Help with LP 498T neck pup, ? wiring issue

threadkiller

threadkiller

New member
Recently bought a 2011 LP which i think has the 498T in the neck. I love the guitar for all around playability and the bridge pup sounds good but the neck pup sounds absolutely awful. Thin and nasal but not in a good way. To the point I was wondering if something was wrong with the wiring. I looked up some diagrams but this one has some sort of "hub" on the plate that I'm not familiar with but may just be there to make the grounding simpler. I don't know. Could some of you pickup wiring gurus tell me if something is amiss with the pickup wiring, particularly on the neck pup or if I just really don't like the 498T? Also, looks like this one has the modern wiring scheme but I think I'd prefer the vintage. The main issue again is that the neck pup sounds really thin and lifeless. The bridge has a ton more volume and actually seems to have more bass. Help much appreciated.



 
That looks like it's wired right to me. The 498t should be in the bridge position with most likely a 490r in the neck position. Unfortunately Gibson doesn't label their pups with a model#, so you're left to guess by measuring the DC resistance.
The best thing to do is get a voltage meter and measure their resistance. A 498t should be around 12.32k-13.46k and a 490r around 7.2 k- 7.83 k.
 
I do not believe that you have vintage wiring. You'd have to move the cap wire to the middle terminal of the volume pot.

The first thing I'd do is follow the previous advice and get an ohm reading to see if the pickup is shorting. If it does not have a good reading, it may need to be repaired or replaced. I believe Seymour Duncan repairs/rewinds pups for less than a good new pickup costs.

After that: quickly de-soder or clip those cheap ceramic caps and ceremoniously flush them down the closest toilet; replace them with orange drops (between 0.0047 and 0.022 micro-farads, depending on taste). Given what you said about your tone and your preference for vintage sound, I would recommend 0.010 uF orange drops and wire them to the center terminal of the volume pot. This places the filter circuit 'after' the volume control; vintage Gibsons had it that way.

The following part is very, very good:
http://www.amazon.com/Film-Capacito...3&sr=8-6&keywords=0.01+uf+orange+drop+sprague

You can find these cheaper, though. This should make a HUGE improvement to the tone.

BTW: one of your pots may be shot. If you never messed with these things before, I'd take it to a guitar center or other shop where they have a guitar tech who can check all this stuff out for you.
 
laughingal":2im1q2ru said:
I do not believe that you have vintage wiring. You'd have to move the cap wire to the middle terminal of the volume pot.

The first thing I'd do is follow the previous advice and get an ohm reading to see if the pickup is shorting. If it does not have a good reading, it may need to be repaired or replaced. I believe Seymour Duncan repairs/rewinds pups for less than a good new pickup costs.

After that: quickly de-soder or clip those cheap ceramic caps and ceremoniously flush them down the closest toilet; replace them with orange drops (between 0.0047 and 0.022 micro-farads, depending on taste). Given what you said about your tone and your preference for vintage sound, I would recommend 0.010 uF orange drops and wire them to the center terminal of the volume pot. This places the filter circuit 'after' the volume control; vintage Gibsons had it that way.

The following part is very, very good:
http://www.amazon.com/Film-Capacito...3&sr=8-6&keywords=0.01+uf+orange+drop+sprague

You can find these cheaper, though. This should make a HUGE improvement to the tone.

BTW: one of your pots may be shot. If you never messed with these things before, I'd take it to a guitar center or other shop where they have a guitar tech who can check all this stuff out for you.
Click to expand...


Thanks. i've done some of my own pickup installs but never any trouble shooting. It definitely looks like modern wiring according to the diagrams I've seen. I think I would prefer the vintage but with the pots all wide open they should sound the same and the neck pickup still sounds like crud so I don't think that's the main issue. I'm thinking I just need to change out the pickup and I'll probably go ahead and replace the pots at the same time. Should fix things the brute force way. Thanks for the advice on the cap
 
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