Confessions of a Humbucker junkie...

Sneaky-Pete · 2013-06-07T08:29:58+00:00

I started hotrodding guitars a few years back because I wanted MORE.... more power, more sustain , more attitude, more grunt... I was tired of the single co...

Confessions of a Humbucker junkie...

Reinhard

Tokai SA wrote:
Reinhard wrote:
RJN wrote: Im still on the lookout for new PUPs for my SG Special. The neck pickup is too muddy. the bridge is usable , especially for Rock stuff.
But i need a usable neck pup , something usable when i feel like playing blues.
Try raising the pole pieces a bit and have them follow the radius of the strings.

Or, plug the guitar into your DAW, show the recording meters/levels.
Adjust the pole pieces until each string shows the same 'recording' level on the meters.

This is a great idea. What equipment does it require?

Chocklit_Thunda

Reinhard wrote:
RJN wrote: Im still on the lookout for new PUPs for my SG Special. The neck pickup is too muddy. the bridge is usable , especially for Rock stuff.
But i need a usable neck pup , something usable when i feel like playing blues.
Try raising the pole pieces a bit and have them follow the radius of the strings.

Yup I'm with this. Lower your pickup first which will clear it up but reduce harmonics and then raise your polepieces up to fine tune.

ActionArnie

StefStoep wrote: Could this also be the problem with my LP Classic it has the 500T and the 496R pups in. I'm just not getting a tone from it that i really like. My SG has the 498T and 490R in, and it is just so much better, exactly what i expected and wanted the SG to sound like.

I'm currently thinking that i should either just let the LP go or trade it for a LP with milder pups..... Or start looking for a milder set of pups but then its another couple of $$$ to get it up to where i want it.

I lowered the pickups right down in my LP Classic which improved things a lot (to my ears anyway). I will eventually swap the 496R/500T for BKP Mules (when funding is available), but right now I'm fairly happy with the tone.

Sneaky-Pete

The player with the 500T in a Gibson refers:

Brace yourself....500T is...14.8K....a MONSTER!...No tone here....

57 Classic (neck) is...8.5K
57 Classic Plus (bridge) is..8.7K

Even the 498T that is fairly common in Epi/Gibsons is...13.8K..
good for harder rock but stepping into metal...

Sneaky-Pete

Sometimes, if your Gibson/Epi is a little too bright for your taste,
you can tame it by swapping in a darker (more resistance)capacitor.
Most Gibiphones should have a .047 cap...but now and then, they run out of 47s and put in .022s...too bright!

But even if you do have a 47 in there and your guitar is still too bright, it's possible to save a lot of money by changing the 47 for an .068 cap.

Players who have a cap on each pickup can often tame the bridge pickup (and leave the neck the way it is) by changing JUST the bridge cap for one step darker 022/047/068...

ezietsman

Sneaky Pete wrote: Sometimes, if your Gibson/Epi is a little too bright for your taste,
you can tame it by swapping in a darker (more resistance)capacitor.
Most Gibiphones should have a .047 cap...but now and then, they run out of 47s and put in .022s...too bright!

But even if you do have a 47 in there and your guitar is still too bright, it's possible to save a lot of money by changing the 47 for an .068 cap.

Players who have a cap on each pickup can often tame the bridge pickup (and leave the neck the way it is) by changing JUST the bridge cap for one step darker 022/047/068...

There's no such thing as a Gibson that is "too bright", UNPOSSIBLE!

Chocklit_Thunda

Sneaky Pete wrote: The player with the 500T in a Gibson refers:

Brace yourself....500T is...14.8K....a MONSTER!...No tone here....

57 Classic (neck) is...8.5K
57 Classic Plus (bridge) is..8.7K

Even the 498T that is fairly common in Epi/Gibsons is...13.8K..
good for harder rock but stepping into metal...

You can't use the DC RESISTANCE alone to determine the hotness of the pickups... That 500T is wound with 43AWG wire... It's thinner and when wound to the same resistance as a 42AWG counterpart, only has around 75% of the output... Granted the 500T is still hot and has the same amount of DCR output as a 11K bucker wound with 42 which is about the maximum you can get onto a set of bobbins with that gauge of wire. The thinner the wire the higher the DCR but it doesn't make them hotter... The YJM pickups from Seymour Duncan measure 22K on a strat pickup but have a medium to slightly hot output.

Also the magnet choice plays a huge part. The 500T uses a ceramic mag which is high output. That pickup can (and has) been easily tamed by simply swapping out the magnet for a lower output pickup or one that boosts the opposite frequencies to a ceramic mag.

Sneaky-Pete

Quite right....resistance alone isn't the full story..

You also need to know the Inductance level..
This requires some searching as a lot of pickup makers
like to dazzle you with a high K resistance reading.

A standard Tele neck pickup may be 4k and 2,5 Henries (inductance).

Rewind that pickup with 30% more wire and you may have a 6k + 4Henries pickup.
More power...more mids and bottom end...slightly less tops.
Now,,,if the original pickup was an Alnico 5 magnet.. and you rewound it on an Alnico 3 magnet...warmer pickup because of losing some tops due to the less bright magnet..
Think of K resistance as HorsePower, and H Inductance as Torque.
Some car engines are smaller and make their power from high revs.
And some are bigger, rev slower and put out more torque/grunt.
eg: a Ferrari is 4 litres...a Camaro is 6 litres.. both very quick, but get there in a different way,,,
That's my understanding of it...

Just saying....

Greg

These are used in Reverend guitars: http://www.railhammer.com/ Might interest you!

Reverend guitars also have a no-high-rolloff volume knob and a "bass contour" knob.

Check out the Reeves Gabrels II model.

Slayer

Hey Sneaky Pete. Whats happened to all those pus you've mucked about with?

Let us know if you want to get rid of any...

MikeM

Thanks for correcting the info here Chocklit. To everyone else, first hand perception above all. Loads of bs online.

@Chocklit, You don't happen to have a spare A4 lying around? I have a couple A3s and an UOA5 here that I could trade for one ? Might even have an A8 somewhere.

Chocklit_Thunda

MikeM wrote: Thanks for correcting the info here Chocklit. To everyone else, first hand perception above all. Loads of bs online.

@Chocklit, You don't happen to have a spare A4 lying around? I have a couple A3s and an UOA5 here that I could trade for one ? Might even have an A8 somewhere.

Well I do have a brand new set of Tonerider Alnico4's that I wanted to use in an explorer I'm planning on building... I was thinking of starting the build in my holiday (starting this friday if I don't have to write supps.... Ugh... AAL/earth studies wrecked me and I don't have all my projects for my crit tomorrow ??? )
How soon do you need a magnet? I was thinking of trying the A4's stock first but if its urgent I suppose I could trade the bridge A4 for the UOA5? I've heard they have more of an A2 sound to them

Send me a PM and we can discuss ? if you have any A2's laying around then I can see this being the start of a looooong friendship ?

Edit: sorry I was typing out subject codes like I was talking to my friends from uni... haha in simple terms I'm as screwed as a bolt on neck ☹

MikeM

Tuks? First year? Small world man.

Don't stress, I'm in no rush. I personally find UOA5s to be more similar to A2s than they are to A5s. Loose, round. They can be cool, but I want to tighten up my bridge.

I've got loads of A2s lying around, just gotta find everything!!

Also, good choice on those. Best set that Tonerider makes by leaps and bounds.

Chocklit_Thunda

MikeM wrote: Tuks? First year? Small world man.

Don't stress, I'm in no rush. I personally find UOA5s to be more similar to A2s than they are to A5s. Loose, round. They can be cool, but I want to tighten up my bridge.

I've got loads of A2s lying around, just gotta find everything!!

Also, good choice on those. Best set that Tonerider makes by leaps and bounds.

Yeah man! Studying architecture hey and yourself?

Yeah I've been dying to try them! Heard only good things about them but have nothing to put them in... Hopefully I can get things done and then test them soon enough and then we can talk swapping and stuff.