Help Me Guys - Abraxas

[JoeHenry]

Hello folks - looking for help with an Abraxas set in a non-chambered Les Paul Std.

I have an Abraxas set that I have just dropped (or more like struggled - coil splits, kept the ground plate in - a faf to work with those tiny solder tags on the switch) into a 96 LP Std non chambered. I originally bought them for a PRS245 SE which they improved significantly. Really liked the split coils on the SE245 - nice bit of versatility.

However - I replaced the 490/498 set in the LP and I am struggling to get a sound that I like out of the Abraxas set. A lot of top harsh top end overtones - can't tame the highs without becoming muffled. I didn't think it was a particularly bright guitar. Set up wise - I started with the bridge at 2mm (last fret) and dropped from there - ended up at about 4mm on the bass & treble sides. Adjusted the neck for volume parity from there.

Any ideas/thoughts would be very welcome - I want to love the Abraxas - but they are not doing it for me right now.

[JoeHenry]

Could be an Abrxas set coming on the market very soon guys - I can't get a decent sound out of these things.
Hopefully, somebody will tell me I've got them installed the wrong way round.
Anyway............

[darrenw5094]

Check the wiring dude. Shouldn't sound that bad.

[Dave Sloven]

What effect does turning the tone knobs have?  If this is strange it is usually wired incorrectly

[JoeHenry]

Wiring is fine Darren - thanks for your suggestion.

Tone controls work fine - nothing unexpected - reducing tone cuts highs as per normal.

Cheers

[darkbluemurder]

The neck pickup has a lot of overtones and attack which I can imagine could come across as harsh. I have a harder time to imagine the bridge pickup coming across as harsh as it has a very pronounced midrange. I can imagine that in combination with a midrange heavy guitar that the mids in the Abraxas come across as spiky.

So unless there is something miswired (which nothing in your description would indicate) it sounds like a bad guitar/pickup match.

Cheers Stephan

[JoeHenry]

Thanks for the thought Darkblue

Makes sense. I still have them in - trying to like them - I have the neck pretty deep in the pickup ring.
I'd say that the tone is acceptable but fairly underwhelming.

I have noticed that I find myself cutting the bass back on the amp with these as well.
Find myself wondering into 'Anywhere You Want To Go' with these - and I've only ever heard it on the radio once or twice.

pffffffffttt...

[JoeHenry]

I thought I'd leave an update on this - for anybody experiencing the same or similar issues.
I believe I'm getting somewhere with this.

I made a slight mistake in the original post - I had set the Bridge PU at 2.5mm and adjusted back from there - trying to tame a harsh overtone.
Ranging around the forums I found somebody recommended using a US dime coin as the initial measurement on both bridge bass and treble sides (this was general Les Paul advice) and this advice went along with having as straight a neck as possible (i.e. towards zero relief) for the LP. The recommendation was to get the bridge sounding right and then adjust the neck for volume balance.

I didn't have a US dime (is that a song) but I thought I'd try a 20p piece - which is a tad under 2mm thick. I was sceptical about this as I had not had the bridge PU quite this close to the strings before. But I tell you what - the harshness did substantially clear up. I did also drop the EB&G screws into the body of the PUP by exactly 1 turn to balance string volume between top & bottom. I also did check the relief of the neck and tweaked ever so slightly to reduce by a tad (no more than a seasonal tweak).

To my surprise what I ended up with was quite a powerful rounded tone coming from the bridge - absent the harsh overtone that I was originally getting. I then proceeded to balance the neck for volume. At last, I was getting somewhere. But the final bit of the jigsaw was this - I had been playing my G&L Legacy (strat) which is Ash and Maple so quite a bright guitar as you might imagine. I plugged the LP in the next day with the amp still EQ'd for a strat (treble down significantly and a tad off the mids) - and the gain dialled up to the pushed clean level that I tend to use for a strat type guitar.

What I have now is this. The harsh top end is gone. I do get that signing vocal quality form the Abraxas set now. They are very nice clean (which is the most important thing for me) but sound really quite wonderful with some low to medium gain - that vocal quality comes through and I am actually being drawn into the sound of these PUPs in the LP. I have got back the nice solid feel that you get with a very short stab and a bit of reverb that I liked from the 490r/498t set.

Quite pleased with this as I really did want to bond with the Abraxas - I think I'm now getting what I was hoping for out of these. I think the key realisation is that the Abraxas will stand being really quite close to the strings and to EQ for a bright guitar. Also that the LP I have is a bright one which is probably why the 490r/498t sounded pretty good in it - they are usually associated with being a bit muddy - but I didn't find them muddy in this particular guitar.

So all in all - getting somewhere good at last. Just thought I'd share this in case anybody else can pick something up from the experience.




 

[darkbluemurder]

Very cool, good to hear that. I also have my Abraxas set quite close to the strings.

By lowering the polepieces on the bridge pickup and raising the pickup you shifted the balance in favor of the neckside coil which - being closer to the neckside - picks up less treble so you intuitively did the right thing. That is what I do mostly to my bridge pickups, too, unless I want more bite - then I lower the pickup and raise the polepieces.

The most prevalent problem I have with neck humbuckers is boomy lows. With my Abraxas neck I removed the polepieces of the low E and A strings which really helped. On other pickups, i.e. the Holydiver neck, Rebel Yell neck or Black Dog neck it did not have a noticeable effect. Could be the cover - these pickups are all covered whereas my Abraxas neck does not have a cover.

Cheers Stephan

[JoeHenry]

Thanks Stephan

Interesting to hear that. I find the Abraxas neck is not too boomy/boomy on this guitar. The bottom three strings have titanium saddles - so this seems to focus the bottom end a bit. What I do find is a slight phasing type effect - most notably when you play a run that goes between the G & D strings. Ever such a slightly different voice. However - having the pickup closer to the strings seems to also diminish that effect - perhaps is more fundamental frequencies coming through with the more powerful coupling due to being closer.

Thanks ever so much for your thoughts there - good to hear confirmation and I am looking forward to playing some music with these now - you know what its like when you are struggling with a setup issue - it seems to be that your ears hone in on this and forget about the music. I really like what I am hearing now from these PUPs.

All the best

Joe

[Nolly]

Great to hear you were able to resolve this with a simple solution! Pickup height is an oft-overlooked part of dialling in your sound, I'm as guilty as the rest for just judging it by eye and not experimenting to get the perfect response. With the weaker magnets you can have them really quite close to the strings without any issues, though ceramics almost always have to have a bit more clear air between polepiece and string especially in the neck pickup where the "string pull" can be problematic.