I wish to fatten up my Gus 600

[Nate]

Before I begin, guitar specs for those unfamiliar with this axe:

Alder body
Flame Maple top
Maple set-thru neck
Rosewood fretboard
22 frets
Original Floyd Rose tremolo
Distortion bridge pickup
'59 neck pickup
1 volume knob
mini-switch used to toggle split modes

The guitar itself rocks in nearly every way I can imagine. I just think it is too bright sounding for what I like. I would love to fatten up the bridge pickup sound and pull back some of that top end that this guitar naturally produces and get something sweeter sounding for the neck position. Harmonics are also a necessity.

My favorite guitar tone in my collection comes from an LTD FX-260SM with a JB installed in the bridge. I would like to get somewhere in the ballpark of that tone with this Gus G guitar.

I will entertain all ideas pertaining to passive pickups, both neck and bridge. What do you all think?

 

[FuseG4]

Re: I wish to fatten up my Gus 600

the alnico II pro is like a sweeter '59. It's a really clear sounding pickup, and not as scooped sounding.

I had a aph-1n and a CC in one guitar. it was a semi-hollow.
The CC has great output, decent harmonics and sounds thick as hell.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: I wish to fatten up my Gus 600

the DD is just a JB with a big ceramic magnet whereas the JB has a5.....
if you just want to shave off some highs though, i'd say first lower the adjustable screw poles on the DD while raising the pickup, and changing the volume pot to a lower value if that doesn't work. if all that still doesn't do the trick, then i'd entertain the idea of a mag swap. a8 will have about the same output as ceramic, but less highs and a little more warmth and a5 is, well, a JB

 

[Mark Cearlock]

Re: I wish to fatten up my Gus 600

the DD is just a JB with a big ceramic magnet whereas the JB has a5.....
if you just want to shave off some highs though, i'd say first lower the adjustable screw poles on the DD while raising the pickup, and changing the volume pot to a lower value if that doesn't work. if all that still doesn't do the trick, then i'd entertain the idea of a mag swap. a8 will have about the same output as ceramic, but less highs and a little more warmth and a5 is, well, a JB

Like Ryan said, A change to 250k pots would be a good starting point.

 

[Nate]

Re: I wish to fatten up my Gus 600

Hmmm!!! I like the A5 idea..I should have an extra A5 magnet laying around here somewhere.

If I tried a 250k pot, would there be a noticable difference in volume or would it just not sound as bright?

Ooh, P.S. forgot to mention, this is a 1 vol, no tone pot guitar. I'll add that to the original post too.

 

[apj]

Re: I wish to fatten up my Gus 600

Hmmm!!! I like the A5 idea..I should have an extra A5 magnet laying around here somewhere.

If I tried a 250k pot, would there be a noticable difference in volume or would it just not sound as bright?

Ooh, P.S. forgot to mention, this is a 1 vol, no tone pot guitar. I'll add that to the original post too.

Well to my ears no tone knob increases the presence slightly also. An A5 probably isn't your best bet if you want to fatten it up, the A5 will scoop it a bit and probably add a bit of treble. I'd probably go with an A2 or A4

 

[Rowan]

Re: I wish to fatten up my Gus 600

Alt 8 for the win.

It has a chunky low end like the DD but with fatter, rounder highs. Its my favorite duncan pickup and sounds like exactly what you need.

 

[Mark Le Comte]

Re: I wish to fatten up my Gus 600

Assuming you have tweaked your set up already, I would try changing the pot value first. A 500k resistor soldered across the outer two lugs will drop a 500k pot to 250k. This will not decrease volume noticeably, but will take off some highs. The drawback of this is that it will affect your neck pup too since you only have one volume. Depending on how that works, the next step is magnet swaps. I would recommend A2 or A3 for the neck (probably A3) and an a5 for the bridge if you like the JB sound, although an A8 is really worth trying too. I reckon that an A3 59 with a A8 DD will be close to what you want.

I seriously recommend these small and realatively cheap changes before buying new pups.

 

[Mark Cearlock]

Re: I wish to fatten up my Gus 600

You could also wire a 500k resistor (from the ground to the bridge pickup lug on the switch) to make the bridge pickup "see" 250k, but this would also affect the mid position on the switch also. May or may not be an issue.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: I wish to fatten up my Gus 600

you could wire up a mini 250k tone pot inside your cavity and tape it off just so you shave off some of the highs too... and IME a lower value pot just shaves of more highs.

An A5 probably isn't your best bet if you want to fatten it up, the A5 will scoop it a bit and probably add a bit of treble. I'd probably go with an A2 or A4

i agree that in some cases, the a5 won't be as warm as other magnets such as a2 or a4, but it is a heckofa lot warmer than ceramic