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Post by ijustwannastrat on Oct 4, 2009 14:00:57 GMT -5
On my newly created ax, I have a SD lil 59 in the bridge, and a duckbucker in the middle position, no neck pup.
My problem, is that it is sort of thin.... A little shrill. I believe I have 250k pots, and only the middle pup is hooked up to a tone knob, and it doesn't sound near as thin. Any advice? I was thinking of getting another duckbucker, and saving the 59 for incase somebody else is looking to buy one locally. Any suggestions?
BTW, the duckbucker can get some sort of convincing acoustic guitar sounds when I turn the volume half way, and put it on a clean channel. It sounds amazing on all clean channel settings. The 59 sounds pretty good for Alice in Chains-type stuff, but nothing else. I would save it for a next project, but if I did metal, I would go with a full size humbucker. amirite?
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Post by sydsbluesky on Oct 4, 2009 17:51:59 GMT -5
So they both sound thin, but the duckbucker sounds less so, being run through the tone control?
I've heard only good tings about the lil '59.
Are you positive on the pot value?
Is there a reason you're only running one pup through the tone control?
And jaaaaa on the metal pup. Can't beat a full sized humbucker for metal.
I'm sure there will be more to come.
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Post by gitpiddler on Oct 4, 2009 21:45:47 GMT -5
Three things: PICS  Try trading places-or backing it away from the strings a little  She'll loosen up after playing, or just sitting in front of a speaker ;D. |
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Post by ijustwannastrat on Oct 5, 2009 15:23:24 GMT -5
I only ran the duckbucker through a tone because I have no need for bridge position tone. I find that if I am touching a tone knob, I'm using the front pickup. One less thing to hassle with when switching to bridge pup.
Pics are on the way. Trust me!
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Post by gitpiddler on Oct 5, 2009 23:32:13 GMT -5
Curious as to why no neck pickup? That's half the tone, the other half is bridge. 500K pot should help. You might try the '59 at the neck, and the duck at the bridge. I'm fond of the Dim HS-3 bridge tone, and also of screwing the pups into the wood- I HATE plastic Play it loud, regardless, for it will loosen up. Which amp you using? |
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Post by ijustwannastrat on Oct 6, 2009 14:44:32 GMT -5
I am not using a neck pup because I believe that the duckbucker has a little more color in the middle position. When I cut the wires, I cut the wire on the 59 a little too short. It was no big deal for when I was planning on putting it at the bridge position, but it won't move to the middle position, so neck is out of the question. I would like to try the duckbucker at the bridge position. I'm thinking I'm going to have to order a concentric pot, and a regular pot. I am thinking of doing the con. pot for tone and volume of whichever is going to be the neck-most pup, and just volume for the bridge pot. Probably going to hack my pickguard, because I can't remove it currently without the neck being off of the guitar, and I do not want to remove it when I'm fooling around with this all.
BTW, my local luthier is as smooth-talking as Bill Clinton. I went in to have the nut of my guitar cut wider (thicker strings), and I left with him setting up the entire guitar.
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Post by sumgai on Oct 10, 2009 23:01:11 GMT -5
stratty, Essentially, you want to decrease some of the highs from your Lil '59, right? Well, in another time and place, we might suggest lowering the volume control's resistance value. But here, that'd also affect the duckbucker in a negative way - let's not do that this time, eh?  That leaves us with the next easiest way, which is to simply pry open your axe, root out the pickup's leads, and solder a stock resistor and capacitor across them. This will take the place of a tone control, albeit one that you'll never mess with while playing. You might say "it's cast in stone, set permanently at 10". Or you could experiment a bit..... Temporarily hook up a tone control (I mean, a real pot and a cap) and twiddle with it as you play. If you find a setting that turns your crank, then you've got two choices. A) you can just shove everything back in the cavity, and button 'er up. If there's room, that is. B) you could unhook the pot, measure the value with a DMM, and substitute a standard resistor that comes the closest to the value you measured. The advantage here is the smaller resistor fits in tighter quarters, of course. The remaining way to make this kind of tone mod is to add a dummy coil, and use its inductance value to control the Lil '59's highs. I'd prefer not to go there, it's not as easy as the solution just above, and certainly not as cheap. But if you insist...... And finally, I'd hazard a guess that Plan B (replacing it with another duckbucker) would also work. Kinda depends on what you really want, tone-wise. Sorry, I can't answer that one for ya.  HTH sumgai |
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Post by ijustwannastrat on Oct 11, 2009 19:04:06 GMT -5
Sorry about my absence, but I believe another duckbucker would be the way to go. When I originally planned this guitar, I was hoping for an all around guitar, but I give up sort of. I'm thinking just make it bluesy-countryish, and have a separate metal guitar (I already have two, hopefully selling the other).
Speaking of metal and pups, any good metal pups other than EMG's out? I am talking like alice in chains, 80's, nothing shred, nothing modern. Metal tone's now-a-days sound really dead to me.
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Post by sydsbluesky on Oct 15, 2009 11:31:48 GMT -5
I have a set of livewires in my ESP. I prefer those over the EMG products most days, though I haven't tried their new "x" line.
And if one doesn't like those, one could always convert it over to 18 volt from 9. I hear it's a worthwhile change to make, and I'll probably make it myself before long... once I get my hands on the guitar, that is. It's in Michigan and I'm in New York... Didn't feel like renting a moving van, so I'm moving my things over slowly.
Otherwise... are you aiming for actives? Try some internal boosters, or something. EMG makes a nice one. If you use a tube amp, then it really kicks the thing into gear.
Thing is, if you're not going for modern, then actives may not be a proper solution... DiMarzio is a good company. They have some high gain passives.
Another option would be a lower output pickup that can be used in conjunction with some active onboards, or a boost pedal?
The holy grail is hard to come by.
Just ask Indiana Jones.
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Post by sydsbluesky on Oct 15, 2009 11:35:42 GMT -5
Here's another idea. Take your amp and pedals to a guitar store. Try out a buncha guitars. Buy a guitar. Then take that guitar and those pedals to the amp store. Try out a buncha different amps. Buy an amp. Take your guitar and amp to the pedal store. Try out a buncha different pedals. Buy a few pedals. Take the whole thing into your basement, remove all accessible screws and then log into guitarnuts2 while your soldering iron warms up. |
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Post by ijustwannastrat on Oct 15, 2009 12:45:54 GMT -5
Lol, I can't afford a better amp. Right now I have a Hughes and Kettner Edition Blue 60 watter.
Guitar-wise, no.
Peddles, I only have 2 trying to get rid of one. Crybaby Wah, and I want to get rid of my Red Special Brian May pedal. Awesome tones, totally useless unless you are a Queen cover band. I am not.
Back to the origins of this thread, I believe I am going to just take the lil 59 out, and put the duckbucker in bridge position w/ volume and tone knob. What should I do with my push/pull? I can't think of anything.... Maybe a phase switch once I get another duckbucker?
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Post by ijustwannastrat on Oct 16, 2009 19:32:42 GMT -5
Yoinked the lil 59, tone pot, and solo switch. Put the duckbucker to the bridge position.
If I ever find a full set of SC pups, I might look at putting those in. I'm done with "special" pups, not worth the sweat and tears. Maybe some of those texas specials they have in Jimmy Vaughn's signature strat, but otherwise just plain SC's.
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