Taming an overly loud neck pickup

[kevinT]

I don't know what it is, but I've been winding some really loud neck pickups lately. Even at a lower resistance, and degaussed mag, it's a bit louder than the bridge.

anyone experiencing this and what have you done to lower the volume?

[David Schwab]

For my bass pickups I wind the neck a lot lower than the bridge. I've been winding really loud bridge pickups lately, and had to goose up the neck to match.

I can't think how else you would lower the output besides wind less wire on it.

If you reduce the magnet's strength it will also change the tone. But maybe you can try the DiMarzio trick of putting a non magnetic spacer between the magnet and the keeper/slugs to lower the power a bit.

[Sweetfinger]

You're back to old-school tricks, working with pickup height. Other fixes are just that: "fixes". like going to a lower value volume pot for that pickup, or putting a resistive divider before the switch if you have a single volume guitar. You could try putting a cap in series with the hot lead which will cut output a tiny bit even if it is a large value cap that is essentially 'transparent'. A smaller value cap will cut bass frequencies and that can be 'percieved' as a drop in volume. I think the solution is simple, though, just wind even LOUDER bridge pickups!

[RedHouse]

Answer no to any of these and you're on your way:
(BTW you didn't say what kind of coil format it is)

• Are you winding by turns-count?
  
• Are you using the same wire you did before the problem?
  
• Are there any changes in the testbed guitar or listening amp/system?
  
• Are you using the same magnets? ...baseplates? ...bobbin assemblys?
  
• Are you using the same machine/motor for winding?
  
• Are you using the same tensioning method?
  
• Are you using the same speed (RPM) to wind?
  
• Are you doing a scatter pattern? ...is it the same as before?

With all due respect, one small question which is not prefaced by any decicive information that may be helpfull in determining what your immediate change/difference/cause/solution might be.

Most folks can't help without some info to go by...

[Béla]

1:1.5 or so audio transformer could help, either by reducing the level of the neck or by boosting the bridge PU. Kinda.

[Possum]

...

If you just changed wire spools for a new batch measure with your micrometer. I have an MWS spool of 42, its marked the same as previous spool but its NOT the same diameter. That changes everything. You might also look at Duncan's ratios of bridge to neck, there is a reason why most bucker sets that are traditional designs usually fall into the same DCR ratios for bridge and neck. Alot of vintage stuff though were never "calibrated" sets, neck and bridge were just as likely to be the same DCR so the neck would always be louder...

[JGundry]

Lower it. Neck humbuckers usually benefit from the added clarity you get from lowering the pickup to the pickup ring or just a bit below it. Plus you stand a good change to balance the output with the bridge by lowering the neck pickup this far.

[kevinT]

I can answer yes to each question. My hunch is they are the magnets. In the neck pickups in which i use A3s and A4s, they are really loud...maybe i'm just used to A2s and A5s in the neck...Both A3 and A4 have a larger amounts of nickel in each grade as opposed to A5 and A2 for example. A3s have 25% nickel and A4s have 28%.....A5 has 14%.

I have degaussed each a bit but they are still loud. I was just wondering whether anyone else has had this problem in the past and what they did about it....I guess I'll have to mess with the height and gauss a little more adm see if i can control it better.

Answer no to any of these and you're on your way:
(BTW you didn't say what kind of coil format it is)

• Are you winding by turns-count?
  
• Are you using the same wire you did before the problem?
  
• Are there any changes in the testbed guitar or listening amp/system?
  
• Are you using the same magnets? ...baseplates? ...bobbin assemblys?
  
• Are you using the same machine/motor for winding?
  
• Are you using the same tensioning method?
  
• Are you using the same speed (RPM) to wind?
  
• Are you doing a scatter pattern? ...is it the same as before?

With all due respect, one small question which is not prefaced by any decicive information that may be helpfull in determining what your immediate change/difference/cause/solution might be.

Most folks can't help without some info to go by...

[David Schwab]

All this talk about loud pickups and magnets reminded me of something. This is somewhat unrelated, but interesting, so I thought I'd share it. I have a regular customer that used to play with the touring band for Kool and the Gang (they are from around here), and I always did all the work on his guitars, until he started learning to do some of the stuff himself... like installing pickups.

One day he brings me his Strat and says the neck pickup got really loud and distorted. He uses Duncan rail pickups, and the neck and middle were cool rails, and the bridge was a hot rail. Indeed his neck pickup was so freaking loud, that is blew away the Hot Rail! And it sounded funny.... not a good loud. I even tried lowering it all the way and it was still too loud.

The pickup checked out fine on my meter.. it was very strange. Then I noticed that when he installed this pickup, he accidentally melted one of the hook up wires (I seem to remember it was the white wire) in the 4-conductor cable, and it had stuck to the magnet! So one of the conductors was making contact with the magnet. I pulled the wire free and the pickup sounded normal again. Very strange. I didn't give it a lot of thought at the time, but right off hand couldn't understand how that wound make the pickup so loud. And I mean it was LOUD!