Dull sound.

[fasteddie]

My learned (ed) and esteem colleagues. I have a single pickup guitar where the pickup is a humbucker and is routed at an angle, the top leaning towards the neck, the back leaning towards the bridge (a la Kramer Baretta/BC Rich Gunslinger). The bass strings do not sound clear at all and when distorted the sound is fat but too fat and there is no audible distinction between the three wound strings, they all sound like a mush. I am thinking it is because the distance between the saddles (of the floyd) and the poles of the top of the pickup (where the bass strings sit) are almost 3 inches apart, so the sound lacks bite.

What do I do, is it as simple as change the pup for a brighter sounding one, but then perhaps, have the treble strings sounding too bright?

I am your humble servant.

[Dave Scepter]

Just curious, is this a new guitar "to you?".. does it have a tone control?.. Did this tone issue always sound like this or did it just start happening?

[fasteddie]

16 minutes ago, Dave Scepter said:

Just curious, is this a new guitar "to you?".. does it have a tone control?.. Did this tone issue always sound like this or did it just start happening?

Hi Dave. The guitar has always sounded like this, but I've had other guitars on the go so didn't really bother fixing it, it has a single volume, and single pickup. It has a 500k pot (if that makes any difference I don'y know, electrics aren't my thing). It's a flippin lovely guitar to play, neck is like lightening even with fairly high action, but like I say the bass strings sound muddy, and not in a good way. I've recently put an EMG 81/85 set combination to my Diablo and it sounds perfect, it has an alder body so compliments the depth and natural sustain the guitar lacks. Maybe an EMG for this guitar?

[Dave Scepter]

I'm in the same boat & have a very similar issue... I have replaced the pickup without any noticeable change... but then again, changing to an EMG will make a world of because you'll be going from passive to active & replacing anyting that was associated with the old circuit... I'm going to try bypassing the capacitor next... like you, I have other guitars and it's low priority on my to do list 😆... personally I don't think it's because of the pickup angle "pole alignment"... 

[fasteddie]

44 minutes ago, Dave Scepter said:

I'm in the same boat & have a very similar issue... I have replaced the pickup without any noticeable change... but then again, changing to an EMG will make a world of because you'll be going from passive to active & replacing anyting that was associated with the old circuit... I'm going to try bypassing the capacitor next... like you, I have other guitars and it's low priority on my to do list 😆... personally I don't think it's because of the pickup angle "pole alignment"... 

I saw a Youtube vid, with a Seymour Duncan Invader Neck pickup, and that sounded very clear and punchy in a Squire strat with a bridge p/u. Food for thought.

[fasteddie]

1 hour ago, gtrdaddy said:

Pole alignment does make a difference guys. Because of the pickup’s orientation, your sound will benefit by being cognizant of the pickup’s height, you don’t want the magnets too close to the strings, this will muddy the sound. The magnets of typical pickups shouldn’t really be any closer than 1/8”, and the poles ideally should be +/-  3/32”  for clarity, making a fine adjustment either way for personal taste. The closer the poles and magnets beyond this point, typically saturates the sound with midrange and at the expense of clarity.  Keeping in mind the unique orientation of the pickups at hand, you will probably benefit by lowing the pickup so the magnet sits perhaps a bit past 1/8” , and raise the poles higher to dial in the sound. Lower pickup magnets and higher poles = increased clarity and articulation. 

Thanks for this, also because the p/u is slanted the distance from the floyd to the top of the pickup is further than to the bottom of the pickup so the sound is like playing the wound strings on a Les Paul with the neck pickup and playing the wire strings with the bridge pickup.

[Dave Scepter]

1 hour ago, gtrdaddy said:

Pole alignment does make a difference guys. Because of the pickup’s orientation, your sound will benefit by being cognizant of the pickup’s height, you don’t want the magnets too close to the strings, this will muddy the sound.

Yup correct however, I assumed that he already tried this as there are plenty of guitars with slant angle pickups out there that are not muddy~ my point was just because the pickups are angled doesn't constitute for them being muddy