G&L S-500, need new pu advise. Has lil'59s

[montecristokid]

Got this G&L used, love the guitar. Personally think Leo outdid himself on this one, but whoever owned it took out the stock pus and replaced all of them with little 59s. I am just flat out not happy with them. Okay in the neck and fair in the middle, but that damn pu in the bridge position is outright awful. It squeals at the drop of a hat, sounds as thin as my balding head. :yell: I am playing a mix of classic rock from 50s through todays stuff like 3 doors down, puddle of mud, etc. As you can see, I really need a versatile mix. I am a big blues/clapton fan, and lean more towards that kind of tone. I am currently playing through a SD convertible which I love, but it doesnt like these pickups. So, I gotta listen to the lady and make some changes. I am not opposed to keeping one of these in the neck position, but thats about it. Would like a smooth but aggressive bridge pu for the more heavier rock stuff, but also want versatility. What say you o' wise ones??
Thanks!
Dave

 

[B Bent]

Re: G&L S-500, need new pu advise. Has lil'59s

I have to wander if the phasing is correct on the bridge pup. I had the same issue with my lil 59 bridge in my Tele, but as soon as I got it wired correctly it really rocked. I would say it's anything but thin sounding. There are some gurus on the forum that should be able to help. artietoo or tone4days would be a better technical resource than me, but IMO the 59 is killer!!

BTW welcome to the forum!!!!!!

 

[montecristokid]

Re: G&L S-500, need new pu advise. Has lil'59s

Thanks for the post, just curious, do you have probs with feedback (uncontrolled of course)? That bridge pickup is almost uncontrollable if you add overdrive and or compression to the signal. Makes me wonder if there is a wiring problem because it wont do that in the middle or neck positions.

 

[B Bent]

Re: G&L S-500, need new pu advise. Has lil'59s

Thanks for the post, just curious, do you have probs with feedback (uncontrolled of course)? That bridge pickup is almost uncontrollable if you add overdrive and or compression to the signal. Makes me wonder if there is a wiring problem because it wont do that in the middle or neck positions.

Given this I would say that someting's wrong. I have no problems like this with mine. Hopefully one of the guys I mentioned will chime in with a more technical explanation. I hated my 59 until I got the wiring corrected. The shop that wired it in said that it sounded the way it should even after I told them it wasn't wired the way I wanted. The COMPLETE tonal charecteristic of my guitar was off until the phasing issue was corrected. I got tons of uncontrolled feedback too.

 

[Artie]

Re: G&L S-500, need new pu advise. Has lil'59s

I can't add much to whats already been said, except that since its 3 Lil 59's, if its wired wrong, someone must have done it on purpose. They all have the same exact hookup, and it would be difficult to get it wrong.

All three green's and bares go together and get grounded. The red and white of each pup short together and get taped off. The blacks all go to their respective postion on the 5-way.

They should sound fairly smooth together.

 

[montecristokid]

Re: G&L S-500, need new pu advise. Has lil'59s

I will go ahead and check the wiring just in case, btw, how does the fact that the s-500 has a toggle switch to add 2 more postions (bridge and neck pickups) change the wiring?