Brighten a Dark/Muddy Humbucker Pickup

[@DougHinVA]

A high level luthier of classicals and electrics for Lindy told me to start with the 'D' polepiece to raise it. It's a skinny string with very fine winding so it needs to be 'stronger' and closer to the polepiece. The B or G is usually too 'piercing and needs to be lowered a bit. Get the adjustment done into a clean amp with one pickup at a time.

[@sickb2200]

Great video and information. Just an observation...I'm guessing a terribly drunk and possibly cross-eyed luthier installed those inlays.

[@PaulGrahamGuitarst]

Yea, I believe he lives in Korea.

[@sickb2200]

181Burnout Dude...naw, man...

[@TheDunateen77]

i have noticed that a lot on cheaper lp type guitars .

[@mikejones-vd3fg]

@KC heh yeah, at leaste the inlays didnt pop out like on my les paul studio, great guitar though

[@gitarrnisse3204]

could be a Chinese 5yr old to ;)

[@skinnykarlos710]

Excellent video. I was particularly intrigued by the removal of the pole pieces altogether (as per Scott Grove's advice - he has a lot to say not just about guitars and guitar gear but about bloody everything lol). It did really brighten up the pup to my ears at least. I know that I'm six and a half years late on this upload but it's still pertinent. Great to hear an Aussie accent on the tube mate. Keep 'em comin'.

[@FingerinUrDaughter]

it brightens it up because he increased the treble. removing a pole piece has no effect on the magnetic field, and thus the sound.

[@Johnny.nikolaisen]

Hi Paul. Thanx for sharing your video. I have played guitar for many years. For Some strange reason I always thought, that the closer the pickups are to the strings the better. But remember! The sound wont be better then the weekest spot in the link (guitar, cabels,stompboxes, amplifires)

[@bernhardnizynski4403]

I love your capacitor solution - very simple but clever!

[@vondoom2876]

I don't normally comment on videos but wanted to thank Paul graham for sharing a his knowledge and experience. Like the best teachers he presented all the modifications as examples so the viewer can judge for themselves what they prefer. . Really has helped me a lot with my own projects rewiring two of my old guitars. Thanks very much!

[@PaulGrahamGuitarst]

Peter Troth Thanks for taking the time to let me know I have helped you with your endeavors.It is very humbling to hear and I truly appreciate it.

[@nova62400]

This saved my washburn PAF copies from the garbage. Dropped down with pole pieces up high did the trick. Not amazing but I can live with them now. Thanks Paul

[@marshalbass7098]

This is great. Thank you. I'm going to attempt this with my humbuckers on my bass, I may return with 5 or 10 questions lol.

[@melcantell7479]

Tks for the tips bro. I did that parallel wiring on my part pro n fixed it to my five way switch, then series wiring on the next position of the switch, to get the single could n humbucker type sound when I needed. Those were the days when I had not heard of a push pull pot. Love from Mumbai India bro.

[@NobotyBoi]

Your welcome 🙏

[@AsphyxGr]

I will consider the capacitor mod for sure. I believe it may also increase the attack / snapiness of the guitar in high gain od or distortion which is a general problem with muddy guitars. It is bad that most of the mods here in yt are talking only about the volume and tone pots mods with capacitors. Thanks for the video, I subscribed to your channel because you clearly explain your goals and you utilize diagrams and tools in order to explain the theory behind whatever you present.

[@adamcolbertmusic]

I want to point out something about the capacitor mod, because it may or may not be right for a player.... When you roll back the volume knob, you inherently also roll back (rather, "ground out", electrically) the higher frequencies. The capacitor mod maintains the full frequency range even while the volume is turned down, so that none of the high end is lost. For metal players this would be generally desired, but for blues/jazz players (who are constantly adjusting tone and particularly trying to tame the bite of the high end) then the capacitor mod would not be quite so desired. I hope this helps someone decide if this mod is right for them!

[@memamohleleng]

Raising the pole pieces has made a marked difference to my Korean Sheraton. No need for that Gibson 57s upgrade just yet. Thanks very much.

[@RustyMadd]

I did this to a guitar that I hated the imbalance of the neck and bridge PUs. After some experimentation and learning, I goth them both sounding great and balanced just by adjusting the PU heights and pole piece heights. This really works folks! Try it, it just might save you money and make you happy with your PUs.

[@flatfingertuning727]

Another technique I've found which changed the sound of my humbuckers to my liking was to stick neodymium magnets to the tops of a set of pole pieces (lowering the pickup to compensate). I spent US$9 for 100 magnets, including shipping, but might have been able to get them cheaper if I'd shopped around. I don't know that this trick yielded the best sound that would be possible, but it makes it very easy to do a with/without test since no disassembly is required.

[@333Facex2Krusher666]

I found an easy way to fix this problem (for me any)... Remove the neck pickup. However, this is not for everyone. I prefer to remove mine and just rely on the bridge pickup. I have a single DiMarzio X2N in three of my guitars. One was bought and installed (single pickup design), the other came with one (single pickup design - B.C. Rich Stealth), and the last one was bought and installed with the neck pickup removed and left empty. Just using the bridge pickup without a neck pickup makes everything dramatically brighter and cleaner. I find that the neck pickup magnets effect the string vibration, and as I don't use them; I remove them to achieve a truly bright sound with good clarity (overall balanced sound). This is of course very ideal for those who like very bright solid guitar sound. It's not to ideal for those into Jazz and Blues playing. I happen to play in the styles of Thrash Metal, Death Metal and Progressive Metal, which I feel a single pickup setup benefits well. However, depending on pickup setup and which brand/model you have, more than one pickup can benefit any style of music. I just prefer to keep it simple.

[@SDPickups]

Lower the screw poles down flat or even a little lower will make the slug coil dominate the sound, the slug coil is the brightest coil. Use a .015uf tone cap, use 50's wiring. Also using 550K pots for the neck volume and tone will also help brighten the sound. If your guitar is a clone or offshore built, replacing the entire harness with bare braided wire and 50's wiring will dramatically make your guitar sound alive. Thin plastic wiring, cheap pots, printed circuit switches, push pull pots, these things really kill transparency. I've replaced the entire harnesses on all my demo guitars I use on KZbin, its really a huge improvement any guitar can benefit from!

[@TheAlfahDj]

Yep, you are right, lowering the poles reduce the magnetic dominance of that coil, letting the other dominate, giving a "single-coil-like" properties into the sound. Thats why when you pulld them of it sounds almost as a single coil. If you split the coil of the humbucker (most of the time is not an option with covered PAF pickups) you will get a very similar sound, plus the hum of course. Good to find someone who knows about this :)

[@joemamma4324]

BULL SHIT!!!!

[@voxpathfinder15r]

I've found going over to vintage style wiring a.k.a. Gibson 50s wiring really brightens things up a lot!

[@PaulGrahamGuitarst]

+VoxPathfinder15R I must agree with you there. It helps to maintain the tone with the volume rolled back also.

[@voxpathfinder15r]

+Paul Graham (Guitar) I have to admit I do like how both bridge pickups sound originally, dark as you call it. Those brighter sounds are good, but I'd want something like a switch or something to be able to go back to stock on the fly.

[@TruthSurge]

I had to just smile when you listed the first mod as pickup height. I was like YES! Too close can equal a boomy or unclear sound (proximity effect). Too far, not enough gain and maybe even too brittle. I've been trying to force my pickups as far away as possible before I am not happy with the tone so that I get more clarity and dynamic range w/o so much mud. Your orig sound wasn't muddy imo. But I could tell the increase in treble in each case and that cap at the end is a nice idea to just experiment with. Especially on that neck pickup where you might like a bit more acoustic sound with more highs. I've got my Ibenez 870 on the operating table scalloping the fretboard and staining it ebony so I might like to try that capacitor trick. Who knows? Might sound groovy. I think my vol pot is not good. It seems to come on too much at once with distorted sounds. I wish it would fade a little more. I wonder if they put a linear taper instead of audio or exponential. ?

[@PaulGrahamGuitarst]

Dimarzio also make a custom taper which you could try. I would try the linear then the custom taper if I wasn't happy. Thanks for the support!

[@TruthSurge]

***** thanks. I need to really try something. It just comes on too hard at the start.

[@SDPickups]

You might be surprised to know that the original instructions for pickup height that came with the original PAF equipped Les Pauls, recommended the pickups be 1/16" of an inch close to the strings. Seth Lover said this "magnetizes the strings." If you want a real loud warm tone they should be close, but it depends on the pickup too. Lowering them down brightens them up but you lose output.

[@TruthSurge]

SDPickups I agree with all of that except for the "magnetizes" part. I believe it's a proven fact that the closer the magnets are, the less sustain you have, the more mids and lows you have and the less dynamic range (more compressed volume). So, lots of guys/gals keep the pickups at the distance that gives them the SOUND they want. Volume output is rather superfluous with today's amps that go to 111. yes, 111. So, I adjust mine for tone and that spot where they seem to have just enough bite and highs also. I think it depends also on the pickup. Just turn the knobs and use your ears!

[@Finom1]

TruthSurge What is the recommended height (3/16) ? Thank you.

[@paintsplatta99]

Thanks a ton man. Finally un-mud-ified my low E after two hours of trying. Soultion was a combination of raising the pickup and also the pole piece. Both on their own didn't change tone at all but for some reason both of them together fixed her right up.

[@catboyzee]

The neck humbucker still retains its voice, but with far less mids and lows. Extreme, but I get the idea. Gonna experiment with these concepts, thanks for this demonstration.

[@nickf9392]

I have taken the 6th string screw out completely on a number of my neck pick ups. Take the boom out. Works for me. Try it, easy enough to put back if you don't like it.

[@juanjuarez7289]

Sounds like my Inanez with LZ humbuckers. Thanks for the upload. Your Samick sounds great!-JJ

[@CrankCase08]

One you missed, which is also less invasive, is to just place a 0.047mfd (47nf) capacitor in series with the pickup to roll off the muddy lower frequencies. I always do this with every humbucking neck pickup. However, the capacitor across one of the coils on a humbucker sounded interesting. I'm even detecting a slight banjo sound. It looks to be raising the highs to counteract the mids that previously made it too harsh for rhythm chording. It's a pity you didn't state the value of bypass capacitor.

[@Copetti仁]

Dude, the best of both worlds sounds like a Rickenbacker toaster pickup!

[@monabri6500]

Thanks for the tips. My 2012 Gibson Traditional was sounding way too muddy for me (In combi with a Line 6 SpiderJam in "red crunch" or "68 Marshall® Plexi 50 Watt" emulation ). I tweaked the bridge pup on the low E side by 3 turns and then raised the 3 low poles (E.A.D) by two complete turns. I lowered the pup on the rhs (high E) by 1.5 turns The guitar seems to be "sharper" and less muddy. Result!! The thing about these setup mods is that they are reversible so worth a shot!

[@RobSanx]

Thank you very much. I tried to put a push-pull to split specially the neck pickup, but it isn't possible on this pickups, so by removing the screws and flipping the pickup to achieve more "neck/tele sound" I finally have the sound I was looking for. Thanx for sharing.

[@CULTmk]

very cool man. i went all the way to removing the long bolts and it worked really well. You are right its almost like a single coil once you take them out. I got a les paul to replace the tele and the neck was soo muddy compared to my old tele but the distortion on the les paul bridge is fantastic so I just couldn't decide which to keep. Now I make the les sound much more like the tele in neck pick up so I am am happy to have best of both world in one guitar!!

[@jeff1586er]

I tried the remove the screws trick and it really did give a single coil sound while still humbucking. I put them back because when I eventually part with the guitar no one would really understand. If I was actually using that guitar I would have left the screws out or replaced them with chrome painted nylon screws to improve the sound.

[@4malulz104]

I had a set of really muddy pickups that had a .022 cap installed on the tone. I wanted to try a lower cap to try to brighten it up some (like a .01, but I thought, what the heck, and jumped across the cap from the center lug to the ground. Worked like a charm, the guitar brightened right up, and I still get just a fudge out of the tone knob from the resistance of the pot itself, but I rarely ever touch it...

[@paulallen3557]

Useful knowledge and well-presented. Thanks from Eastern Kentucky!

[@steamlilly]

There are further options, outsource! a treble bleed (no resistor, parallel resistor, series resistor) there is 50's wiring of tone pot. there is replacing capacitor with another value, and model. Those do tone differences too. you can also get enormous change by replacing pots themselves. You need to remember they are never accurately 250/500 k, and it can be 80% lower (and darker in tone). I once bought a guitar, It sounded like mud, because of 240k pots. Tried every mod to brighten it, with little effect, until I measured those pots, and they were 120-180-200k tops. I did remove the poles, as in Scott's inspired move, but, After loosing all 12 pole-pieces, I decided to try replace them with something. And paying 40 quid to ship 4 quid worth of screws was not my party, so I went to try regular screws i had laying around (which were magnetic and would stick to pickup on their own). Happens that humbuckers take 4mm and 3mm screws. Good thing, big screw-heads can be filed down to fit covered/open humbucker with no problem, with hand tools at home... (I'd put the screw into dremel and rub it off against a file) and it also is less magnetic than most stock poles (noticeably weaker.). But the sound of the guitar becomes better in so many ways, at least for me. Brighter, less boomy, less oversaturated, more delicate, but with plenty of gain... So if you have time/desire to try it, try making your own polepieces, from regular department store bolts.

[@bernhardnizynski4403]

These only apply when you turn the volume pot down. Apart from a small amount of treble loss due to loading by the potentiometer, the tone capacitor is out of the circuit (not operative) until you start turning the tone control down. Higher value pots reduce the loading and loss of highs.

[@AJHans12]

The hardest thing to do is to have a brighter/cleaner pickup tone whilst keeping nice mid/low frequency depth, usually if a pickup sounds like crap, there isn't much you can do to make it sound good because of what they are composed of, how many winds they have, what magnets and so on. in simple terms if you don't like the sound of a cheap stock pickup, change it for a pickup that you know has higher top end frequencies. Many other ways of dealing with tone is the way your guitar is wired at the pots, for example on a Les Paul, wiring the capacitor to link the tone and the volume pots instead of using the cap to earth the tone pot, (which is how most asian guitar wiring is) causes the guitar to keep good top end and remove the mid and lower freq's as you turn the volume pot down, its like its own EQ and it doesnt stay "muddy" when you turn the volume down.

[@jacobpetersen5662]

I’m not following here. Are u saying to have the outer foil on the cap facing the tone pot or the volume pot?

[@MeTuLHeD]

Don't forget higher grade pots. That can totally alter the sound of a pickup for the better.

[@strangebrutoo]

1960's Rics put a capacitor after it's single coil so it blocked almost all of the lower bass. But the most invasive method is to unwind the coil until the DC resistance is much lower. I actually did that on a 1990 Rickenbacker reissue of a 1960 Ric. The 1960 Rics originally had less coil windings resulting in a DC resistance of about 6 or 7 kohms. The reissue stupidly had high output pickups (high output from high amount of winding = higher DC resistance). The result was dramatic and impressive !!! It went from ordinary to the classic jingle jangle Ric sound (with the addition of the standard 1960 Ric method of adding in the capacitor)..

[@podoz]

after watching this vid, i think i'm going to be hearing this tune in my head for the next few days!

[@EddieFivespeed]

+podoz it's a pretty sexy riff tho

[@PaulGrahamGuitarst]

I find this one to be ok. Its not real high end though. It has a plywood body with a hollow area under the arch top and the truss rod in the neck has no adjustment. It is a great playing guitar and for that reason it has become one of my practice instruments. I have owned it for about 20 years and bought it new in the early years of my guitar playing. Thanks for the chat.

[@kylelikeskjvbible]

I liked it high it sounded a lot brighter (for the raised pickup pieces), as for pole pieces it sounds better raised too. I guess I like a bright tone. In my recent videos I've been trying a country/rockabilly thing with a 58 explorer for the intro, but now I've discovered removing the pole pieces (from Scott Grove too) and the tone sounds even brighter. I've got the tone i want I just need to play better lol.

[@peterm3964]

Thanks for the tip on raising the pickup adjustment screws . I never would have tried that. POITER !!!

[@nealixd.3011]

Thanks, Paul, great food for thought. This muddiness is often common on neck pups of Les Paul style guitars, no doubt. Nice guitar you got too.

[@adamblaknovski279]

Thanks for the info, I think I can help you too, if you suffer from sinusitis it's probably gluten intolerance, I had severe sinusitis for thirty years unil I quit grains, especially wheat and anything with gluten in it, a week later what I thought was my sinuses fell down my throat, all fixed now.

[@daikuone]

Your playing was much better than mine. Lowering the pickup brought more chime on the E string. Also notice the pick attack more.. Seemed like removing the pole piece screws made the sound a bit thin, liked it better with the screws in..

[@PaulGrahamGuitarst]

Thank you for chiming in and sharing your thoughts. I appreciate the kind words in regards to my playing. I am sure you are a fine guitarist.

[@xenod1066]

2 suggestions: 1: The parallel option can of course be put on a switch, (like a push/pull pot switch) so you can have both ways. 2: The "best of both" cap makes your pickup non-hum-canceling at high frequencies. You could wire a passive bass control; a cap in series with your pickup(s) & a pot wired as a variable resistor "around" it. (Or you could say pot is in series, & cap is "around it") - With pot full up; no effect, as you turn it down, you cut bass. Everything remains hum-cancelling, & and again you can have it both ways. - Cheers.

[@ricardoc.8468]

+xenod1066 much like G&Ls PTB system right? :)

[@PaulGrahamGuitarst]

+xenod1066 Yes that is correct.You could further elaborate on what I have done in this video.A switch in series or better still a pot would allow a wide range of different tones.All the best.

[@xenod1066]

Ricardo C. Yes. :)

[@xMasterxRazorx]

Thinned out the tone too much for my tastes, but some neat tricks that I didn't know about.

[@joelghuggins]

When you get them balanced you can adjust the amp to bring the fatness back to the balance. Neck pickups always sound way bassier than bridge, Tone should sound rounder on neck but, not like they are louder. It takes a little time but it works miracles on a gibson straight out of the store. Been doing this for years. Hope that helps, Joel; Nashville TN. Session /Touring

[@archiguitarchi]

Aside from the PAF's in my 61 LP SG, I have never heard a Gibson humbucker I like, and I've owned a couple dozen since 1967.

[@MisterSwagify]

@Derek Charette To be perfectly honest most of the tuning stability issues are exxagerated. If you gotta tune once every song you got too many wraps on the tuners or your guitar is set up like absolute shit. For example, Angus Young usually only has to tune once per show, and that's with fresh strings every night. Epiphones used to have tuning stability issues because of shitty plastic nuts that grip the strings too hard, but now they use all Graph Tech, so that problem has been largely mitigated. As long as you don't get too overzealous on your wraps, you stretch your stings adequately and your guitar is set up well, your Gibson or Epi could sit for several days or be played for an hour and a half and you'll only be a couple cents off pitch. When it comes down to pickups it's all preference, so you could like them or you could hate them. I prefer T-Tops, and in that realm I think Gibson did pretty solid in the 70s. Unfortunately they don't make T-Top reissues, but plenty of brands like SoloDallas, Manlius and Brandonwound all make fantastic replicas. Many people hate T-Tops for the lower output, but that doesn't make it a bad pickup.

[@_-Skeptic-_]

As an electronic guy and intermediate guitar player, I've been playing with pickup wiring and all of different ideas. I've never thought of, or seen no. 5 (capacitor across one of the coils) as you mentioned, with a pot in series with the cap you can achieve a lot. I have to experiment with it. Maybe this is how Paul Read Smith made his TCI pickup. Thanks for sharing

[@Имбирнаяпеченька-ю6ь]

This video is gold btw. Im trying the no poles thing at the moment

[@Fogertian]

I got a YJM Humbucker ( Dimarzio) in the bridge of a Strat and is bright ( 23. 6 Kohms I guess ) so if I want a Gibson raw response with girth I switch to Mid+Bridge position and mMid pickup out of phase and Voila !!!!!. The Mid pickup is a Fender `81 ( kind of a lace sensor ) High Output and is 6.2 Kohms. I got it from a `81 Fender USA Bullet. If I want a P-90 tone the Dimarzio pickup goes from Humbucker to Single Coil with another mini switch in the same position and the Mid pickup out of phase too. I cut the highs a little with the 500k pot tone. ; ) Thanks for your ideas. I`ll do some mods to the next Humbucker that falls in my hands.

[@MrShadowofthewind]

I did this and it helped alot, backed off the humbucker and raised the screws, still in a slight 1mm difference slanted position, but, i did mine in stairs, so left one turn, middle two turns and right three turns for all six, so you basicly have two stairs.

[@JosephGallagher]

What?

[@ge200099]

Make those humbuckers bright again!

[@rickmilam413]

I like the last best. I design hi-fi loudspeakers. Basically an RC circuit to flatten the inductance of the second coil. An interesting take would be to wire for a resistor, but wire it to a pot so you can adjust the actual response to alter the top end. And, of course the value of the cap will affect the frequency of the knee of the response. Nice.

[@Babs42]

So I've got an all mahogany, ebony fretboard w/ diamond inlays BC Rich Mockingbird w/ JB/Jazz in it that sounds a bit dark at times. I'm hoping watching this will help :). Thanks for doing this video.

[@nigelsookdeo6880]

Very good information. I've always wondered how Angus Young from ACDC has his SG wired. Love the sound of his guitar.

[@TheMichaelseymour]

PS : I like that little riff you do !...greetings from Melbourne !!! good to hear a fellow aussie talking common sense !

[@AirTrio]

Turn the guitar amp louder. The acoustic sound of the guitar is being picked up the by camera mic. That shouldn't be if you're talking about pickups sound. Don't let the acoustic sound coming from the camera mic interfere with the sound coming from the guitar amp. The guitar sound coming from the amp is what should only be heard.

[@Ottonic6]

When they're (pickups) too close to the strings, you get a sort of warble sound from the magnets pulling on the strings.. Nice video!

[@Gravy_Master]

Dano C. Also your notes won’t sustain and ring out as long because the strength of the magnets stops the sound as it fades out.

[@stephenstrings]

A good set of ideas Paul. I fear though that the reduced output from any of the suggested mods heard against the flat out series ringing grunt will mask the benefit of any difference. I have found this perceptual effect with my clients BUT when I add a couple of resistors to the series options to equalize the output with the parallel output. Then suddenly even a guitarist can hear the benefit of the option.

[@joelghuggins]

My amp adjustments, make up for the minute output loss. Guess you've already tried that?

[@kc8ntp]

Hmm, someone has experience with electronics. I am an electrical and electronics design engineers and nice to see spot-on information!

[@shethinksimironman]

Aand on the opposite side of the spectrum, we have me! The electronically challenged guitar player who destroys anything he tries to solder, so he's too afraid of going near his axe with a hot soldering iron.

[@HoldMeForever]

Great video,, my muddy neck now had character and sounds amazing and sparkly!

[@rockinron3215]

Which one did you do?

[@Crazymofoinamajikbox]

Here's a tip I learned for those with active pickups! *Less Voltage=Brighter Tone*. I learned this by putting an old battery with not much juice left into my EC-330 which has the ESP designed ALH-200 pickups (Which are SUPPOSED to sound like EMGs but are in fact very muddy with a fresh battery) And it made the tone considerably brighter. Also I have one guitar with real EMGs and they were TOO bright so I did an 18 volt mod and it warmed them up a bit.

[@bernhardnizynski4403]

WRT number 3, if you remove the pickup cover and remove the non adjustable poles, then you can retain the look of the original pickup. This is easy on early Ibanez Humbuckers, as the covered coil has easily removable pole pieces.

[@musterionsurly]

yeah i'm a big fan of parallel wiring for boofy buckers. loved the treble bleed on one coil.

[@Airtrooper719]

Thank you for this video, I watched it start to end as I recently regrettably traded a jackson DK2 for a ESP LTD M-53. The M53 is extremely dark and muddy, despite being a nice little guitar to play. Im going to try all the mods except the wiring simply because I lack the solder iron and wire.

[@SpartanLaserCanon]

I like the warmer tones that humbuckers have without those mods

[@beatleme2]

i love the .022 real bumblebee caps ..can use .01 .05 .15 etc will make a diff ..or try the 50's wiring ...brighter sounding but to me real touching on the vol knobs.. great video :)

[@howlindogs]

One thing you can do is get a bunch of caps like you said and connect them with wires with alligator clips on the ends. unsolder your tone cap and put the alligator clip on the pot or lug that the cap was soldered to. Then clip ends to your capacitors to test out hear different tones with each cap til you find the one you like. then solder in that cap if you like. I sometimes go for a 200 volt sprague ceramic because they are cheaper($5.00) in price and sound pretty good. Bumblebees can be expensive if you just want to try different values to test, but in the long run and you like .022 over say a .033 you could spend the money on a $30.00 bumblebee of that value.

[@beatleme2]

yeah man :) ..Ohh i get my Bee's out of Tube am radio's from the 40's, i seen repo's go for alot and Blew my Mind !..Great Video

[@lji0041]

Last mod makes it sound like a banjo, IMO. Thanks for sharing.

[@shoominati23]

I just got a fender modern player HSS telecaster plus. I'm changing the humbucker for a guitar fetish loudmouth (they might sound like a noisy metal pickup not much good for anything else, but they have fantastic cleans with great string definition, not really much more output than an SD JB bridge) and ken rose in the states is hand winding me a p90 strat sized single coil and the most overwound tele neck pup without a cover that he can do . He winds everything by hand and how he can sell me two brilliant custom pickups for $85 shipped and still make money is beyond me! Probably put modern solid saddles in or a better string thru bridge, mate at music shop is cutting me a graphite nut, and then the guitar will be fully gigable.

[@nealixd.3011]

I found a used one with hardshell case, both in mint condition for $299 at my local Guitar Center. They are a really nice guitar, no doubt. Leaving mine stock for now, since I got a bunch of others that do other things, so I don't really need to switch this one up. Too bad Fender USA charges an arm and a leg for 22 frets, the belly cut, and the SSH pups like this one. Oh yeah, forgot, do have a nice genuine Fender white pearloid pick guard I might install, cut out for the SSH, it will really look sweet on the honey burst pine. But the black pick guard is really cool also. Hope yours works out well, seems like a lot of bang for the buck.

[@johngammuto1308]

I LIKE THE SCOTT GROVE MOD. NO DOUBT IN MY MIND. -BLIND JOHN, PHILA., PA

[@TheBladepolisher]

Hey Paul ! ! Thanks for the tips. I don't know if you were aware of it or not, but on your best of both world mods demo, when showing what the mod sounded like on the neck pickup, you had the pickup selector switch on both pickups or the middle position. Just a fyi for you friend.

[@chrisc6504]

prefered the sound before you adjusted it, just personal preference. but now i understand how to adjust my guitar thanks for excellent video

[@HavardEkremster]

Removing the pickupcovers also brightens the sound a bit, but might be more mess than it's worth for some people

[@PhilDoughty]

Great video Paul. I liked the way you made the before and afters for each mod. I thought the last mod made the guitar sound some what like banjo

[@Stoney3K]

If you want to do the 'parallel mod' for 3-wire humbuckers: Output wire connects to ground, center wire becomes output wire.

[@mrfatbobrider1969]

Hey cool stuff mate. New subby from New Zealand ✌

[@fretboarder4752]

sounded bright anyway

[@boxerfencer]

Awesome hack with the capacitor! Ill have to remember that! But doesnt that circumvent the 60 cycle hum cancelling properties of the humbucker?

[@MrMetalclay]

very good instructional video and now I have that riff stuck in my head

[@peterschmidt9942]

Great tips. Mate you're voice sounds like mine! I thought I was listening to myself.

[@kaypolo]

The pickup should be close but not where the strings will be hitting it when you play high on the neck. I will adjust the pole pieces to the arc of the fretboard also.(higher in the middle/lower on the sides). Also adjust the pickup closer on the treble strings side because they contain less metal for the pickup to sense.(and vice versa) All this sounds best to me.

[@tributeborn6036]

Pickups being too high WILL mess you up when intonating with a tuner this happened to me before so just a tip.

[@Dastardly_X]

🌟

[@riangarianga]

This is true only with alnico pole pieces, because they're actual magnets. Ceramic pickups have the actual magnet below their bodies, far from the strings. Their pole pieces are ferromagnetic, but non-magnetic, and they don't have this undesirable effect.

[@PaulGrahamGuitarst]

It is a Samick. Thanks for dropping by.

[@americandemon5480]

very informative, liked your video and playing. thanks for posting this.

[@ProducerOmari]

I always thought those type of pickups were meant to be a bit darker/warmer sounding.

[@PaulGrahamGuitarst]

Yes they are. But sometimes darker than the owner would like.

[@jhnsn56]

Has anyone ever noticed with covers there's a certain clicky sound almost a harmonic(s) based on the covers and a tighter distortion but with open no covers a creamier sustain and tone that's friendlier to the amps potentials and the dynamics are more apparent!

[@roach2566]

I took the cover of my treble pick up on my ibanez semi hollow..Gave it a more loose tone with a little more treble..No problems with feedback either.

[@PaulGrahamGuitarst]

Thanks Don. I am totally flattered.

[@ghosthackgary]

The capacitor used in the step 5, where did you source it? I’m struggling to a 5nf capacitor. Just 4.7 or 5.6 values. Thanks, great work btw.

[@dennisdas]

awesome work man... good to know. might try it someday.

[@jandeband]

the problem with most pickups ive seen is on the bass strings

[@riangarianga]

If you have adjustable pole pieces, lower them little by little to taste. I first adjust the pickup to a height where all the strings are balanced and can be heard. Then I adjust the pole pieces height of the wound strings to taste, one string at a time. My goal is to remove most of the boominess, although I don't like a too-tight bass. After that, the pickup will still sound balanced, but it won't be so boomy, so you could even take the bass knob on the amp higher up, which benefits the body of the unwound strings.

[@XChristianNoirX]

Gibson Guitar: 1:36 - Standard . 2:03 - Away from strings . 5:29 - Pole pieces raised and away from strings . 7:52 - No pole pieces and away from strings Metal Guitar: 12:34 - Standard . 13:02 - Parallel Wiring . 17:08 - Best of Both Mod (Treble Bypass using Capacitor (essentially, some treble is bypassing the first coil of the pickup, like mixing the humbucking sound with a single coil sound)(he also explains you can also use a resistor to change the volume of the treble that is bypassing))

[@whatthehellimbored]

wow Big difference between standard and parallel wiring!

[@flyinbryan1619]

loVE ThOse iNlaYs bRo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@lars4738]

yEaa ThEY ArE rEaLly WeLl doNe!

[@floridaman2504]

lmao there crooked asf

[@ProDigit80]

Wh4t'5 Wr0n6 w1t4 T43m?

[@jodysanders1111]

@@ProDigit80 6onn4u53th4t,,,gr8

[@ululufut]

Paul - can you comment on which, if any, of these 5 techniques increases output noise? Thanks!

[@PaulGrahamGuitarst]

None of these tips actually increase output noise but they all do decrease the output to a small degree. Hope I have answered your question.

[@2bikemikesguitartopics145]

The cap trick is called treble bleed. Can have resistors in series with it or parallel , range 100k-200k

[@PaulGrahamGuitarst]

It may be your ears playing tricks or the recording or computer speakers.The best of both worlds mod has a mid scooped sound with capacitors higher than 4 or 5nF. Lower values than that tend to just allow the highs to be more prominent. The neck pickup though will always have more bottom end than a bridge pickup and maybe that is what you are missing, even with the mod. So it may just be what you are looking for. Try it! Its reversible. Thanks for dropping by.

[@himax000]

Removing pole pieces made it lose induction on a one of the coils making it a single coil

[@SmiTTyy-sh8nc]

Really enjoyed your video, good info !! Subbed 👍

[@Roosville1]

Hi, For the "best of both" I use a 47nf and a 3k3 resistor placed in series across the coil between ground and the tap. If you use just a capacitor I found it sucks too much mid out. Even with 3k3 I think it needs a little higher value, say 6k8. Search "shuntbucker" on google and go to the top result. It is a great idea and I don't know why it isn't followed up further. Considering if the pickup already tapped it is an easy try-out and a fairly unique tone. Thanks for posting, great video.

[@PaulGrahamGuitarst]

+Roosville1 Thanks for taking the time to comment. Yes it does cut the mids quite a bit using a capacitor only. Using a small value of only a few nF like I have mostly shunts the highs past one coil but does still cut into the mids a little. I will check out the shuntbucker. Cheers.

[@danilor.pavonchavez5192]

you are really good, thanks for all this man!!! now i see everything from a different angle. what about getting a fatter tone without getting muddy and dull? I bet you can tell us something about it !!!

[@PaulGrahamGuitarst]

Interesting. Might look into that one. Fatter tome with out the mud.

[@WeeLammTunes]

Apparently this video has been up awhile, people are still posting and you are still responding. Finally, the community is working. :-) 2 negative comments I have, with the first guitar it seems you are comparing each change with the original condition, but I'm not sure that is a fair comparison. For example, the first comparison is with a lowered pickup, the third comparison is with the pickup lowered and the pole pieces removed. It would be interesting to hear the differences between pole pieces in or removed, relative to the pickup being at the same height. :-) I also wonder about the second guitar, it would appear that your first change is not only placing them in parallel but also out of phase. In your diagram, should you not be flipping the wires on the east pickup? Otherwise, I like the format of your video and the fact that you did show back to back comparisons of the various sounds ... nicely done. :-)

[@PaulGrahamGuitarst]

Interesting. To answer your first question it is possible to hear the differences in only the pole pieces being removed if you go to 2:03 and then to 7:52 as the pickup heights are the same. To answer the second question you are in fact correct about out the diagram, it basically does make the coils out of phase if it is a conventional humbucker. The diagrams were more a simple demonstration of the difference between parallel and series wiring my intention wasn't to deceive. I felt that some may not understand the concept of parallel wiring with the additional wires going around one of the coils. I recall someone else a year or two ago made me aware of the exact same thing. The pickup in the second guitar was in fact wired in parallel in phase. Otherwise the output would have been way down and very thin indeed. Thanks for bringing these things to light. All the best.

[@ericdenton6664]

Once I got past your ghastly playing (joking with you of course) I enjoyed your advice. Your a good guitarist. Thank you for the video.

[@franciscoramones929]

hello excuse me, my sorry english ... i am from venezuela ... i have a low epiphone sg 0 of a very dark sidewinder double coil pickup ... what can i do to make it sound very bright and happy?

[@Supernautiloid]

@francisco ramones Well these tricks should work for your EB-0 bass as well. Try raising the pole pieces on your sidewinder pickups, and then lower the overall pickup height. It should make the sound brighter.

[@franciscoramones929]

ok thanks i will try

[@hawk1093]

Replace it with a classic 57 xD

[@PaulGrahamGuitarst]

Thank you for your kind words and the referral.