Tame Gibson 498 and 500T pickups- HELP!

[dlilly69]

Hi folks,

I own a 76 Gibson Explorer re-issue. It comes stock with the 498 neck 500 T pickup config.

I realize that alot of people think these pickups suck, but I find them usable. They are obviously WAY HOT. I don't have an extra $150-$200 to drop on new pickups right now.

My question is, are there any tricks I can use to tame or tone down these pickups using capacitors, resistors, etc? I changed the tone cap to .047 which helped a little, but I was hoping to maybe tone these p-ups down a bit more by maybe soldering a cap or resistor onto the volume pots, etc. I also saw a mod on project guitar where one could solder a resistor onto the volume pot to cut the value of a 500k volume pot down to a 250? Does it work? Also, I saw a post about soldering a small value cap- .0033 to the pickup wires and volume pot to bleed a touch of treble? Will this work? Too muddy?

I am a bit of an electronics novice. ANY kind of help or advice with using caps or resistors to tame these suckers a bit would be GREATLY appreciated. $5 in parts from Radioshack might just do the trick!

Thanks for your time and help!!! :burnout:

Cheers,

Dan

 

[TattooedCarrot]

Re: Tame Gibson 498 and 500T pickups- HELP!

All you can do with pots is cut some of the highs, you can't make it less powerful. You can try lowering them further from the strings to reduce some output. Why not buy some new ones, and sell the 500T/496R to offset the cost, or see if someone will do a straight trade for them. I bet you could find someone that wants them in trade.

 

[Xeromus]

Re: Tame Gibson 498 and 500T pickups- HELP!

I like the gibson 498T (bridge) and 490R (neck). I think you would dig those. Just sell your old ones to offset the cost.

 

[Boleslaw Gers 666]

Re: Tame Gibson 498 and 500T pickups- HELP!

Maybe you could change the magnets. The 500T is a ceramic magneted bucker.

 

[danglybanger]

Re: Tame Gibson 498 and 500T pickups- HELP!

I like the gibson 498T (bridge) and 490R (neck). I think you would dig those. Just sell your old ones to offset the cost.

Honestly, I don't mind mine much at all. Not enough to buy duncans... They're still fairly hot pickups, IMO, but not like a 500 set.

slade

 

[jimlp]

Re: Tame Gibson 498 and 500T pickups- HELP!

Hi folks,

I own a 76 Gibson Explorer re-issue. It comes stock with the 498 neck 500 T pickup config.

I realize that alot of people think these pickups suck, but I find them usable. They are obviously WAY HOT. I don't have an extra $150-$200 to drop on new pickups right now.

My question is, are there any tricks I can use to tame or tone down these pickups using capacitors, resistors, etc? I changed the tone cap to .047 which helped a little, but I was hoping to maybe tone these p-ups down a bit more by maybe soldering a cap or resistor onto the volume pots, etc. I also saw a mod on project guitar where one could solder a resistor onto the volume pot to cut the value of a 500k volume pot down to a 250? Does it work? Also, I saw a post about soldering a small value cap- .0033 to the pickup wires and volume pot to bleed a touch of treble? Will this work? Too muddy?

I am a bit of an electronics novice. ANY kind of help or advice with using caps or resistors to tame these suckers a bit would be GREATLY appreciated. $5 in parts from Radioshack might just do the trick!

Thanks for your time and help!!! :burnout:

Cheers,

Dan

The neck pickup is actually a 496r. You did not say what type of music you play but since you want to tone down the Gibson pickups I am going to assume it is not any variation of newer "Metal" but more classic rock or 90's rock. I had an explorer and I found the 496 in the neck to be OK but the 500t in the bridge to be awful, only my opinion of course. Replace the 500t with a Duncan Custom or Custom Custom, the Custom can cover anything from 70's to more modern sounds but the Custom Custom cleans up much better and isn't quite as "rude" sounding but still has great punch in the low mids. I would say you got some good advice from people here about selling the Gibson pickup to help finance the Duncan, if you can get away with replacing just the bridge pickup it should only cost you about $30.00-$40.00 out of pocket in the long run.