Problems matching Gibson 498T and SD 59N

[RowRowRowsYourBoat]

Hi,

I've put a 498T and an SH-1n in my Epiphone LP and there's a couple of problems.
First, in the Rhythm position the sound is quite muffled and a bit gnarly, especially in the 12+ frets. It has no character.
Second, the middle position sounds exactly the same as the Rhythm position; the neck pickup is completely overpowering the bridge pickup. I've confirmed that the middle is listening to both pickups via the 'tap' test and by testing the jack with the multimeter (13.4k, ~4k and 7.1k in the Treble, middle and Rhythm positions respectively).
I've tried to adjust the pickup heights every which way but it's not fixing it.

Is this normal?

 

[jeremy]

the 59n soundnt sound muffled, it is a neck pup so itll obviously have less high end and more bass than the bridge pup, but it should sound clear. how high is it set? usually on a les paul, i start with the top of the neck pup flush with the top of the pup ring. 500k pots?

 

[Mincer]

Can you post clear pics of the wiring? Also, have you tried to wire the neck pickup directly to the jack to see if it gives you the same sound?

 

[RowRowRowsYourBoat]

the 59n soundnt sound muffled, it is a neck pup so itll obviously have less high end and more bass than the bridge pup, but it should sound clear. how high is it set? usually on a les paul, i start with the top of the neck pup flush with the top of the pup ring. 500k pots?

The lowest I went was the top of the pickups flush with the neck level. I tried putting it flush with the ring as you suggested and the Rhythm setting sounds a little better. I'm gonna need longer screws though because they fall out at that height

The back of the pots say 500K, but measuring with the multimeter they are all between 370k-420k. The tone pots both have 47J caps on them.



This is a 1999 Korean Les Paul with 10-52 gauge strings, by the way.