The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #126

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    I don't know a lot about this stuff but trial and error has revealed a few things to my ears.
    Pickups with a brass(?) cover such as the Seymour Duncan STR1 and STR2 offer a more full and round sound. Some will hear that differently and perceive it as 'muffled' but for my taste it's near perfect, and the only reason I no longer use those pickups is because I need something noisless (Barden) on a regular basis. All very subjective and even more so when variables like amp, strings, pick, playing style, pots, caps etc are taken into account.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #127

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    You might try my favorite pickup, the Duncan 5/2, which has Alnico 5 magnets on the bottom three strings and Alnico 2 on the top three, making the top three strings just a touch fatter and darker. It's a great jazz tone. If you do try it, you'll want to use 250k pots.

  4. #128

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    I used that pickup in a Tele with 250 K pots and an .047 cap. It was a great sounding jazz pick up. Even though it is a humbucker, it is intended as a straight drop in replacement for stock Tele pickups. I would try swapping out the pots before any other modifications or giving up on the pickup. Experimenting with pickup height can also be helpful in fine-tuning sound. I had a gorgeous, fat bell-like tone from the pickup; unfortunately, messing about with a screwdriver I managed to ruin one of the coil windings (the pickup cover doesn't fully cover both coils) and now it's a dead pick up.

    Another alternative which I am currently very enamored with is the Wilde L280TN Tele neck pickup. That has been my replacement for the Area T, as I was able to get one for much less off of eBay. I ended up buying another one from Becky and putting it in my other Telecaster and I also bought the Stratocaster version for my Strat, along with two L90s. I like the L280 as much as the Area T, maybe even a little more, but it is not traditional looking as it does not have a cover.

  5. #129

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    Dimarzio says it was designed for 250k pots and 22uf cap.....fake news?

  6. #130

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    I wouldn't concentrate too much on the recommended value for pots. Yes, in general 250 for single coil and 500 for Humbuckers, but you really have to test what works best in your guitar (if the current tone is not OK). It's not that the PUs will blow up if you use another value ;-)
    The post, caps (and cable capacitance) just influence/determine where the resonance peak of the PU will be and how pronounced it is.

  7. #131

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    250k pots, and tilting the pickup with the bass side farther away from the strings are good recommendations.
    One thing that hasn't been mentioned: What kind of bridge are you using? If it's a traditional three saddle type, what kind of saddles are you using? Brass will give a warmer tone, steel a brighter one, and aluminium the brightest - some people like to mix, eg. brass for D/G & B/E saddles, aluminium for low E/A.

  8. #132

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    Correction, correction, correction! I recalled incorrectly that I had 500k pots, untrue! They are 250k. The cap is .047 nF, as previously described. I plan to spend the next hour adjusting the pup height and see if I can even out the freq response and clang.

  9. #133

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    Follow up. I have spent the better part of one hour adjusting the pups. Mostly lowering them. I could have added earlier that I have a Grigsby 4 way switch. I have lowered, as I said, which has tremendously bettered, soften, and warmed the tone. This includes all four positions ei bridge and neck pup in various combination. The nasal,metalic tinnyness is gone and I am very happy with the results. I have had the guitar for several years now, and I should admit that the problems I wrote about above were self inflicted, but are now cured. I want to thank everyone who contributed to finding and narrowing down to the solution. Thank you all, and be safe!

  10. #134

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    The humbucker I installed in my Tele (a Vineham Telepaf) was a bit trebly for my tastes, while the bass strings seemed a bit muted. I cured it by adjusting the pickup height and the individual pole piece heights. I followed this guide:

    How to set pickup pole-piece height — Haze Guitars

  11. #135

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    The best replacement pick up is adjusting the one you have and discovering that it already sounds like how you want.