I got a better tone from my Antiquities...

[toni]

I did a very simple "finetune" on my Antiquities, and i hear a tone improvement !
I raised ALL the 6 polescrews by a full turn on both pickups, set the height of the pickup at the plastic ring's level (at the center portion), and the mids are now more complex and richer !

Could you Try it and tell me if you hear as much difference as i did ?


Toni :wail:

 

[RICH]

I always set my pole pieces a little higher, so you're not alone, it does add some tone. I kinda follow the radius of the strings, but I will check the string-to-string volume afterwards and fine tune them.

 

[Ken]

Nashville set-up?

I've been doing that as well ever since I read about it in the "Legends of the LP" issue of GP a few years back.

 

[RICH]

I think I have doing that for probably 20 years. The V's forced me into that, the pickup lays flat, and the strings are on a wild angle, so I would raise the poles to compensate and get back some of the treble.

 

[Unmensch]

I raised the poles more on the neck Antiquity to make it less muddy. If I raise the poles a whole lot, it sounds P-90ish to me.

 

[toni]

Yep !

but i get a better tone without making a arc with the polescrews because the height of the polescrews have much more effect on tone than on output, so i got a better tone with all the 6 polesrews equally raised !

AND AND AND....:dude

AND, the very interesting thing about raising all the 6 polescrews is that you thus create a stronger coil (out of two),
AND so you naturally create the same kind of "unbalanced" strenght between the two coils, similarly to old PAFs that were unevenly wired ! BINGO ! Ther tone open much more !:wow the difference is not funny at all !:lolspin

 

[RICH]

There IS a difference, every guitar I ever owned since I started playing V's got set up that way over the years. You DO still have to check string-to-string volume though, sometimes you get lucky and can leave them the same hieght on some guitars, and other guitars will need a fine tune on the poles. Sometimes you will hear some strings overpowering others on the big open chords, so you will need to lower or increase certain string's volumes with the pole adjustment. It just happens that with my antiquities I found that an even height on the poles is doing the job also, with just a tad higher on the high E string.

 

[Unmensch]

Yeah, I noticed that I get a some hum on each individual Antiquity HB, but they cancel with both on. As far as I can remember, they did this even before I adjusted the poles. I have some amps that "don't like" humbucks. For some reason, they make an exception for the Antiquity.

 

[GuitarG]

Thanks for the tip. I have been setting up my humbuckers the same way for 20 odd years, poles flush with the cover and the pickup fairly close to the strings. I think I read a 'Guitar Player' article that suggested it, and I have never changed. I set the front pickup on my BB RI per your suggestion, and what a difference it made. I then setup the middle and rear pickups. The middle pickup now sounds incredible, even by itself. I still don't like the rear pickup. I can't get it to balance with the front, no matter what I do. It has very low output and is thin in the bass frquencies. I will replace it soon, maybe with a Harmonic Design.
I then setup my '67 335 with great results. I modded the pickups in the late 70's with some Alembic magnets. (Anyone remember when they offered those?) The rear pickup died a couple of years ago and I replaced it with a Gibson '57 reissue. Both pickups sound great now with this setup. Very balanced, full tone.
Thanks again for the tip.

 

[toni]

GuitarG,

you're very welcome !:dude

how would you compare your Burstbuckers to Harmonic design ?
I dont know these pickups.

thanks

 

[GuitarG]

I don't have burstbuckers in the guitar. They are the stock '57 PAF reissues. The BB in my post referred to Black Beauty, a '57 reissue custom.
I've only played one guitar with the Harmonic Designs, but I liked them a lot.

 

[Scott Stulken]

I've heard (I don't have a humbucker to try it), that if you completely remove 6 of the poles, that you can get a pretty single-coil-ish sound. The "other" coil is still there, but it can't "hear" anything because it doesn't have any poles. Didn't someone here once try that?

- Scott

 

[RICH]

I was the clown who tried it. I had the screw poles out because I was aging them in the acid, so I had the urge to plug the guitar in without them. It was pretty cool, a tad weak, but cool.