Humbuckers with mushy/fuzzy tone :confused:

[GroundskeeperWillie]

I have been winding the odd humbucker (Mostly Lower dcr 7.5k neck & 8.4k bridge A2 magnets
& I have a reoccurring problem .
They sound nice & bright but the bass sounds mushy When i turn up the gain a little
Could it be my tension ?

[GroundskeeperWillie]

Anyone ???

[David Schwab]

Are you scattering or winding neatly?

[GroundskeeperWillie]

Im trying to wind neat turn per layer , by hand of coarse

[Possum]

Use plain enamel wire, its a dryer sound, bass a bit more clear. Hand winding will always muddy up a humbucker, no way around it. Gibson never hand wound their humbuckers or P90's or any pickup that I know of, machine winding will always give you better clarity. The parts sellers only sell the same kinds of alloys, they are all pretty much the same very low carbon stuff that is meant to be "warm." You get nice treble but muddy bass. Try a ceramic magnet to get some of the metal out of the magnetic chain. You could try winding the pole screw side alot less, but I've never found this really does much thats noticeable myself. Clean up your wiring harness. If you're using an offshore guitar, the pots and caps and wiring inside are crap, replace all of it with braided shield wire, good CTS pots, and Russian NOS paper in oil tone caps. Replace any printed circuit switches as well. The harness work alone will dramatically improve clarity, even on a multi-thousand dollar Gibson...