Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

[Studioplayer]

I'm not so sure I have the Burstbucker I height set to its best tone. Right now it's set below the pickup ring on the 6th. string side and higher than the ring on the 1st string side. It sounds OK with the pickup volume on 10, but rather subdued when volume is 8.5. If I go up to 9 on the volume knob, I recover the brightness again. Should I be raising or lowering its height? It just seems to me that I have lowered it enough. This pickup and the bridge Burstbucker II came as stock items in my 2018 Les Paul Trad.


studioplayer

 

[astrozombie]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

You start by replacing it with a set of whole lotta humbuckers or the slash alnico model

If you’re less fun Peary gates or 59

Honestly the Burstbucker is so bland don’t you think? I changed magnets in them and everything and they still sounded thin and stiff


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[Karan D. Taktawala]

Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

Hey! I have a 2016 LP Studio that I struggled with initially. Good measure is 2 mm from the bottom of the string to the pole piece top. With the string depressed at the last fret of course.

Do it for both pickups and you should be good. The Burstbucker 2 has more output so it balances out really well.

I would keep the high e a hair and I mean hair under 2 mm though


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[astrozombie]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

In all honesty

Try to radius the pole pieces slightly

And by that I mean everything flush with the top of the cover and then raise the A and B pole pieces a full turn

Raise the D 1 1/2

Lower the G one full turn

See if that helps you balance things out

But all In all I would swap them

I used them thinking I’d sound like the joe perry boneyard les Paul’s but no avail...


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[Chistopher]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

Looks to me like your issue isn't in the pickups, but in the volume/tone pot interaction. Look up "50s wiring" and "treble bleed" to find several methods of maintaining treble as you turn your volume control down. 50s wiring is the easiest to implement and reverse, but I find treble bleeds the most useful.

 

[Karan D. Taktawala]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

I would not advise you try to mess with the pole pieces unless you have experience with it. It’s a recipient for endless frustrated tweaking. Even with a radius gauge, it takes experience to get it right

Your radius is going to be perfect in sync with your fretboard unless you’ve changed either.

Just try out the string distances and if that does not work, try a higher action or heavier strings to drive what’s going out more.

If that fails, try out a pickup swap


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[Chistopher]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

I would not advise you try to mess with the pole pieces unless you have experience with it. It’s a recipient for endless frustrated tweaking. Even with a radius gauge, it takes experience to get it right

Your radius is going to be perfect in sync with your fretboard unless you’ve changed either.

Just try out the string distances and if that does not work, try a higher action or heavier strings to drive what’s going out more.

If that fails, try out a pickup swap


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Theres nothing wrong with messing with polepiece height, but if he does I'd recommend shifting the entire row so that one coil gets more or less of an effect on the voicing. But adjusting the action will get him nowhere, as it has the same effect as adjusting pickup height, but with the added bonus of possibly messing up playability.

I still say the issue isn't with the pickups, but with potentiometer interaction. No set of passive pickups or height adjustment will fix that. For those of you that didn't read the original post, I draw your attention to the key issue:

It sounds OK with the pickup volume on 10, but rather subdued when volume is 8.5. If I go up to 9 on the volume knob, I recover the brightness again.

 

[Karan D. Taktawala]

Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

Yeah that could also be because the pickup is way too low. I feel one should try all the basic alternatives before replacing parts

He did say that the pickup is all the way as low as under the mounting ring. Very evidently it’s not been adjusted with a proper measuring tool. The setup might just be really off too in conjunction with that


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[Studioplayer]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

Theres nothing wrong with messing with polepiece height, but if he does I'd recommend shifting the entire row so that one coil gets more or less of an effect on the voicing. But adjusting the action will get him nowhere, as it has the same effect as adjusting pickup height, but with the added bonus of possibly messing up playability.

I still say the issue isn't with the pickups, but with potentiometer interaction. No set of passive pickups or height adjustment will fix that. For those of you that didn't read the original post, I draw your attention to the key issue:

That is what happens. And re-adjusting the pickup higher or lower from where is curently does not seem to alter this fact: that below +-8.5 results in a darker sounding tone....loss of definition. The Trad has Orange a Drop caps and (from what I read) don't all have 500k pots. Some have 300K. Gibson does not list numbers for the pots on the webpage of stats on this model.

I'm going to try raising them up to the usual Gibson height figures of 3/32” 6th. String side and 1/16” on the 1st. string side.
This, after measuring the current height. When I took the delivery of the guitar, the neck Burstbucker was elevated and seemed much too high for any neck pickup.


Studioplayer

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

How comfortable are you with soldering? Going from the top wiring off this to the bottom might help you out, notice the only thing changed is how the cap is connected between the two pots:

 

[Studioplayer]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

I'm comfortable with soldering as I have installed pickups before in one of m Les Pauls. It s a simple job. I spent time today tweaking the neck Burstbucker both upwards and down again and the current location is still the best. The issue could reside in the volume pots. All of the useable range seems to me between 9 and 10.

I can live with it knowing that many of us like to play at 10 all the time. My next step is to re-tweak my amp. It's an Orange Dark Terror with only an adjustable midrange sweep known as the “shape” control. However the gain and volume controls offer tone shaping in conjunction wit the shape knob.

Studioplayer

 

[dystrust]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

Going to 50s wiring may help, but the first thing I'd do is verify that values of the pots in the guitar. Many Gibsons ship with 300K pots which could absolutely cause the subdued sound you're hearing.

 

[Karan D. Taktawala]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

Going to 50s wiring may help, but the first thing I'd do is verify that values of the pots in the guitar. Many Gibsons ship with 300K pots which could absolutely cause the subdued sound you're hearing.

Now this is something I completely agree with.

I've had 3 Gibsons - a studio, a traditional & a SG come by and they were all Gibson USA.
I can tell you that every single one of them had a problem where some attention to detail was missed.

I would not be surprised if they accidentaly threw in a 300K pot instead of a 500K or it could just be that they didn't meter them properly before.

You should speak with David Jones (jonesyblues.com), his response times are super and he will work with you to determine your problem and how to fix it.
The great thing about him is, if there's any element that he feels should not be changed but you do. He will tell you that you don't need to unlike a typical seller.

 

[robo]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

A tip from me is that all of us can give you ideas but it's really down to your own ears. Play the guitar a lot. Even if it sounds a bit off, maybe that's just the caracteristics of the guitar? Your ears and hands will get used to the instrument, and trust me when I'm saying that the guitar will sound and feel differently after a month of playing. It almost feels as the guitar has chabnged "been played in", but it's actually your ears and hands that change/adapt, not the guitar.

If you're still not satisfied then try height adjustment of the pickups. Make sure to measure where you start (like a pic with the phone camera) so you always can get back. When that is done you can go pretty hard on the height screws. How does is sound super, super low? How does it sound extremely high? And then try to find your sweet spot. Pole pieces for fine adjustment if some string peaks more than the others.

As for the pots making the pickup die out after 7 or so. Try the 50's wiring many have written about above, sounds like it'd work well for you. I have it in my Les Pauls and love it.

 

[Studioplayer]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

Now this is something I completely agree with.

I've had 3 Gibsons - a studio, a traditional & a SG come by and they were all Gibson USA.
I can tell you that every single one of them had a problem where some attention to detail was missed.

I would not be surprised if they accidentaly threw in a 300K pot instead of a 500K or it could just be that they didn't meter them properly before.

You should speak with David Jones (jonesyblues.com), his response times are super and he will work with you to determine your problem and how to fix it.
The great thing about him is, if there's any element that he feels should not be changed but you do. He will tell you that you don't need to unlike a typical seller.

Many thanks for that advice!


Studioplayer

 

[Zombiwoof]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

Now this is something I completely agree with.

I've had 3 Gibsons - a studio, a traditional & a SG come by and they were all Gibson USA.
I can tell you that every single one of them had a problem where some attention to detail was missed.

I would not be surprised if they accidentaly threw in a 300K pot instead of a 500K or it could just be that they didn't meter them properly before.

You should speak with David Jones (jonesyblues.com), his response times are super and he will work with you to determine your problem and how to fix it.
The great thing about him is, if there's any element that he feels should not be changed but you do. He will tell you that you don't need to unlike a typical seller.

Gibson doesn't "accidentally" put a 300K volume pot in the guitar, they've been putting 300k vols. and 500k tones in most of their guitars for years. Some players like the 300k pots, but I think most don't like the effect they have on the tone. Vintage Gibsons had 500k audio pots all around, but many years ago they started experimenting with different values for volumes and tones, and seem to have settled on the 300k linear volume, 500k audio tone setup for some reason that no one can figure out. That's why so many people change out the pots on their Gibsons for all 500k audio pots. The higher-end Historics and Custom Shop guitars have all 500k pots finally after a lot of people complained about the 300k's not being the historic value. The 300k pots also have made many players change out the pickups on their guitars because "the pickups are too muddy", when all they had to do was change out the pots for the vintage values.
Al

 

[Studioplayer]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

Gibson doesn't "accidentally" put a 300K volume pot in the guitar, they've been putting 300k vols. and 500k tones in most of their guitars for years. Some players like the 300k pots, but I think most don't like the effect they have on the tone. Vintage Gibsons had 500k audio pots all around, but many years ago they started experimenting with different values for volumes and tones, and seem to have settled on the 300k linear volume, 500k audio tone setup for some reason that no one can figure out. That's why so many people change out the pots on their Gibsons for all 500k audio pots. The higher-end Historics and Custom Shop guitars have all 500k pots finally after a lot of people complained about the 300k's not being the historic value. The 300k pots also have made many players change out the pickups on their guitars because "the pickups are too muddy", when all they had to do was change out the pots for the vintage values.
Al

Good post. This was explained to me when I bought my 2000 Classic 18 years ago. Those volume pots work for me pretty well as I can turn them down to 7 or so and still sound clear with that Classic. This fact leads me to wonder if my new Trad's neck volume pots are below spec of i.e. 300k. If it were say 10% under that might explain what I experience. As for now my usable range with this neck volume pot is all that immense area between 9 and 10!?

Another purchase I should make is in a meter that would give me a reasonable idea of just what these pots are.


Studioplayer

 

[dystrust]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

Good post. This was explained to me when I bought my 2000 Classic 18 years ago. Those volume pots work for me pretty well as I can turn them down to 7 or so and still sound clear with that Classic. This fact leads me to wonder if my new Trad's neck volume pots are below spec of i.e. 300k. If it were say 10% under that might explain what I experience. As for now my usable range with this neck volume pot is all that immense area between 9 and 10!?

Another purchase I should make is in a meter that would give me a reasonable idea of just what these pots are.


Studioplayer

The Les Paul Classic has a 496R/500T set stock and they're pretty bright as far as pickups go. The inherently dark tone of 300K pots probably balances that out somewhat.

 

[Studioplayer]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

The Classic I referred to is on its 3rd. set of pickups....Seth Lovers; before that were ‘59s; and originally stock 496R/500T.

I've made some progress this morning in getting a brighter neck tone. The pup height remains the same....for string to string balance and clearness. I boosted the Dark Terror volume and gain just a bit which allows more neck volume roll off with a bit more brightness. Later on, I'll compare this Trad with my Classic which has more ability to roll off the neck volume.


Studioplayer

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Where Do I Start With The Burstbucker I ?

You set it to wherever it sounds good. Then you balance the string volume using the adjustable screws that come through the pickup cover.