New guitar + Alternative 8 = LOW OUTPUT?

[Mathías Gabriel Rock]

I had this pup in a LTD EC series and it had tons of everything. Loved the sound (wasn't nice, rich, or whatever, it was simply muscular as f***). That guitar ROCKS with them.

Now.. I bought another LTD (H series) with the specs I was looking for: Longer scale than the EC, much brighter and clearer sound, basswood body, string thru bridge, maple neck w/ rosewood fretboard, and HH configuration.

Installed a Full Shred Neck and the Alternative 8 and hoped to get a clear, full sustained ROCK machine.

Well, I got a clear, full sustained acoustic-like machine. So, something must be wrong.. The full Shred seems to be 2 times louder than the Alt 8, and I have double checked the joints (re soldered carefully) but that muscular part is still missing. And no, it is not a height problem.

When I tested the guitar at the shop it was certainly more powerful, at least in bridge position w/ the stocks. I could be fine with it the way it is now, but I miss that particular thing this Alnico 8 pups have.


Is there any simple metod of testing the pup without taking it out of my axe? I don't have much time lately. Thanks!

 

[synzzzer]

Re: New guitar + Alternative 8 = LOW OUTPUT?

Use a multimeter. It will tell you what you need to know.

 

[Mathías Gabriel Rock]

Re: New guitar + Alternative 8 = LOW OUTPUT?

North start to bare, right? Will post the results tomorrow and re solder one more time.. If I get the 17K, then I will be disappointed.

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: New guitar + Alternative 8 = LOW OUTPUT?

A multimeter will not tell you if it's wired out of phase with itself. Try reversing red and green and see of it comes back to life. If it does, but now it's out of phase with the neck pickup, it means the white and black were the problem. So you can go back and put red/green where the were and reverse white and black.

But was this the same Alt8 or did you purchase a new one? If it's the same one, then something went wrong, and a multimeter could help. Shorts, single coil, etc.

 

[Mathías Gabriel Rock]

Re: New guitar + Alternative 8 = LOW OUTPUT?

It is the same one. I found a recording that I made the first time I tried it in this guitar and it sounds powerful. I had forgotten about that recording.

So yeah, now I know there's something wrong with it. What I love about this guitar is its simplicity: 1 volume, 1 tone and a 3 way switch close to them. So I'll measure and as a last resource cut a bit of each wire and re solder.

 

[Mathías Gabriel Rock]

Re: New guitar + Alternative 8 = LOW OUTPUT?

Ok, I tried the Alt 8 in the EC again and the problem is the new guitar. Even with the stocks, the EC is way hotter than the H with Alt8 and Full Shred.

I know it's a cheap guitar -and a very light one- but c'mooon. It can't be that weak!! The EC is just about the same price range and is a killer practice axe. It's a shame, I feel much more comfortable playing the new one, but the lack of power annoys me.

I will check the whole cable thing, something is not right. I have made a preset in Guitar Rig using the highest gain I could get and it sounds decent and dead silent with noise gate at almost 0. BUT, if I plug in the EC with the very same preset, then it starts making noise and I get a huge feedback (which is what I would expect from any guitar).

How much does weight affect power? Thanks.. I don't know what to do.

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: New guitar + Alternative 8 = LOW OUTPUT?

Something is wrong. If you put it back in the new guitar wire it straight to the output jack. If the power is back, then something is wrong with the wiring. Sometimes a potentiometer lug is gently touching the shielding paint, sometimes solder can droop down and touch the shielding paint underneath pot lugs, the parts could be bad, could have gotten cooked during soldering, etc.

 

[Mathías Gabriel Rock]

Re: New guitar + Alternative 8 = LOW OUTPUT?

Now that's a great idea. I will try to do it tonight and see what happens. Thanks man!

 

[Mathías Gabriel Rock]

Re: New guitar + Alternative 8 = LOW OUTPUT?

It worked!! It's a killer soloing machine now. Thank you man. I will try to upload some audio tomorrow. Thank you again!

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: New guitar + Alternative 8 = LOW OUTPUT?

That's great man. Glad we could help. Now to find out what went wrong with the rest of the wiring. Best of luck, at least you know it's not the pickup.

 

[Mathías Gabriel Rock]

Re: New guitar + Alternative 8 = LOW OUTPUT?

It was the volume pot. Now both pick ups have at least 1.5 times more output, power, whatever.

The mistery still remains, because to get a proper balance, I had to rise the Alt 8 to its limit (where things begin to sound weird) and lower the Full Shred A LOT. But, I can't care less about it, I can solo now and play nice and warm chords as well. You rock guys, cheers.