turtle Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 hey guys i'm having a really hard time trying to figure out what is wrong with my les paul's bridge pickup. i put in a set of antiquitys. first off the neck sounds fine. then the bridge is quieter and kinda tinny. i resoldered connections, reversed the connections on the 3 way to see if it was the switch, and running in circles i think. the bridge pup is 8.5k and the neck is 7.5k roughly. i checked at the pot with an ohm meter and they read what they're supposed to. could it be a pot? and how do i check a bad or out of phased pickup and how do i check? i'm stumped and was up last night and up later then usual tonight trying to figure this out.its a 06 standard with 500k cts volumes and tones. new caps. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SG Jones Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 hey guys i'm having a really hard time trying to figure out what is wrong with my les paul's bridge pickup. i put in a set of antiquitys. first off the neck sounds fine. then the bridge is quieter and kinda tinny. i resoldered connections, reversed the connections on the 3 way to see if it was the switch, and running in circles i think. the bridge pup is 8.5k and the neck is 7.5k roughly. i checked at the pot with an ohm meter and they read what they're supposed to. could it be a pot? and how do i check a bad or out of phased pickup and how do i check? i'm stumped and was up last night and up later then usual tonight trying to figure this out.its a 06 standard with 500k cts volumes and tones. new caps. thanks Try soldering the bridge pickup to the rhythm volume pot and see how it sounds. This will tell you if it is the pickup or something further down the line like a pot, cap ,wire, or switch. Wiring problems can be frustrating, but if you start from one end and go to the other one part at a time you will find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnastynebr Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 I'm running 7.6 and 8.35 Alnico II pups in my Gibson LP, which is pretty close to what your running. I struggled with the same issue as you, so hopefully I can shed some light. Stock Gibson pickups are usually paired to give the bridge quite a bit extra punch to accommodate modern higher gain players. Your replacement neck pup is probably pretty close output wise to what your stock neck pup was, so your likely getting similar tone from the neck. Your bridge pup is likely lower output than the stock pickup. So you may be getting tone that is not as warm or punchy. Your best bet is to start playing with pup heights. You may have to lower the neck pup quite a bit lower than you may be used to, while keeping the bridge pup much closer to the strings. I am guilty of this myself, but many players seek out vintage inspired replacement pickups anticipating classic sunburst tone. However, these pickups are often paired at a 1K or less boost for the bridge, when modern configurations often give the bridge a 1.6-2K+ boost for searing leads. Look at the readings for the stock pups, and see how much hotter the bridge is than the replacement pup. If you cant find the sweet spot by adjusting heights, than you may need a hotter bridge pup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angellus Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 is it a four conductor pickup? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.