ganzosrevenge
New member
Re: HOT brigde PAF
ya know, the more i read of the plight S-H is in, the more I think he should just go and find his own 42awg a5 ideal. A '59, some WCRs, a brobucker, etc. and let him A/B it until he finds what he wants. I think the brobucker at 10k would be best, a pushed PAF with A5 and 42AWG and GOBS of low-end without getting mushy, but that's just me. He's knowing of his parameters and his requirements and he's approaching this with a very closed mind (which idk why unless he wants what is the perceived "it" sound, and even then there's no guarantee). What sounds great in one guitar could sound like a turd in another, no matter what the brand of the guitar. I could (in theory) pull out the 11k brobucker in my strat, plop it into your LP and it could sound twangy as heck, or it could do a spot-on imitation of a p-bass. It depends more on what pots and caps your using to a good extent than the pickups themselves.
For starters, you don't mention the value of the pots, or what type of capacitors are in your LP. Every company uses a different pot, and those that use the same pot can have them spec'd to the company's tolerance. Fender, for example, may specify 250k pots at a 20% tolerance + or - with a thin carbon-esque resistive path and a pot metal or aluminum shaft to minimize costs while maintaining that aura of "CTS POTS!". At the other extreme, companies such as RSGuitarWorks use heavy brass-shafted, +/- 10% toleranced, heavy carbon resistive path'd, mil-spec pots made by CTS to more exacting, vintage specs. (Their superpots and normal RSGW/CTS pots are very highly lauded due to their ability to help bring out the best in a pickup.) The same can be said for capacitors. Outside of the Custom Shop line, Gibson and Fender tend to use "the cheapest we can get in bulk for "added value", and it's another weakspot. For that reason, it's why high-end cap companies such as Jensen and LuxeRadio exist, to name a few. These are companies that specialize in capacitor making, and utilize a set standard of specs, be it vintage or modern, to get closer to an "ideal sound" while employing high-quality parts that aren't made by the millions in bulk. The purpose of a capacitor, if properly used, is to taper off the high-end as rolled down towards 1 and retain more high-end as rolled towards 10. Ideally it should not contribute towards, or forced into a sudden drop or gain of high-end. I don't want to automatically convict pickups of things they didn't do, and could be changed with a simple control change.
Even if it doesn't work, I wouldn't put out of the question the idea of simply changing out the electronics for an RSGW kit for $90 or so, or an alessandro kit (if you have $300 to burn, their work is UNREAL... their CS though can be spotty attitude-wise), put it into the guitar with the STOCK pickups, and let the guitar run its course. Play it a little with what's in there, and see if there is a subjective and positive difference aurally. The first time I put in my 11k Brobucker into my strat, I nearly cried as it was all bass. Over time I learned to change the pots, the caps, the type of pots and caps used, and now it can still pull low-end out whenever it wishes, but it can also give that full, rich "I'm a PAF" sound that people perceive as amazing / aural sex. Seriously, change out the controls before you evict the pickups for something that may not be their fault.
Jason
ya know, the more i read of the plight S-H is in, the more I think he should just go and find his own 42awg a5 ideal. A '59, some WCRs, a brobucker, etc. and let him A/B it until he finds what he wants. I think the brobucker at 10k would be best, a pushed PAF with A5 and 42AWG and GOBS of low-end without getting mushy, but that's just me. He's knowing of his parameters and his requirements and he's approaching this with a very closed mind (which idk why unless he wants what is the perceived "it" sound, and even then there's no guarantee). What sounds great in one guitar could sound like a turd in another, no matter what the brand of the guitar. I could (in theory) pull out the 11k brobucker in my strat, plop it into your LP and it could sound twangy as heck, or it could do a spot-on imitation of a p-bass. It depends more on what pots and caps your using to a good extent than the pickups themselves.
For starters, you don't mention the value of the pots, or what type of capacitors are in your LP. Every company uses a different pot, and those that use the same pot can have them spec'd to the company's tolerance. Fender, for example, may specify 250k pots at a 20% tolerance + or - with a thin carbon-esque resistive path and a pot metal or aluminum shaft to minimize costs while maintaining that aura of "CTS POTS!". At the other extreme, companies such as RSGuitarWorks use heavy brass-shafted, +/- 10% toleranced, heavy carbon resistive path'd, mil-spec pots made by CTS to more exacting, vintage specs. (Their superpots and normal RSGW/CTS pots are very highly lauded due to their ability to help bring out the best in a pickup.) The same can be said for capacitors. Outside of the Custom Shop line, Gibson and Fender tend to use "the cheapest we can get in bulk for "added value", and it's another weakspot. For that reason, it's why high-end cap companies such as Jensen and LuxeRadio exist, to name a few. These are companies that specialize in capacitor making, and utilize a set standard of specs, be it vintage or modern, to get closer to an "ideal sound" while employing high-quality parts that aren't made by the millions in bulk. The purpose of a capacitor, if properly used, is to taper off the high-end as rolled down towards 1 and retain more high-end as rolled towards 10. Ideally it should not contribute towards, or forced into a sudden drop or gain of high-end. I don't want to automatically convict pickups of things they didn't do, and could be changed with a simple control change.
Even if it doesn't work, I wouldn't put out of the question the idea of simply changing out the electronics for an RSGW kit for $90 or so, or an alessandro kit (if you have $300 to burn, their work is UNREAL... their CS though can be spotty attitude-wise), put it into the guitar with the STOCK pickups, and let the guitar run its course. Play it a little with what's in there, and see if there is a subjective and positive difference aurally. The first time I put in my 11k Brobucker into my strat, I nearly cried as it was all bass. Over time I learned to change the pots, the caps, the type of pots and caps used, and now it can still pull low-end out whenever it wishes, but it can also give that full, rich "I'm a PAF" sound that people perceive as amazing / aural sex. Seriously, change out the controls before you evict the pickups for something that may not be their fault.
Jason
