Bright middle position?

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TheWayfarer
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Bright middle position?

Post by TheWayfarer » Wed Jan 01, 2020 12:02 pm

So just got done wiring up my antiquities with a 250k volume pot and the neck and bridge sound good solo - but together it is REALLY bright and piercing. I’m still pretty new to JM’s - Any obvious things to troubleshoot first?

It sounds like the middle position is still going thru 1meg...

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alexpigment
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Re: Bright middle position?

Post by alexpigment » Wed Jan 01, 2020 2:11 pm

I still haven't figured out the voodoo magic of middle position tone - sometimes you get more of the neck pickup sound, sometimes more of the bridge pickup sound - and you often have to sacrifice ideal pickup heights to dial it in further. Having said that, I don't think it should be brighter than the bridge pickup.

Is it possible it's wired so that the middle position is out of phase? If so, it would be honky, low-output, and almost like you have a wah pedal on. You can usually fix this by swapping the hot and ground wires going to one of the pickups.

The only other thing I can think of is that the lower DC resistance of the combined pickups hits your amp/pedals in such a way that it's not rolling off the highs like it is for the neck and bridge positions (which have higher resistances individually).

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Telliot
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Re: Bright middle position?

Post by Telliot » Wed Jan 01, 2020 3:27 pm

Can you take pics of your wiring and pickup heights? A couple quick sound samples would be helpful too.
The cool thing about fretless is you can hit a note...and then renegotiate.

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jorri
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Re: Bright middle position?

Post by jorri » Thu Jan 02, 2020 1:27 pm

Either out of phase...

Or a good tip: if you prefer the middle position, then set your favourite pickup first (neck?) then adjust the other with the switch in middle position.
The balance will change much more of the cancellation effect of the middle position, than it would for a single pickup as they interact and phase cancel a little.
The worst setup may be having one set too low compared to the other, seems to produce a weak combined result.

Recommended to set height as distance to the string, but when the string is fretted at last fret, not open string.

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jvin248
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Re: Bright middle position?

Post by jvin248 » Thu Jan 02, 2020 3:28 pm

.

I'd first guess you have reverse the polarity of one pickup to the other.

If you have a multi meter, set low volts and hook to the guitar cable. bring a screwdriver 'at' and then 'away' from each pickup noting how the voltage on the meter goes from - or + relative to direction. Compare another guitar you have and see what that does. Then rewire one of the pickups (usually the neck) swapping hot for ground.

Most often this happens when someone uses one pickup from brand A and another pickup from brand B and those brands wire their pickups the opposite of what you'd expect.

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hwestman
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Re: Bright middle position?

Post by hwestman » Fri Jan 17, 2020 6:04 am

If it is really bright, nasal and low output it is very likely that the pickups are out of phase.

That said I find the mix sound of a JM to be brighter than on say a Telecaster or the in between sound of a stratocaster.

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