almost everything, high as recommended in G&L forum, low, screwing up and down the single poles

You could get the Custom Shop to make whatever you want

I thought about it, as you said, very expensive, I'm in Europe too, for a 450€ guitar would be a bit too much

you can get a new pickguard made and use whatever pups you want

this is a thing I have to try, since it's an ASAT it has not a standard tele pickguard, I must route it from a square sheet, this could be the very last option, I have to check if I have the correct tools

If it was for me, I'd try to connect some dummy coil(s) in parallel with these pickups

I actually have a spare 14K cheap asian HB I could easily dissecte for this purpose, definitely something I have to try, in the cavity there woud be enough room to put it on the bottom..


Thank you everybody

 

[jeremy]

warmoth will make you a pickguard

 

[Chistopher]

Just for fun you could try Broadcaster wiring:



If you don't like the neck sound all that much, I have a variation I can pull up that is:

1- Neck
2- Bridge with the neck blended in
3- Bridge cocked wah

 

[marcello252]

( Incidentally, I've just read G&L Guitars is probably closing... very sad, chance for Fender to buy the brand and get Leo's work back home? )

 

[ICTGoober]

Their stuff is good quality IMO, but I'm not crazy about their plastic nuts. Fender owns a lot of stuff, so why not G&L? It's basically a boutique operation these days, so just fold it into the Custom shop.

 

[GuitarStv]

( Incidentally, I've just read G&L Guitars is probably closing... very sad, chance for Fender to buy the brand and get Leo's work back home? )

G&L's profit has largely come from their import series of guitars, they've never made much money on their US instruments - too many American hands means not enough . All the hardware and parts for these import guitars (besides the final QA checks) comes from overseas companies. It's almost like there has been some sort of recent increase in the costs of importing overseas product that killed their profitability.

 

[Mincer]

I bet if Fender buys them, they just sit on the brand.

 

[uOpt]

If the magnets are Alnico you can try partially degaussing them.

 

[freefrog]

For the record, G&L MFD pickups have ceramic bars under DM style screw poles going through their coils...

https://blog.zzounds.com/2019/03/26/magnetic-field-design-pickups-and-the-legacy-of-leo-fender/

 

[marcello252]

the design of the MFD are way different than 'standard' single coil or P90, you can't use the usual tecniques (magnet swap and so) ,they are a thing apart, and that's another reason why I was looking for different ideas

 

[marcello252]

does yours have a pickguard? if so, you can get a new pickguard made and use whatever pups you want as long as they fit in the rout.

Never say I don't follow this forum advices

 

[marcello252]

Just an update, I finally made it, it works, very well indeed, exactly what I wanted. I put a fender standard tele a friend of mine gave me

 

[jeremy]

that came out great!

 

[marcello252]

Thank you! I actually can't stop staring at her, she came out better than I thought

 

[Artie]

That is sweet. That's a heckuva bridge. I wonder if those are sold separately?