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I just installed a pair of my own humbuckers into a guitar I built. Usually, a bridge pickup sounds brighter than a neck pickup, right? At least that has always been my experience with Les Pauls, SGs, Strats and so on. But with this guitar, the neck pup is much brighter and crisper that the bridge. Both pickups feature alnico 5 mags and awg 42 wire. The bridge has a DCR of 9.45k and the neck 6.35k. Any idea why the bridge would sound so much warmer than the neck? I was expecting it to be the other way around.
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Chris Monck
eguitarplans.com -
The neck is brighter because you have less wire on it. The more wire you wind, the fatter sounding it gets. At some point you have an exaggerated low end and diminished top end. That's why they put ceramic magnets in overwound pickups.
6.3K gets you in Filtertron territory. Most humbuckers are around 7k and up.
Personally, I like the neck pickup to be bright and the bridge to have more girth.It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure. — Albert Einstein
http://coneyislandguitars.com
www.soundcloud.com/davidravenmoon -
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You probably wired the bobbins together wrong. If they are done wrong they will be extremely bright. Coil starts should be soldered together and coil ends are hot and ground....
Some use coil ends soldered together and coil starts as hot and ground. Get it wrong and it becomes super bright...http://www.SDpickups.com
Stephens Design PickupsComment
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I'm pretty sure I wired them up correctly so I'll give the nod to David's response. However, I may switch things around just to see what happens. I gotta say I'm quite pleased with the tone. If I did wire it wrong, I'll chalk it up to being a happy accident!Originally posted by Possum View PostChris Monck
eguitarplans.comComment
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I have bucker designs that are 6.5, its not overly bright. If it is really ice pick bright and sounds harsh you wired something wrong. I use A2 on mine, sounds wonderful on archtops...http://www.SDpickups.com
Stephens Design PickupsComment
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I recently wired a hummer up wrong, I had one bobbin around the wrong way on the winder so one was wound cw and the other ccw so when I wired it all up one coil was out of phase with the other, along with the bright crappy tone there was very minimal output as well, luckily I wired it with 4 core so I just swapped the white and black around and it was killer, anyway, I was just thinking that he didn't say anything about low output, just thin tone??Comment
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He just said it was brighter and crisper. Not thin and nasal. It's an under wound neck and an overwound bridge. That would be exactly what they would sound like.
I have a similar set in a guitar of mine. The neck pickup sounds almost like a Strat since it is on a 25.5" scale guitar. Even 7.5K humbuckers can be bright.It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure. — Albert Einstein
http://coneyislandguitars.com
www.soundcloud.com/davidravenmoonComment
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