Muddy/Bassy sounding 59 neck spot Strat

[tce44]

I got a custom strat I built with a SD 59 in neck spot,sounds really bad for some reason,
muddy/bassy like muted sound. I only play in neck position.
When I play a bar chord on upper frets its like a dead sound.
Cant figure out why,any ideas?
These pickups usually sound good,clean with more volume and tone.
Thanks

 

[Artie]

Is this 4-conductor? And is it possible the red/white aren't soldered and taped? Twisted may not be good enough.

 

[tce44]

No its 2 wire

 

[Artie]

Bad/poor ground, would be my next guess. Just examine the wiring. Gently tug and pull on everything. A 59 can be "bassy", but shouldn't be "muted."

 

[Mincer]

Is a tone knob connected to that pickup in your guitar?

 

[tce44]

Yeh its connected to tone knob,Seymour Duncan wiring .

 

[Artie]

Any chance the tone cap is missing a "zero?" Like .22/.33/.47, instead of .022/.033/.047?

 

[hamerfan]

250k volume pot? with another 250k pot as tone pot?

 

[AdrianSD]

Try to bypass tone/volume and wire it to the output jack directly, any change?

 

[tce44]

Checked wiring,looks good,there 500k pots.

 

[Mincer]

Do you have a meter to check the pickup? What is the DCR? While there is a healthy amount of bass in a 59, it shouldn't be muddy at all. I might also try connecting it directly to the jack to see if the pickup itself is the issue, or something in the wiring. Has it always been this way, or did it just start happening?

 

[AniML]

Any chance the tone cap is missing a "zero?" Like .22/.33/.47, instead of .022/.033/.047?

Per Artie, did you check the cap value? Even if it is a typical .047uf that might be sending too much to ground vs a .022uf or maybe even needs a .015uf. Also is cap correctly wired in?

Even though it is muddy to begin with, does the tone knob roll off more when engaged?

Was it like this with the previous pickup / before the '59 was installed? Possible if it is a used pickup someone replaced the magnet with an A2 or A3?

'59s can be boomy in the neck, but muddy not as likely.

 

[magillver]

When you say that it gets muddier as you go up the neck, that makes me wonder if the pickup is too close to the strings? Try lowering the pickup a couple of turns and see if that improves the situation...