macbeat Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Just had Lindy Fralin 8k/9k paf humbuckers fitted to my ES175 .My humble opinion- The sound is ok -just ok - not so different from other humbuckers .Also there is now a lot of unwanted resonance on the E-A-D strings. I've read that players stuff foam ect into the body / tape up the f holes/ right hand muting /pennies taped over the poles/ect ect ect.to reduce this problem .I've lowered the bass side of the pup which has helped a bit . Basically this is disappointing but I'm sure there must be a simple solution to this problem. Firstly does anyone else have experience of these Fralin pups ? Is it possible that they are are too hot ?.Are they potted or not and does it make a difference. His pure paf pups are lower output- 7-7.5K. and may work better.I have no interest in feedback or high volume sustain ect I'm just after quality of tone and clarity of note. Can't find an email address for Fralin or I'd contact him direct for advice. Anyone out there had a similar experience or have any constructive advice- thankyou -kind regards -Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Ahm, this is the acoustics section ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spot Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Just had Lindy Fralin 8k/9k paf humbuckers fitted to my ES175 .My humble opinion- The sound is ok -just ok - not so different from other humbuckers .Also there is now a lot of unwanted resonance on the E-A-D strings. I've read that players stuff foam ect into the body / tape up the f holes/ right hand muting /pennies taped over the poles/ect ect ect.to reduce this problem .I've lowered the bass side of the pup which has helped a bit . Basically this is disappointing but I'm sure there must be a simple solution to this problem. Firstly does anyone else have experience of these Fralin pups ? Is it possible that they are are too hot ?.Are they potted or not and does it make a difference. His pure paf pups are lower output- 7-7.5K. and may work better.I have no interest in feedback or high volume sustain ect I'm just after quality of tone and clarity of note. Can't find an email address for Fralin or I'd contact him direct for advice. Anyone out there had a similar experience or have any constructive advice- thankyou -kind regards -Neil This would be a good place to start... Introduce Yourself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 In this context it depends what is meant by resonance ES 175 P/U's are mounted in the body top and can vibrate noticeably Or perhaps a set-up issue of P/U height and frequency response Some ES 175 'ers (Herb Ellis et al) adjusted individual pole pieces to flatten response across the strings... V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 You should post this in the "Gibson Custom" sub-forum to get a knowledgeable answer. People here are still driving stick shifts and playing funny guitars without pickups in them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spot Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 You should post this in the "Gibson Custom" sub-forum to get a knowledgeable answer. People here are still driving stick shifts and playing funny guitars without pickups in them. Good point Nick... Here's a shot of me and EuroAussie of to the local Gibson dealer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Not sure what you mean by "resonance". For what you are describing in the uses and tone you are after, it seems to me the 'pure PAF' would be the ones you want. I am not the expert that Fralin is. How did you arrive at the choice of pups you have in there now? I have never talked to him personally, but I have heard he likes to talk to his customers. He knows HIS stuff very well, and has an excellent handle on what to expect his pups will do in different guitars and uses. Because of this, I would recommend contacting him rather than getting the info from others. I don't think his pups are the type to do tricks. They don't really have a particular sound, and are not the 'magic bullet' type that make a cool sound or tone just by installing them, leaving the user to love or hate them. I get what you are saying though. In my experience, if they aren't a good match to the guitar or type of music, they tend to sound more 'blah' than a lot of pups, but when you get it right, they can be just a little better in some key areas than the best you thought you could have. That's my experience, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 OK, but you're wearing the dress while Ill take the Mullet ... Good point Nick... Here's a shot of me and EuroAussie of to the local Gibson dealer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfox14 Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Must be very frustrating to go to all the trouble of changing out your pickups only to be so disappointed. Maybe you should go back to the originals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbeat Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 Not sure what you mean by "resonance". For what you are describing in the uses and tone you are after, it seems to me the 'pure PAF' would be the ones you want. I am not the expert that Fralin is. How did you arrive at the choice of pups you have in there now? I have never talked to him personally, but I have heard he likes to talk to his customers. He knows HIS stuff very well, and has an excellent handle on what to expect his pups will do in different guitars and uses. Because of this, I would recommend contacting him rather than getting the info from others. I don't think his pups are the type to do tricks. They don't really have a particular sound, and are not the 'magic bullet' type that make a cool sound or tone just by installing them, leaving the user to love or hate them. I get what you are saying though. In my experience, if they aren't a good match to the guitar or type of music, they tend to sound more 'blah' than a lot of pups, but when you get it right, they can be just a little better in some key areas than the best you thought you could have. That's my experience, anyway. Hello Stein -Thankyou for replying- The choice of pups was based on on-line reviews.I'd love to talk to Fralin but I can't find any contact details apart from general stuff at his website. I was expecting "new" bell like tones as per a review and felt a bit let down by how ordinary they sounded .Also I had Fralin pups installed on a telecaster and the sound difference to the originals was very noticeable -so I expected the same here !.As I said earlier perhaps they're too hot at 8-9K for an Archtop and better suited to Les Paul or 335. I need to communicate with him to find out - regards -Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbeat Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 In this context it depends what is meant by resonance ES 175 P/U's are mounted in the body top and can vibrate noticeably Or perhaps a set-up issue of P/U height and frequency response Some ES 175 'ers (Herb Ellis et al) adjusted individual pole pieces to flatten response across the strings... V Hello Versatile - by resonance I mean that when I hit a note e.g. E -open 6th - E at 7th fret 5th string - E at second fret 4th string. Wherever I play an E note on the bass strings a sympathetic overtone is created which increases to feedback .It can be stopped by dampening the strings but if I want to sustain a chord -this note will dominate the sound. I agree that some adjustment by an expert would do the trick - but I there aren't any archtop specialists around here.-regards -macbeat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 Hello Stein -Thankyou for replying- The choice of pups was based on on-line reviews.I'd love to talk to Fralin but I can't find any contact details apart from general stuff at his website. I was expecting "new" bell like tones as per a review and felt a bit let down by how ordinary they sounded .Also I had Fralin pups installed on a telecaster and the sound difference to the originals was very noticeable -so I expected the same here !.As I said earlier perhaps they're too hot at 8-9K for an Archtop and better suited to Les Paul or 335. I need to communicate with him to find out - regards -Neil Me do think that the 'bell-like tones'....come from the fingers of the player....not necessarilly the 'pickups'... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbeat Posted March 24, 2012 Author Share Posted March 24, 2012 You should post this in the "Gibson Custom" sub-forum to get a knowledgeable answer. People here are still driving stick shifts and playing funny guitars without pickups in them. Thankyou j45nick -sounds like a good idea -regards -Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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