I was having an issue with the pickup balance on my historic Lester...

PatrickGinnaty

PatrickGinnaty

New member
so I thought I'd take the bridge Antiquity that I bought for the SG and try it in the Lester... I pulled the older Antiquity (8.23K) put in the recently aquired Antiquity (8.57K), as I wanted a stronger bridge pickup.

I took it to band practice, and not only was it not stronger, but it didn't sound as good, and the middle position sound kinda sucked. Plus, not having changed the strings, it wouldn't stay in tune either.

I put the 8.23 Antiquity back in, and changed the strings, it was WAY better. The neck pickup (8.24K) is still marginally stronger, but the Lester sounds pretty much like all the tones that we loved on those old records way back when.

Hadda try it though... LOL.
 
Re: I was having an issue with the pickup balance on my historic Lester...

That's a bit odd. 8.57 is a tad stronger than 8.23, but I would have never guessed that it would make that big of a difference. I am assuming you set the pickup height around the same as it was before?

It's just strange for .34k to make that big of a difference. Any other differences?
 
Re: I was having an issue with the pickup balance on my historic Lester...

The main thing was that the middle setting (both pickups on) just didn't sound as good.
 
Re: I was having an issue with the pickup balance on my historic Lester...

Have you checked the pickup height on both pickups? If not, I'd look there. With the high and low E stings pressed down at the last fret, the Gibson measurement should be 4/32 on the bass E side, and 3/32 on the high E side.

If you've already set them up, then ignore this post... :)
 
Re: I was having an issue with the pickup balance on my historic Lester...

magnet strength could be part of the equation too
 
Re: I was having an issue with the pickup balance on my historic Lester...

That difference in D/C resistance should be hard to make out. It's really not that much.

When you say the middle position kind of sucked, is it possible you are out of phase there? Maybe somebody changed the magnet in your stronger Ant and put in the replacement (or the original) the wrong way?
 
Re: I was having an issue with the pickup balance on my historic Lester...

Jeff_H said:
That's a bit odd. 8.57 is a tad stronger than 8.23, but I would have never guessed that it would make that big of a difference. I am assuming you set the pickup height around the same as it was before?

It's just strange for .34k to make that big of a difference. Any other differences?
Click to expand...

+1

IMO, even with this marginal DC resistance difference, I would still expect the neck PU to dominate the mixed combination UNLESS it has been set considerably lower in its mounting surround than the bridge PU. (i. e. The traditional vintage Gibson situation.)

If either (or both) of your Ants was pre-owned, I would suspect a magnet swap has been performed. You win, bro. :D
 
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