BKP replacement update...

[skay]

Ok, got some  'Stormy Monday' pickups to replace the 'Mule' set that were too hot for me (see previous post 'How HOT is HOT?') and put them through their paces yesterday at rehearsal.

First off, the bridge pickup at DC 7.7K is much more up my street. Straight off the sound was clearer and more 'open'. The gain could be dialled in slowly to a level that balanced better with the overall volume in the room with the master volume on full with a Hotplate as I used to run it. I adjusted the bass eq on my Vox and managed to open things up a little more, things were getting interesting. It's hard to get your head around the fact how these pickups manage to be overdriven but still retain so much string separation.

 I spent a lot of time adjusting the bridge pickup height, and reached a fairly happy end point, although I still need more time to fine tune. I haven't messed around with the individual pole-pieces yet, I'm finding lots of conflicting advice about having them flush with the pickup or follow the radius of the fret board. The neck pickup was also easier to get to grips with. When I play with both pickups selected, my Les Paul has a clean sound you'd only think possible from single coils, it's truely magical.

So, apart from still adjusting the height for gain/volume/tone, I'm pretty happy so far with these new pickups. Any advice on polepiece adjusting will be greatly received, if it's a bad thing to do then tell me quick befiore I start meddling tonight...

[HJM]

I'd meddle away...I never used to bother much but then i noticed Tim sets them a bit higher than the cover, it makes sense that the higher the bridge screw coil screws are the more top end the pickup will give.  I tend to adjust by ear, there's no right or wrong, just your own personal taste on things like this. Glad the Stormy os more up your street!

[Ratrod]

Adjusting the pickup height can take heaps of time. I think I finally got it right on my Crawlers now. They're fairly close to the strings now, I was afraid to do that with such a loud and midrangy pickup but it worked out great.

As for adjusting the screws of the screw coil on a low gain pickup, I usually set them about the same as a Fender staggered single coil. I keep the height differences very minimal. No more than two whole turns.

[Tim]

Never be afraid to experiment with pickup height or pole piece height-on a scatterwound pickup height adjustment gives you a palette of tones to select from. I personally wouldn't go bonkers on pole piece height-a turn/turn and a half max-watch you don't slip with the screw driver too!!
Sounds like we're starting to scratch the itch now Stephen but like I said, getting you the tone you want/hear in your head is why we're here and we'll always do our best for all our customers/players.
Keep me updated!

[skay]

I've been reading and thinking about adjusting the individual polepieces, and my thoughts are, if they are flush against the pickup, I'd guess the two pickups are working equally and will give you a big wide sound. By adjusting the polepieces, as it's just one pickup, then the sound could become more 'focused' and start entering single-coil territory as one pickup is closer to the strings? I know that's a massive overstatement but do you get what I'm trying to figure out in my head...

I think I might try and screw all the pole pieces flat and adjust the whole pickup higher to the strings, that way I've got the outer pickup (the one without adjustable screws) working just as hard picking up a slighty warmer sound as it's further from the bridge than the other one.

I've read warnings that by messing with the pole pieces too much you can put them (the two pickups inside a humbucker) out-of-phase and mess up the entire pickup. Is this true, or just more internet wisdom???

[Steve-Mr Pig 2U]

I've read warnings that by messing with the pole pieces too much you can put them (the two pickups inside a humbucker) out-of-phase and mess up the entire pickup. Is this true, or just more internet wisdom???

No, that's rubbish!

[HJM]

That's one of the best ones yet...

[Tim]

You'll not be able to make a humbucker out of phase by raising or lowering the pole screws but it will alter the balance of the coils significantly so that one coil dominates the other, much like winding offset coils....the magnetic phase will stay the same as will the electrical phase though.

[skay]

That just goes to show that the internet can dish out as much rubbish as useful information... (note to self- be aware!)

The whole 'off-set' coil thing, is this another way of saying that one of the pickups in a humbucker is lower/higher than the other? If a humbuckers DC is rated at 8.0K for example, could this mean that one pickup measures 3.5K and the other 4.5K, or is this too much off-setting?

I've read on another forum, and correct me if I'm wrong again, that mis-matched (off-set?) coils can cut some of the midrange if they have very different readings. I'm thinking this because of my little revelation I've had with my old BB's over the past few days...

The 'mush' I encountered with my first set of BKP's was infact, as Tim somehow diagnosed without even hearing my guitar, due to the eq set up on my amp determined by the BB's mid-range scoop. If Alnico 2 magnets (which the BB's 1 & 2 have) are more mid-scooped in their frequency, having exaggerated off-set/mis-matched windings will enhance the scooping of the mids even more (if my above 'internet wisdom' statement is correct), and that's why my sound was percieved as being clearer, it wasn't, there were just hardly any mids present which fooled me. The 'normal' amount of mids on the BKP's confused me at first, but now I know the reason behind the dramatic change in frequency response and have adjusted my equipment accordingly, the sound I hear everyone else rave about is finally in my guitar.

I listened back to some old recordings with a fresh ear and was surprised just how mid-scooped my previous sound was! I used to play a Shadow pickups made guitar through a Boss heavy metal pedal (HM-2) so I thought I knew what scooped mids sounded like!

The shrill high end and muddy bottom of the BB's on my Les Paul was partly due to this lack of mid-range, and no amount of adjusting would have put it back in there. I thought only metal players cut the mids and don't define my sound as metal atall, so I never considered this, but Tim has well and truely hit the nail on the head.  The Stormy Mondays, now pole-piece adjusted on my guitar, are sounding wonderful and I'm achieving really nice vintage tones that feature in the mix much better.

So, I'm seeing the light, I'm not going mad, this has been a real journey into sound...So thank you Tim and everyone else who has given me advice, and just one more small point; these Stormy mondays should be called 'Happy Mondays' because that's what they've made me!

[Peterku]

Congrats! I'm glad you like them! Nice to see the Stormy Mondays met your expectations. :D

[Ratrod]

You're not the only one who had the 'midrange surprise'. The mids of the Crawlers were a bit overwhelming at first. I comensated by lowering the mid on the amp and overdrive's EQ. I also lowered the pickup height. Gradually, I dialed in more mids and raised the pickup height. And guess what.... it sounds fantastic!

[carlaz]

Now you just need to post some tasty Stormy Monday clips, since we ain't got enough of those!
I think there were some long ago from HJM (in the RG550?).

[HJM]

Now you just need to post some tasty Stormy Monday clips, since we ain't got enough of those!
I think there were some long ago from HJM (in the RG550?).

Charvel 750XL  :twisted:

[skay]

Yeah, the whole midrange issue was a big surprise to me, wasn't expecting anything like this!

The initial amount of mids at first caused me a lot of problems, but now my hearing has adjusted, I'm finding it easier and quicker to find the good sounds. The whole height/polepiece adjusting is pretty much spot on for me now, I just have to wait until next band rehearsal until I can properly finalise my preferences.

I do not own a pc at home, so unless my patients want a musical accompaniment to their anaesthetic (i'm an anaesthetic nurse btw), then there's no way I can post sound clips at present :lol: