Gibson 498T Hum and Feedback Problem

[pat_masac]

Hello, everyone! This is my first post and I think I've come to the right place!

I have an Epiphone Les Paul Custom that has been a great guitar! Being that I play mostly metal I decided to spruce it up a bit by installing a Gibson 498T Humbucker in the bridge position. Since installing the Gibson pickup I get a hum and the guitar feedbacks incredibly and other times you can barely hear it. I did not change the neck pickup and left the original Epiphone in. I'm playing through a Line 6 Spider 2 that has been the best solid state amp I've ever owned (we play in a "jam room" I built connected to my garage). I've installed many pickups before and never had a problem (mostly Duncans- this is my first Gibson). Do any of you guys know what might be causing this? I really want to get this guitar back to the great sound it once had. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for any help!!

[big_teee]

If the pickup has a 4 wire cable?
The Gibson color code is different than Seymour duncan.
With the bad hum and feedback it appears to be wired wrong.
Wiring Diagram

**Edit
If you fix it, please let us know what you did.
This will allow us to quit analyzing the problem, if it is fixed.
Thanks

[mr fab]

you have a hotter style pickup which has quite a significant output. try bringing the gain on the amp down somewhat, and you may also want to drop the pickup away from the strings, to make it sound clearer. whilst higher output pickups do drive an amp harder, this is not always an advantage as the additional gain will cause the guitar to feedback easier and can make the sound muddier.

back off on the gain on the amp as you turn it up and you may also wish to pull back on the mids

I hope this helps

[pat_masac]

you have a hotter style pickup which has quite a significant output. try bringing the gain on the amp down somewhat, and you may also want to drop the pickup away from the strings, to make it sound clearer. whilst higher output pickups do drive an amp harder, this is not always an advantage as the additional gain will cause the guitar to feedback easier and can make the sound muddier.

back off on the gain on the amp as you turn it up and you may also wish to pull back on the mids

I hope this helps

Thanks a million! Your suggestion worked perfectly! I had the pickup WAY to high! So, I lowered it about a quarter of an inch, lowered the mids on the amp and it sounds perfect- no hum, no buzz and when I stop playing and mute the strings on the neck there is no feedback at all. Thanks for your help. That pickup is HOT and the problem is solved!

[mr fab]

glad it helped. I find it a fallacy with the marketing hype out there that higher output pickups are better for higher gain. I believe in the contrary. as you just found, lowering the gain actually makes for a better sound. you may wish to try lower output pickups in the future which will give you more scope for sculpting your sound. in this way you can always turn you amp gain up or add a dirt pedal. I tell people to look for the sound they are after rather than output/gain. as I said, you can always add that with a pedal, or using amp gain.

a client brought me his FV with a 498T in it with the same problem. I just lowered the pickup quite a bit and made a huge improvement in clarity.... after a week or so, he came back wanting lower output paf style pickups installed to further improve it.

[big_teee]

Glad you got it fixed, and welcome to the forum.
T