Not Happy With Les Paul Frailn Neck Pickup

[Fiesta Red]

I have an Les Paul Standard with a 59 in the bridge, which like. My problem is the neck pickup, which is a Fralin 8k. When I turn the volume down on it, it gets way too "honky" and hollow for me. This sound also is in the "both pickups on" position, which sounds almost identical. It seems to take over the sound of the guitar for much of the range of the volume/tone knob positions, and is really hard to dial out. I know this is a tone that a lot of LP lovers crave, but this is a little excessive.

Is there a Duncan that will sound better with my 59 bridge? I had a 59n in my Gibson V, but the semi-distorted and full-on distorted sounds were way to boomy and muddy. Your thoughts?

-Mark

 

[krankguitarist]

Re: Not Happy With Les Paul Frailn Neck Pickup

Tried the jazz?

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Not Happy With Les Paul Frailn Neck Pickup

The Pearly Gates is, IMHO, the BEST neck humbucker for a LP.

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: Not Happy With Les Paul Frailn Neck Pickup

Mark,

Sorry that Fralin is not working for you.

Did you mod you pots on this guitar? Maybe getting all CTS 500K audio pots and using 50's wiring would help you. I dunno, but that's worth a try me thinks. Because what you say makes sense if you have a 300K (neck) volume pot with a 500K (neck)tone pot wired the modern way. Then decreasing the volume would cut off a lot of fq's (since with the modern wiring the tone pot's effect does not change as the volume decreases, thus, it would be more dominant). However, with a 50's wiring scheme the tone pot's effect would decrease as well when the volume goes down.

Anyways if the above is not applicable: After the mod I think you would not wanna use the clarity you get from that Fralin, no? Would you rather keep the overall neck tone you were getting with that fralin bucker? If so SD Jazz neck is the one I'd check. However, if you'd like more softness and your neck tone to have spongy bass and smooth highs, seth-n, ant-n, a2pn, and PGn are the ones that you would like, I think.

Good luck.

B

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: Not Happy With Les Paul Frailn Neck Pickup

BTW I am very happy with an alnico 4 7.50K 59n that I am using in the neck of my 95 LP standard.

B

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Not Happy With Les Paul Frailn Neck Pickup

Just a more simple mod: change out the A4 in the Fralin to a A2. Less volume, less bass and less highs: in other words more mids and not that honky. My .02

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Not Happy With Les Paul Frailn Neck Pickup

Kinda sounds like a wiring or phasing problem to me. Dr. Barlo may have got it right, suggesting a pot change.

Bill

 

[gripweed]

Re: Not Happy With Les Paul Frailn Neck Pickup

BTW I am very happy with an alnico 4 7.50K 59n that I am using in the neck of my 95 LP standard.

B

I have the Fralin 7.5 in my Flying "V". I love it! I don't notice any of the problems you mention, but it is a lower output pickup. My guess is that since both of your pickups are 8k that you would like a lower output pickup in the neck. Did you buy the Fralin directly from Fralin? Maybe he'd allow you to exchange it for a 7.5 (which I'm guessing you'd like *much better* -- and it would save you some money). My other suggestion would be to try the Jazz. I have a Jazz neck '59 combo in my Paul and I love it.

 

[Fiesta Red]

Re: Not Happy With Les Paul Frailn Neck Pickup

Mark,

Sorry that Fralin is not working for you.

Did you mod you pots on this guitar? Maybe getting all CTS 500K audio pots and using 50's wiring would help you. I dunno, but that's worth a try me thinks. Because what you say makes sense if you have a 300K (neck) volume pot with a 500K (neck)tone pot wired the modern way. Then decreasing the volume would cut off a lot of fq's (since with the modern wiring the tone pot's effect does not change as the volume decreases, thus, it would be more dominant). However, with a 50's wiring scheme the tone pot's effect would decrease as well when the volume goes down.

Anyways if the above is not applicable: After the mod I think you would not wanna use the clarity you get from that Fralin, no? Would you rather keep the overall neck tone you were getting with that fralin bucker? If so SD Jazz neck is the one I'd check. However, if you'd like more softness and your neck tone to have spongy bass and smooth highs, seth-n, ant-n, a2pn, and PGn are the ones that you would like, I think.

Good luck.

B

Thanks for the replies! I do have the RS kit installed with the 500K pots. I had my tech check the wiring and everything seems okay. How well would a Pearly Gates or an Alnico II match up with the 59 bridge?

-Mark

 

[Fiesta Red]

Re: Not Happy With Les Paul Frailn Neck Pickup

Just a more simple mod: change out the A4 in the Fralin to a A2. Less volume, less bass and less highs: in other words more mids and not that honky. My .02

Hmmmm... might try this. How easy is it to swap out magnets?

-Mark

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Not Happy With Les Paul Frailn Neck Pickup

Last time i did it while having dinner and watching TV - no kidding.
Its a 5 minute job, if you dont have a cover.

There is a write-down of all steps (including cover - you can skip that) on projectguitar.com. Check it!

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/barmagswap.htm

 

[jeremy]

Re: Not Happy With Les Paul Frailn Neck Pickup

a pearly or aph would match up fine with the 59b. lots of guys use an alnico II pup in the neck with an alnico V pup in the bridge

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Not Happy With Les Paul Frailn Neck Pickup

I no longer have any Fralin humbuckers in my guitars, but I like the Fralin 7.5K alot!

I think 8K is a little to strong for a neck humbucking pickup, but I never heard a Fralin 8K sound the way you're describing it.:smack:

Anyways, I use a Pearly Gates neck with my 59B and love the heck out of it.

Like the guys said, if you bought that 8K Fralin new and it's been less than 30 days you can return it and Lindy will wind you something else.

I'd recommend the 7.5K version.

Lew