Not digging the EVH Frankenstein pickup

[ledvedder]

Well, the speaker swap to a greenback and a blackback helped. It gave it a bit more grind and chewiness. It's still not quite there though. Maybe it's the voicing of the DSL that I'm not digging with this guitar.

 

[Racerxrated]

So its less than a half centimeter. But I lowered it a bit and then raised the poles back to the previous position and its clearer but with the same output. Can't crank it but I compared it to my favorite JB and at low volumes it might actually sound better. Never tried raising/lowering pole pieces before so its a new thing for me. Tomorrow I will push the volume and find out.

 

[AndyK]

Half a centimeter?? With the string fretted in the last fret, measuring from the bottom of the string to the pickup pole, you have a half centimeter of space? Try cutting that in half - 1/16th should fatten that pickup up big time!

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I have a JB in my cheap ass SX strat that I upgraded. I like how it sounds and feels. I'm afraid it would be too much in my hard ash Franky.

Even though you said you were not fond of alnico 2.. like I said, JB with alnico 2. It is what you need here.You know you dig the JB, this will shave off some of the rude highs.. just enough. OR you can go dimarzio AT-1. Essentially sounds like a JB with tighter bottom end and as if it were wired to a 250k pot to my ears rather than a 500. I Still prefer the JB though.

 

[Racerxrated]

Half a centimeter?? With the string fretted in the last fret, measuring from the bottom of the string to the pickup pole, you have a half centimeter of space? Try cutting that in half - 1/16th should fatten that pickup up big time!

Well it sounds great now, and yup its at 2/16. But I'll get it even closer..my other guitars have the same spacing. The JB I have in 2 others, and an Aldrich in the 4th. They all sound fat and well balanced now....
We'll see if closer means better with my stuff..

 

[Racerxrated]

Well, I never thought getting the poles that close would do anything but mush/mud everything up. Wrong. I have 2 JBs, a Frankie and an Aldrich. All in Superstrats. And the stock Gibsons in my beat up LP. They ALL improved with only a 1/16 distance to the strings. Try it if you haven't! Andy K...thanks!

 

[AndyK]

They ALL improved with only a 1/16 distance to the strings. Try it if you haven't! Andy K...thanks!

Nice! Glad you like the results!

Also, you can make subtle adjustments to either side, like 1/32 lower or higher to tweak the tone. Nothing close to 1/8th though!

 

[Bronco]

I have a JB in my cheap ass SX strat that I upgraded. I like how it sounds and feels. I'm afraid it would be too much in my hard ash Franky.

Even though you said you were not fond of alnico 2.. like I said, JB with alnico 2. It is what you need here.You know you dig the JB, this will shave off some of the rude highs.. just enough. OR you can go dimarzio AT-1. Essentially sounds like a JB with tighter bottom end and as if it were wired to a 250k pot to my ears rather than a 500. I Still prefer the JB though.

The Duncan DeMartini pup, the RTM (I think?) is based off the JB w/A2 concept, though it is a tad hotter as well.

 

[ledvedder]

Ok, so a few updates.

I put 10's on the guitar, I raised the pole pieces to about 1/16" below the strings, I lessened the angle of the pickup so the high E side is further from the bridge. I'll find out how it goes at our gig this Saturday.

I also have a Super Distortion and a GFS VEH on standby.