SH-01 '59 in bridge position sounding thin and nasal

[point_taker]

I have an old '59 (not sure what year, but previous to 1998) in the bridge position of my Epi Sheraton II (1996).

I took it to the tech for a full setup. I haven't used it for a year due to my case being broken.

I just got it and the pickup sounds thin and nasal, as if it was out of phase. The tech did not mess with it. He only set the action, bridge and stuff and did not mess with any electronics. I even thought it was another pickup but I took it out and it's my old '59 Duncan.

It sounds horrible and the neck pickup sounds full and great (Gibson '57). Did my pickup die on me having a wire on the bobbin cut for whatever reason??? Do I have to buy a new one???

 

[Aceman]

Re: SH-01 '59 in bridge position sounding thin and nasal

Something on the inside got messed with. Tech is lying most likely.

wire got swapped, clipped, connection busted or something. Did it go single coil on you? How is the output, or is it only tone???

Are you sure it is the same pickup? Not saying guy is a thief, but it has happened....

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: SH-01 '59 in bridge position sounding thin and nasal

If it didn't sound like that before, take it back to him.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: SH-01 '59 in bridge position sounding thin and nasal

Check the resistance with a meter. That will give you a clue if it is just one coil active or not.

I agree with Ace. A pup doesn't just happen to change tone. Someone messed with it. But if it's in a Sheraton, I can't imagine why anyone would do it just for fun.

 

[eviltobz]

Re: SH-01 '59 in bridge position sounding thin and nasal

i had the bridge pups on my peavey wolfgang & ibanez jem 77fp both do something similar. i'd not necessarily say that the sound was nasal & out of phase, more just weak and thin, sort of single-coily. i presume that it was something to do with sweat causing corrosion in the coils & shorting out a big chunk of my signal generators. if it had been a while since you'd used it at all, there is the chance that during that time something might just have corroded enough to make a difference.

i got the faded old pink jem pup rewound to nailbomb specs by bareknuckle pickups so as to keep the aesthetic, and replaced the wolfgang's with a covered set of the duncan designed flavour of the jb/jazz combo. both roar quite happily now

 

[Rockstar216]

Re: SH-01 '59 in bridge position sounding thin and nasal

If the tech did a set up and readjusted the string height and action maybe he didn't raise the pup height to compensate?

 

[BrianS.]

Re: SH-01 '59 in bridge position sounding thin and nasal

Tech is lying most likely

Good grief! Here we have the OP, who hasn't used this guitar FOR A YEAR because...the...case...was...broken...saying that an aftermarket pup sounds "thin and nasally" after going to a tech for a setup, yet we don't know what it sounded like to begin with, nor do we know who installed the pickup in the first place. And, with that little bit of "info", the tech is "most likely" lying about having done anything to it. Give me a break, Ace!

Let's talk in gross generalizations here: Who has more to lose by lying in this situation? I'd say the tech. The tech has a reputation to uphold. I'm sure we all understand how much of an impact word of mouth can have on business/personal reputation. The musician, on the other hand, has little to lose by lying. He already paid for the repair, which was done to his satisfaction (hey, we're all making presumptions here!), but maybe he himself had wired the pup wrong and didn't want to redo it. Maybe that is why it sat for a year? Now there is an opportunity to get the work done for free? No harm in trying, right?

I am a luthier/repair person by trade. Have been for nearly 20 years. Obviously there are hacks in this trade, just like every other trade, and I'm not defending them. I'm defending the trade itself. Many of us work hard to do good work, and yet there are people out there who like to run down "techs" every chance they get. I'm not sure why. Maybe they feel butthurt after reading on the internet how "easy" it actually is to do this or that repair that they paid good money for. Maybe they swapped pups in a guitar once, and so now "know" how easy being a tech is (ha ha).

Finally, in this particular situation, there is no way to reasonably answer the OP's question without more info.

 

[point_taker]

Re: SH-01 '59 in bridge position sounding thin and nasal

Well, that escalated quickly.

Brian, calm down, man. I see where you're coming from, but no need to get pissed.

I'll try to provide more info. I still haven't returned the guitar to the tech.

I've been playing for 18 years now and the Sheraton was my second guitar, so I pretty much know how it sounds and also how the Duncan '59 sounds. Believe me I just know it.

I am a professional musician and carrying a case with no handle is too much a hassle when I have other guitars I and my staff can carry around more easily.

That said, my question was simply intended to find out what are the most common problems associated with a nasal-thin sounding pickup. I have other Duncans on other guitars and this particular guitar is loaded with this particular '59 for the best part of 15 years.

The guitar, because of its age and play time, has some oxidized screws and the pole pieces of the '59 are rusty, especially the ones that are below my palm, even if my strings lasts for more than 6 months and my hand is pretty much dry all the time.

I fell with my case and amp around a year ago climbing the stairs to my apartment and I broke both handles of the amp and case, so I put the guitar to rest while I decided what to do. I am Brazilian and guitar stuff in general is very very expensive here. A simple SKB or Gator case here costs about $ 150 American. So I just stopped using it for the time being.

After a year or so I decided to resetup the guitar and asked the tech to clean the rust off the bridge, tailpiece and whatnot.

When I went to get it back I tested it in his amp and I thought the bridge pickup was way too low and thin compared to the Gibson '57, especially with a clean sound. But I told him I maybe 'forgot' a bit about this guitar's characteristic's and maybe the amp was underlining the difference between both pickups more than I'd like (****ty amp!!!).

So I brought it to my studio and proceeded to play it more and I was able then to conclude the bridge pickup is absolutely not what it used to be and all I asked was WHY could it be considering the story I told.

Having said all that, I think that the answer was already given and to be honest, eviltobz's answer sounds the most likely to me since the guitar WAS rusty and the pickup WAS beaten up.

However, on the other hand, I have to say the pickup has a piece of the black cover broken below the higher E string and that is definitely something I don't remember happening anytime before. But the guitar seems absolutely fine for having had the chance to be broken for any reason. The tech's workshop is great, clean and I had other guitars setup by his staff and was pretty much satisfied.

I hope this enlighten a bit more of the issue for the other posters who tried to help me out.

Thanks a ton everyone.

 

[BrianS.]

Re: SH-01 '59 in bridge position sounding thin and nasal

Hey Point taker,

I didn't really have a problem with your first post, other than it being a little light on info. I only opened the thread because I use and love the SH-1 and thought that maybe I'd have some insight to share. What got me riled was the second sentence in Aceman's post. I apologize if it seemed like I was attacking you personally, as that was not my intent.

When I went to get it back I tested it in his amp and I thought the bridge pickup was way too low and thin compared to the Gibson '57, especially with a clean sound. But I told him I maybe 'forgot' a bit about this guitar's characteristic's and maybe the amp was underlining the difference between both pickups more than I'd like (****ty amp!!!).

^This makes it sound like you did not test the guitar right before you brought it to the tech. In other words, you literally had not played the guitar for a year, and did not play it until after the tech worked on it.

I think your right in agreeing with eviltobz's assessment. Corrosion could have taken its toll on your pup, shorting some winds or something. I once worked on pro's guitar that had been around the world and back that looked like it had never been cleaned. Some of the wood was actually rotted away from sweat, and the electronics were pretty much seized up. Sweat can be a killer on electronics, as can humidity.

Hope you get it sorted.

 

[point_taker]

Re: SH-01 '59 in bridge position sounding thin and nasal

I found out the pickup is really the problem. It has decreased its output somewhat and that probably affected the tone as well.

I replaced it with a DiMarzio Tone Zone for the time being. While that wasn't my first option (it wasn't an option really) it did sound very good on the Sheraton. I'm yet to test it more extensively.

Anyway, I found out I can send the old 59 to the Duncan Custom Shop to have it repaired. However I don't know what exactly happened to it to get an exact quote on the site since each item is a different price.

Does anyone know what should I do? I'd like to save the pickup but I see that some repairs are more expensive than a new pickup, something which I don't really understand why...

 

[NotCardio]

Re: SH-01 '59 in bridge position sounding thin and nasal

Hey point taker, I just noticed in your sig that you have a tele w/a JazzN and lil 59B. How well do those go together? Also, since I see you also have a set of 59s in your Epi LP, how would you compare the sound of the lil 59 to the regular 59? Yeah, I know they're in different guitars, but can you make a generalization? I've got a lil 59B, but I've never had a regular 59B, so I've wondered how similar they really are.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: SH-01 '59 in bridge position sounding thin and nasal

IMO, the lil 59 isn't very closely related to the full-sized bucker. The full-sized model has very bright highs and scooped mids with big bottom end. The little guy has soft highs, very big mids, and strong but soft (even a bit mushy) lows. It's a very full sounding pup.