Question about my 57 classics

[jeffguitar]

Hi folks.

I have had a set of 57 classics for about a year now and I have always been bugged by something about them. I use the original classic in the bridge, not the classic plus. I have found that the bridge pup is way brighter than the neck pup. When I first gt them I put them in a vintage G-400 and I put the one with the hottest signal on my tester in the bridge. The bridge was incredibly shard and bright. The neck seemed fine. I thought I would swap them thinking the bright one would maybe sound better in the neck position and the neck would bring down the tone if it was in the bridge. Well, when I swapped the one that had been in the neck was just as bright as the one that had been in there. This told me that It might not be the pickups, but something else. I couldn't use them in the SG, so I put them in an Ibanez and have been using them there. They are also like this in the Ibanez but not as bad. After a while I got used to it and it didn't bother me much.

 

The reason this has come back up is that I just ordered a Les Paul ultra, the original model, and it will be here in a couple days and I want to put the 57 classics in it. Now, today I was checking some 57 classic reviews and someone said to switch the bridge pickup leads to make the pups in phase or something. I hooked both wires, ground and hot the same on both pups. As I recall, the ground was the actual metal braid on the wire and the hot was the only internal wire. Did I do anything wrong when I wired these or have others heard the same thing with their set of classic 57's? Are the brdge pup wires supposed to be hooked up opposite or something? I am dying to figure this out so I can put these in my new Ultra when it gets here.

 

Thanks for any help

[epilover9568]

This may help...

 

http://www.guitarworld.com/seymour_duncan_installing_pickups_in_a_les_paul

 

Yes, the braiding should be soldered to the back of the pot and the lead is soldered to the #3 lug. That's it !

[lostindesert]

I don't know if you play acoustic guitar but the closer to the bridge you pick the strings the brighter

the sound. A vintage Stratocaster uses 3 almost identical pickups but putting them in different

positions under the strings gives you 3 different sounds.

The closer to the neck the sound is warmer and closer to the bridge brighter.

These days people use higher output pickups in the bridge position for a better balance.

 

Peter

[jeffguitar]

Yes, I have been playing for 30 years. I make a living at it. The original pups in the g-400 didn't do this, nor the ones in the Ibanez. It just seems that the 57's have a huge tonal difference from neck to bridge. The neck sounds fine, but when i switch to the bridge position it's like someone took the bass on an EQ and turned it most of the way down and turned the treble to ten. It's just so much of a difference, like three times the difference of the other sets. When my Ultra gets here probably tomorrow, I'll make some mp3 clips of the Ibanez with the 57's and then some of the ultra with it's stock pups. then I'll install the 57's in the Ultra and do some more mp3 samples.

 

 

Thanks

[Ricochet]

The standard G-400 Epiphone PUs are adequate for some, but for most just generic sounding crap. They will sound more or less the same regardless of guitar and position. For the Classics to show such 'dynamic range', is the mark of a great pickup.

 

Did you temper in any way with electronics. Specificly the bridge potmeters?

[jeffguitar]

Hi.

 

No, actually, I spliced the 57 classic wires in to the old because I wasn't crazy about the confined space to solder in. Also, it can't be the pups really because both do this when they are installed in the bridge position, but both sound fine in the neck position. When i had them in my old G-400, they were rendered useless because the bridge position was incredibly bright, with either pickup installed in it. I find that after a while i do get used to it, but I was shocked at the difference in tone when i first got them. Heck, i'll do a sample and post it right now with the Ibanez that has the 57's in it. Maybe others who have them can verify that their s are roughly the same.

 

Ok, here's the MP3 sample. remember, this tone change was far worse in the G-400, and they were pretty much unusable in that. I start with the neck pup and switch to the bridge a few times.

http://jeffstewart.maddsites.com/neckbridge57's.mp3

 

I hope there are a couple 57 users out there that will give this a listen and confirm that this is normal.

[kreesa]

Not sure if this is going to help, but I did install two 57's in my Epi 175. And you are right. Pups are the same, and worked just like a charm. Then I removed the bridge one to fit it to my Gib 225 (using Gib pots and caps). I believe that I fiddled with it soldering and unsoldering for too long , and all of a sudden it sounded just like you have described: no lows, very crappy. Could I have overheated something possibly? I then installed original harness with the sprague cap, and switchcraft pots back, and now the 57 classic sounds just great.

Cheers,

Greg

[Ricochet]

Ok' date=' here's the MP3 sample. remember, this tone change was far worse in the G-400, and they were pretty much unusable in that. I start with the neck pup and switch to the bridge a few times.

http://jeffstewart.maddsites.com/neckbridge57's.mp3

 

[/quote']

 

Nice tele-twang...:- Almost like you're running the bridge pickup on one coil...weird!

[jeffguitar]

Yep. When I was recording that clip I was also thinking it almost sounded like a tele. As i said before, I simply spliced the wires into the original wires. This should not have been a problem because when i had put other Epiphone pups in a did the same and they sounded normal. Also, it can't be just one pup problem because both pups sound like this in the bridge position, and sound normal in the neck. I don't get it.

[Bender 4 Life]

Is there any way you could have accidentally "single tapped" the p/u while doing the soldering?

I purposely did this on my R8 GLP bridge p/u for a while, decided I didn't like the sound, and hooked both coils back up as origional.

It once again has the nice "fat" sound a 57 should have.

[Burstbucker1281734065]

When I put '57 classics in my Wilshire, I had the same issue with the sound. My resolution was going through the grounding again and getting it right. I remember the brittle (for a '57 anyway) sound and saying "what the heck?" I later discovered the grounding problem. Also, look over your cable shielding for the pots, switch, and caps.

[jeffguitar]

I don't think it is single coil tapped by accident. Both pups are raised fairly high and the bridge pup is right about where it should be volume wise compared to the neck.

 

Also, on grounding, I didn't solder anything. i simply spliced in and wrapped the wires together good and used black tape. When I did this with the old Epiphone pups, they sounded completely normal. Two different sets of Epiphone pups sounded proper, just the 57's that have the bridge sounding so brittle. I can't imagine there being such a wide difference in tone between the two positions, yet it does it with either pup in the bridge, and does it in both the Ibanez and the G-400 I used to have. Far worse in the G-400. The Ibanez has only one tone pot, so I don't know what that might have to do with it.

 

Also, for those trying to hear the clip make sure you copy the entire link. In the underlined link where the curor tuns to a hand, notice the.mp3 extension is not highlighted. I had to highlight the entire thing and paste it in to my browser window to hear the clip.

[RotcanX]

Yes' date=' I have been playing for 30 years. I make a living at it. The original pups in the g-400 didn't do this, nor the ones in the Ibanez. It just seems that the 57's have a huge tonal difference from neck to bridge. The neck sounds fine, but when i switch to the bridge position it's like someone took the bass on an EQ and turned it most of the way down and turned the treble to ten. It's just so much of a difference, like three times the difference of the other sets. When my Ultra gets here probably tomorrow, I'll make some mp3 clips of the Ibanez with the 57's and then some of the ultra with it's stock pups. then I'll install the 57's in the Ultra and do some more mp3 samples.

 

 

Thanks[/quote']

 

That's beyond weird. I would expect some such behaviour from an unmatched set of PUs but as you have already confirmed the two 57 Classics are identical. I would start checking the rest of the circuitry, looking for a bad connection or a bum cap/tone pot on the rhythm side.