Bridge pickups thoughts

[backinit]

I have one LP where the pickups sound on the dark side. It has 500k pots, orange drop capacitors...std 2v 2T 3 way switching modern wiring. The pickups are a Jazz neck style, JB bridge style, Al5 mags, brass base plates.....
Before I had a set of hot PAF style pickups, same base plates....sounded somewhat dark as well.
I'm thinking about changing to a ceramic mag pickup in the bridge with a nickel silver base plate to try to open things up a bit...specifically a Tonerider Panama. What do you folks think? It's only $59 to try one and see.

[BatUtilityBelt]

You might have already tried this, but in case you hadn't... Before changing anything else for tone on a guitar, I go through a lot of pickup height changes. I think it's amazing how different pickups sound just because of subtle height changes. Too dark might mean the pickups are too high, or maybe just on the thick string side, angles matter too.

[backinit]

Yes I think I've basically exhausted what I can do with the current set up besides maybe swapping the Al5 mag for a ceramic. I'm not convinced that alone would bring me to where I want to be.

[toomanycats]

Some guitars just have an inherently dark tonality. Obversely, I have one Les Paul in particular, a Gibson 60s Standard, which is extremely bright. My struggle with that instrument has been to attenuate the highs. I've dealt with is through careful pickup choice, keeping the tone knobs rolled back, and adjusting the amp.

You could try 1 Meg pots before changing pickups.

If you wanted to try a bright pickup without losing the unique tone that ALNiCo magnets imparts I'd recommend Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates. That is a very trebly pickup.

Another approach that will not cost you a dime, and which a lot of people overlook (including myself in the past), is shaping the tone of the guitar with the controls of your amp. Turn up the treble and presence while rolling back the bass and low mids.

[Rollin Hand]

Another potential option on a budget is the GFS VEH. Alnico, but apparently quite bright.

[andrewsrea]

@backinit Having played and built a butt-ton of humbuckers, those higher-powered ones are built using 44 to 45 gauge coil wire (extremely thin, with less insulation) which makes the pickup more capacitive, which really favors the low and midrange frequencies over the highs. And like @toomanycats said, there are some guitars which are naturally darker (I find many PRS guitars are mid-focused, for example).

I suggest buying a C8 (fat ceramic magnet) like this: https://www.mojotone.com/Ceramic-8-Bar-Magnet-2-60-Long , which will turn your bridge pup into a Duncan Distortion. Loosen the bobbin screws a bit and use a hair drier to melt the potting wax and gently push the bar magnet out, opposite the side with the wiring. Pay attention to north and south polarity of the original magnet and install the new C8 with the same polarity. Duncans are 'north' to the slugs and 'south' to the adjustable polepieces, factory specs.

Note that most Duncans are already nickel silver base plates, which FYI: the brass ones darken the pickup and gets darker as you roll the volume down on the guitar.

All that said, I personally do not like or use humbuckers >10K. With the exception of an Epi Les Paul Custom that is 12K and A5 (does the dark thing with a right amp).

I have a recipe for a 42-gauge wound A5 called 'AMI 10' (around 10K), which I made for an amp builder who is a VH fan. It pushes like a higher output pickup, but still has the highs and finesse closer to a PAF. Same pickup with a standard C8 magnet (like the Agiles came with) and you get an 'AMI Soaring Fingers' (Ibanez Flying Fingers with more push), and with a super C8 like above, the same wind is an 'AMI Superior Distortion' (like vintage Ace Frehley, but more dynamic).

Good luck in your quest!

[backinit]

I do think that a ceramic pickup is the best option here. I wish I had the Super Distortion that I took out of one of my LPs years ago that came in it. We'll see...still looking around.

[solteroblues]

Some guitars just have an inherently dark tonality. Obversely, I have one Les Paul in particular, a Gibson 60s Standard, which is extremely bright. My struggle with that instrument has been to attenuate the highs. I've dealt with is through careful pickup choice, keeping the tone knobs rolled back, and adjusting the amp.

You could try 1 Meg pots before changing pickups.

If you wanted to try a bright pickup without losing the unique tone that ALNiCo magnets imparts I'd recommend Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates. That is a very trebly pickup.

Another approach that will not cost you a dime, and which a lot of people overlook (including myself in the past), is shaping the tone of the guitar with the controls of your amp. Turn up the treble and presence while rolling back the bass and low mids.

My FMT Telecaster has the SD 59 in the neck, currently my all time favorite pickup, and has the Pearly Gates in the bridge. I really don't like it very much, it's very harsh sounding to me - maybe it's too bright, at least in that guitar.

[toomanycats]

Some guitars just have an inherently dark tonality. Obversely, I have one Les Paul in particular, a Gibson 60s Standard, which is extremely bright. My struggle with that instrument has been to attenuate the highs. I've dealt with is through careful pickup choice, keeping the tone knobs rolled back, and adjusting the amp.

You could try 1 Meg pots before changing pickups.

If you wanted to try a bright pickup without losing the unique tone that ALNiCo magnets imparts I'd recommend Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates. That is a very trebly pickup.

Another approach that will not cost you a dime, and which a lot of people overlook (including myself in the past), is shaping the tone of the guitar with the controls of your amp. Turn up the treble and presence while rolling back the bass and low mids.

My FMT Telecaster has the SD 59 in the neck, currently my all time favorite pickup, and has the Pearly Gates in the bridge. I really don't like it very much, it's very harsh sounding to me - maybe it's too bright, at least in that guitar.

If I remember correctly, part of the reason why the Pearly Gates has such a bright tone is due to the unbalanced coils.

Since ceramic has been mentioned, if you could find a set of vintage Mighty Mite 1300 Distortion pickups . . . just wow! Unfreaking believable combination of output, tone, harmonics, and clarity. Similar to a Dimarzio Distortion, but better sounding.

Here's another suggestion: The EMG Het Set. It's an active humbucker pickup, like the 81, but it has individual poles on one of the coils. I bought a used Ibanez RG 570 that somebody had installed this pickup set in. I was expecting it to sound like Hetfield, which it does under high gain, but I was surprised at how versatile these pickups are. They have a very clear, musical and warm, almost hi-fi, very present sound, without being harsh or sterile. Individual string separation is phenomenal. I can't imagine a guitar that these pickups would sound dark in.

Just throwing these suggestions out there since we're all spitballing.