mrturtle_91
New member
How do these things sound? I hear they are nothing like gibson buckers, so how would you describe the sound. I'm considering this guitar as my next purchase, so I want to have an idea on the sound before I go and try it out.
I don't know about the originals but the reissues sound like pure mud, especially in the neck position.
...the RI's ARE normal humbuckers voiced to sound like wide ranges. They do the job fairly well actually but still.
The problem with the RIs is that for some stupid reason they put 250k pots in them which muds them up (originals had 1 meg pots)
click here for a comparison before/after pot switching to 1 meg...
I actually like the sound of the 250k pots over the 1 meg ones.
...the RI's ARE normal humbuckers voiced to sound like wide ranges. They do the job fairly well actually but still.
The problem with the RIs is that for some stupid reason they put 250k pots in them which muds them up (originals had 1 meg pots)
click here for a comparison before/after pot switching to 1 meg...
You're right, they are normal humbuckers with a bar mag underneath instead of adjustable cunife mag poles on the originals. I rewound an RI for a guy so I had to take it apart and obviously learned their basic construction in the process. The bobbins are much wider than standard humbucker bobbins but the bar mag is standard size.
250k pots don't exactly help, but at least on this neck model I worked on, I doubt a 2 meg pot or even main-lining it directly to the output jack with no tone or volume would have de-mudded it. The main problem is the cover, which is thick enough to stop an anti-tank round. (All other things being equal, the thicker the cover, the more of a tone-killer it is.) The second problem is they're just wound too hot. This neck model was 12k with 43 wire, which translates to about 9.0-9.5k worth of 42.
In other words, it's just a sure-fire recipe for MUD-MUD-MUD, the only cure for which is a low-7 wind and throw the cover out in the street.
That's why I don't trust soundclips. Different rig, different rig settings, different strings, different pick, different touch. I need to feel the guitar or pickup respond to me to really know. And I did play through this Widerange.
That said, I don't claim to be the last word on any pickup. You may still get one later on and end up liking it and come back here and say, that Zhang guy is full of crap -- because maybe it responds better to your rig and touch than mine.