Does a Seth Lover....

Re: Does a Seth Lover....

SlowGroove said:
A SUPER BRIGHT LP ???

. . . that would be a first to my ears !
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They do exist -- I had an LP Elegant that was almost Tele bright. All other Elegants I played sounded the same with slight variations. The big chambers inside seemed to have that effect. But I've had some solid LP's that were pretty bright too.

For what it's worth, my 355 is also unusually bright.
 
Re: Does a Seth Lover....

1. try pure nickel strings
2. try different pick e.g. Steve Vai signature is dark sounding
3. put nylon saddles in bridge
4. try 250k pots, tone and vol

OTOH, there is another approach.

I have a Cheri, MIJ LP Custom copy ~'92,'93. I did not find out which wood body was made of but it was b-r-i-g-h-t. I've tried everything humanly possible to make it sound like a proper LP. Finally, I gave up - it is bright so I made it to be a Tele in a LP disguise. Humbucker From Hell in neck, Ibanez Super 70 in bridge and now I have bright-humbucker sounding Tele in a LP Custom body shape and the construction. With sustain of the Les Paul. Rather HUGE sounding Tele.

I'm pleased with the decision and with the result. It does not sound at all like anyone would expect by just looking at it, but it sounds GREAT.

Point is - listen to inherent tone of the guitar, don't be fooled with it's looks. Pretty much like with women, I guess.
 
Re: Does a Seth Lover....

Good PAF type pickups are more like a microphone. They simply pick up the sound of the guitar without coloring the sound much at all.

This tells me that the wood in the guitar is the problem. For this particular guitar something like an Alnico Pro II that is very warm will probably work better as it will color the tone and offset the brightness.
 
Re: Does a Seth Lover....

I know you don't want to hear this but... IMHO, after all the attention you and your tech gave to your guitar with the SL pickup, this particular guitar/pickup combo is just not going to work for you no matter what. I would think that you'd need a more powerful, beefier pickup where the pickup would rely less on the properties of the guitar itself to achieve your stated/desired tone. Off the top of my head, you might want to consider the Custom Custom.
 
Re: Does a Seth Lover....

claytonc said:
Good PAF type pickups are more like a microphone. They simply pick up the sound of the guitar without coloring the sound much at all.

This tells me that the wood in the guitar is the problem. For this particular guitar something like an Alnico Pro II that is very warm will probably work better as it will color the tone and offset the brightness.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this makes the most sense to me. I think the wood must be garbage. I think I will look into a APII.
 
Re: Does a Seth Lover....

Yeah, APH is a good choice, or you might start looking at using bridge PAF's in the neck position:
59 Bridge
Seth Lover Bridge
Alnico II Pro Bridge
Combined with a Custom Custom or a Brobucker.

See, this is where I would take the nuclear option and blow the whole thing wide open with the full P-Rails setup. The neck humbucker in series is very big and full sounding. The Rails would sound pretty stratty based on what you're telling us about the guitar's brightness. (kind of like korus' Japanese LP) The P90's would probably have more of an SG snap rather than the Les Paul raunch. Could be good...I've had so many guitars over the years, that I've obviously had some that didn't match what they were "supposed" to sound like. Those were always the ones I would take risks with, like putting in a booster, or an active pickup set, or mixing strange coil combinations, etc.
 
Re: Does a Seth Lover....

Is the Alnico II Pro neck even warmer and smoother than the Seth neck then? I'm looking for an ultra warm, thick, syrupy, smooth jazz tone. The Seth is more bitey and chimey, and less smooth than I anticipated or that could just be a byproduct of my guitar's crappy wood/inherent tone. How does the bass of the APII compare to the Seth?
 
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Re: Does a Seth Lover....

Oh my god Onslow, this thread is becoming the worst advice ever thread, because (and please tell me if I missed it) you haven't told us what the guitar sounded like BEFORE you put the Seth in. Going from a 59 to a Seth doesn't make a guitar sound like ass, if it didn't sound that way first.

If it sucked with a 59 and still sucks, get rid of it.
If it was good with a 59 and now sound way different, something is wrong with the pickup. They don't sound THAT different.

Honestly, you need to provide more detail before anyone can give you meaningful advice. Again, if i missed it, sorry.
 
Re: Does a Seth Lover....

Well, now.

My ears are still new to really evalutating the tonal EQ of the guitar+pickups. After spending some time with it, I think my guitar seems to be ALL mids. The stock bridge pickup is super throaty and all mids. So, I'm thinking with the Seth Lover in the neck, it's like a mids overload. I think that may actually be the contributing factor to the harshness I'm hearing. I was under the impression it was the problem of too much brightness and treble.

I think I might try the '59 back in there since the the very first problem with the stock pots sucking the life out of the SD's was fixed. I originally thought I had a defective '59. However, I'm not sure I'll like the bit of extra treble and "sparkle" the '59 has.
 
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