muddy neck HB in LP

[hamfist]

Whatever pickup I try in the neck position of my Tokai LP, it's always too muddy for my tastes, compared to the bridge pickup. I've got a Dimarzio Fred in the neck position at the moment, which I chose specifically for it's bright, lowish output and low bass response, but it's still too muddy for me.
  I know little about guitar wiring, but know that I have 500K pots all round in there. Would I get a bit more brightness out of it by actually disconnecting the tone control for the neck p'up ?
  If so, what exactly do I disconnect from what ?

Or are there any other capacitors or resistors I could stick in somewhere to help things. I've got a good supply of both and am fairly handy with a soldering iron.

Thanks in advance for any advice. I know some of you guys are sh1t hot on this stuff.

[kellar]

I had the same problem with my Epi LP. What kind of caps do you have in there?
Your tone will definitely brighten up if you disconnect your tone pots. I played mine for quite a while with the tone pots disconnected. Just unsolder and remove the caps. Leave the tone pots unsoldered, they will be rendered useless.
This way your signal will only be going through your volume pots.
 
You may find that after a while you miss the versatility of your tone controls like I did. It may be worth checking out some good caps. I also replaced all that cheap Chinese wire (and the pots as well). It did wonders for my tone.  :D

[hamfist]

I had the same problem with my Epi LP. What kind of caps do you have in there?
Your tone will definitely brighten up if you disconnect your tone pots. I played mine for quite a while with the tone pots disconnected. Just unsolder and remove the caps. Leave the tone pots unsoldered, they will be rendered useless.
This way your signal will only be going through your volume pots.
 
You may find that after a while you miss the versatility of your tone controls like I did. It may be worth checking out some good caps. I also replaced all that cheap Chinese wire (and the pots as well). It did wonders for my tone.  :D

I don't have any caps on the neck p'up pot, only the bridge.  My understanding is that caps across the vol pot will only affect things when the vol pot is not on 10. Am I wrong  ?   I generally use my vol pots on 10 anyway

If caps might make a difference, where would they go ?   

[Twinfan]

He's taking about tone caps, the ones that join the vol to the tone.  If you disconnect the cap fromthe vol pot, you're removed the tone pot from the circuit...

[kellar]

If you don't have a tone cap installed on the neck than putting one in certainly wouldn't brighten things up. I would just disconnect the tone control on your neck. You signal is affected by every pot, capacitor, and whatever else it goes through. By wiring it directly to the volume pot, you are greatly reducing any tone loss on the way to your amp.

Out of curiosity, what other neck PUP's have you tried out?

[Philly Q]

If it turns out too muddy even with the tone control out of the circuit, maybe you could try replacing the 500K volume with a 1Meg?

(I'm amazed you find the Fred too dark as a neck pickup, but we all have our individual tastes!  :) )

[hamfist]

Out of curiosity, what other neck PUP's have you tried out?

Dimarzio Air Norton, Dimarzio PAF, the Tokai standard pickup.

[hamfist]

If it turns out too muddy even with the tone control out of the circuit, maybe you could try replacing the 500K volume with a 1Meg?

(I'm amazed you find the Fred too dark as a neck pickup, but we all have our individual tastes!  :) )

I'll try disconnecting the tone control (I never use it anyway). If that's not enough, I'll consider a 1Meg pot.  Although thinking about it, will a 1meg pot be brighter than no tone pot, or not ?

  I can tell that the Fred is brighter than any other pickup I've used in this guitar's neck position, but I promise you it's still waaaaaay dark in this particular guitar.

Hmmm, I wonder if I've got a faulty pot .

[kellar]

What amp are you playing through?

[Philly Q]

I'll try disconnecting the tone control (I never use it anyway). If that's not enough, I'll consider a 1Meg pot.  Although thinking about it, will a 1meg pot be brighter than no tone pot, or not ?

It certainly will if you leave the tone pot disconnected!  :)  That's what I was assuming.

And I think even if you reconnect the tone, 1Meg vol + 500K tone will be brighter than 500K vol + no tone.  Although I have no idea how to calculate if that's right!

[hamfist]

What amp are you playing through?

I've played this guitar extensively through various amps :-

AC30 Heritage
Rockerverb 50
50W Plexi clone
Jtm45 clone
Miles Platting V-50

[HTH AMPS]

I'm surprised that those pickups were all too muddy, especially the DiMarzio PAF which I thought was quite a bright pickup.  I would go with the suggestion above and replace the neck humbucker volume pot with a 1M one.  If it's still too muddy after that, maybe look at amp settings.

My fave neck humbucker when I want zero mud is the Duncan '59 - if you get one calibrated for the neck position, they are generally around 7.5k and together with the A5 magnet make for a bright tone.

[Philly Q]

I used a DiMarzio PAF Pro as a neck pickup once and found it really bright - slightly less midrange than the Fred, less bass than the Air Norton or PAF.

Of course it depends what you've got in the bridge to complement it.

[Twinfan]

I reckon your guitar is at fault Alan.  If you've tried several pickups and pots etc then there's no hope.  It's just a dull piece of wood.

My LP had the opposite problem in that it was too bright with no bass and it sounded really thin.  I traded it as nothing I did made it any better.  It's all in the wood....

[hamfist]

I reckon your guitar is at fault Alan.  If you've tried several pickups and pots etc then there's no hope.  It's just a dull piece of wood.

My LP had the opposite problem in that it was too bright with no bass and it sounded really thin.  I traded it as nothing I did made it any better.  It's all in the wood....

Could be Dave.  I'm no expert on guitars at all, but it's not like that at all on the bridge pickup. In fact, on the bridge pickup it's the nicest (and one of the brightest) LP's I've ever played.