'66 ES-335 pickup help

[danocaster]

I have a '66 335 that has a killer neck pickup (pat sticker non T ). The bridge pickup is "nice" but it's considering lower in output and much brighter ( they both measure roughly 7.5K )

I would really like something slightly chunkier (although still "chimey" ).. I actually bought AL2/3/5 magnets to swap but I'm sorta gun shy and ,from what I understand, it probably wouldnt make it LOUDER anyway ( Pat stickers have AL V, right ?? ) An A2 would make it more PAFish but reduce volume also

SO.. what would you guys with more experience do ? Get a Wolfetone ? I would greatly appreciate your advice as I LOVE this new guitar and want to LOVE it even more - but my experience is mostly w/ vintage Teles

Thanks

Here's the guitar ( just an excuse to post a pic really )

 

[gadzooka]

Oh yeah, I love that... Saw it on the Bay. Congratulations!

 

[danocaster]

You must have seen a different one. I bought this from a friend who's had it for a while. When I got it , it had a tone pros stop TP / bridge on it.. I got the bigsby from a friend who recently bought a '60 335 that had this on it and wanted it back tp stop TP. So I bought it and put that on myself

I LOVE it - '

any pickup advice ??

 

[gadzooka]

a-HA... Not eBay. Did you post pics here in an earlier thread? I know I saw it somewhere...didn't I?

Sorry I can't advise on pickup options. I have always been a non-tinkering, stock axe kinda guy. I have a '67 ES-335 with probably the same pickups as yours. non-T bobbins with orange coil wire. I love the tone too. It has a chimey thing going...I was wondering if the trapeze tail contributed. Was yours originally a trapeze?

 

[danocaster]

ANY advice from the forum ??

I could really use it

 

[jcs]

soooo..between adjusting the height of each pu (neck down-bridge up) and adjusting the volume and tone knobs (tone on bridge rolled off to 3-7) you cant find a suitable tone balance between the 2 pickups?

 

[danocaster]

soooo..between adjusting the height of each pu (neck down-bridge up) and adjusting the volume and tone knobs (tone on bridge rolled off to 3-7) you cant find a suitable tone balance between the 2 pickups?

Correct. The neck pickup is about level w/ the p/up ring and the bridge pickup is about at it's highest position. When I move to the bridge it is thinner , brighter, and quieter. I assumed there was an issue and was expecting a reading of about 6K ( but it does read 7.5 )

I simply want it to have more "oomph" when I kick it back to the bridge position

 

[plaintop60]

Sounds like a pup with a dc resistance reading of about 8.5k is in order here. This is very normal......neck pups are always much more powerful than bridge pups. It's not the pups, it's the guitar. The string makes a much wider pass over the pickup at the neck and therefore generates a bigger sound. With the guitar unplugged, strum a chord over the neck pup anf then do it the same way over the bridge pup....the difference in volume and the thin tone at the bridge pup should be obvious. This is what the pickups are sensing, so this is what they reproduce. The only way to counter this phenomenon is to have a stouter bridge pup, hence matched sets with more windings for the bridge. This is more pronounced on an es335 than on a solid body.

 

[turk]

The string makes a much wider pass over the pickup at the neck and therefore generates a bigger sound. ...
The only way to counter this phenomenon is to have a stouter bridge pup, hence matched sets with more windings for the bridge.

Or, you can just not run everything at 10 from the start; which will allow the volume knobs and tone controls to do their thing ... :salude

Seriously .. I bet most of the great players of the past played this way .. therefore a hotter signal from the neck pickup was not an issue.

 

[Mike Shaw]

Interesting thought - Greg Martin runs the vol. on his burst on around 7-8 and it really fattens up the sound. Worth a try?
To quote John Belushi in Animal House - "... don't cost nuthin'"

 

[JohnnyAquanet]

I have to disagree about tone. Its changes when you turn down the volume on the guitar. It gets thinner and you lose sustain or "oomph".

 

[plaintop60]

Or, you can just not run everything at 10 from the start; which will allow the volume knobs and tone controls to do their thing ... :salude

Seriously .. I bet most of the great players of the past played this way .. therefore a hotter signal from the neck pickup was not an issue.

That's definitely true. If you have an older guitar that doesnt have a "matched set" of pups, like just about any older guitar, you have no coice but to adjust them to get the balance you need.

 

[danocaster]

I guess part of the problem w/ that scenario is the neck pickup's pot doesnt have that great of taper...below 9 it just gets sorta muddy whereas the bridge's pot is great. The neck is the one I would be pulling back and rolling the volume back on that pickups kills it

I have a new RS 500K Super Pot - would you suggest sticking that in to remedy that ?? I was thinking that particular pot may be part of the equation that is making me love the neck pickup so much ( even though it gets muddy too early )

 

[Mike Shaw]

"I have to disagree about tone. Its changes when you turn down the volume on the guitar. It gets thinner and you lose sustain or "oomph"."

It really depends on the taper of your pots. Of course you can always turn up the amp!
I'm not too familiar with the SUper Pots (do a search?) but I know that Hamer has a nice taper.

 

[turk]

I have to disagree about tone. Its changes when you turn down the volume on the guitar. It gets thinner and you lose sustain or "oomph".

Try putting you volume and tone pots to around 5 and *then* dial in your amp ... gives you lot's of leaway.