How to lower Humbucker output

[Holdgate]

I have a Tele with a neck humbucker - its a bit too hot for what I want but has a nice tone. I can get the clean tone I want with the vol pot turned almost all the way down & the amp turned up. Doing it this way I lose any real control over volume using the guitar controls. What I'd like to do is attenuate the humbucker output a bit to avoid overdriving the amp & thereby get a bit more control over volume from the guitar. Is there any way to do this - I thought maybe bleeding some of the signal to ground via a resistor at the output jack might do it ... or is this way too simplistic ? any ideas anyone ?

[Daddydex]

Try lowering the pickup. That should do it.

Dan

[aznrambo481]

lowering the pickup SHOULD do the trick.

[maestrovert]

a separate vol pot -concentric if space is a factor- for the neck 'bucker would do the trick too

[esteban]

It seems like he'd have to lower it a bunch, from the way he described the output. Wouldn't clarity be sacrificed?

[e-merlin]

Lowering the pickup will lower output, but you'll probably lose some of the clarity you like. maestrovert hit the nail on the head. A dedicated volume pot can be pre set to the volume you want. Plus, you can turn it up when you need the punch.

[J. Hayes]

in the neck position and a standard bridge pickup. I wanted a little more balance between the pickups so I lowered the humbucker till it was almost even with the body and then the volumes of each pickup were pretty close. I then added a single ply Esquire black pickguard right over the pickup and I don't notice any loss of clarity at all. I use it mostly in the middle position but use the neck position by itself on occasion for jazzy or swing type tunes............JH in Va.

[Wardpike]

Perhaps an ingenious way of handling it is tp get a sideways mounted pot like that used on the Fender Jazzmaster as a second setting. Some routing required! Perhaps mounting it about 2" below the front humbuck and leaving the master volume and tone intact.

That might be too extreme for you.

Why not a combination of a hotter output bridge pickup from SD, and dropping the front pup as low as it will go?

I hope I've been helpful,
Ward

[teleman65]

To put it bluntly the pickup is the wrong one. You don't like the power of the pickup and you have to turn the volume down before you find it usable.
Change the pickup.
What model pickup is it?
Maybe you can list that pickup in the classifieds on TDPRI for trade and see if someone has a pickup more suited to your tastes.

[tjalla]

Here's a quick fix - remove the polepiece screws from the humbucker. It reduces the effectiveness of that coil, kinda gives a half-single-coil tone. Worked well for a few of the muddier buckers I'd used. Takes all of 5mins, you barely have to loosen your strings, and if you don't like it put em straight back as they were.

my .02

[BB]

Originally Posted by tjalla

Here's a quick fix - remove the polepiece screws from the humbucker. It reduces the effectiveness of that coil, kinda gives a half-single-coil tone. Worked well for a few of the muddier buckers I'd used. Takes all of 5mins, you barely have to loosen your strings, and if you don't like it put em straight back as they were.

my .02

A big plus one. Trev posted this mod a year or two back. Tried it then and it worked very well. Certainly worth 5 minutes of time before buying a new pup!

[Coffeemutt]

Originally Posted by tjalla

Here's a quick fix - remove the polepiece screws from the humbucker. It reduces the effectiveness of that coil, kinda gives a half-single-coil tone. Worked well for a few of the muddier buckers I'd used. Takes all of 5mins, you barely have to loosen your strings, and if you don't like it put em straight back as they were.

my .02

I read where Seymour Duncan said he used to do this on some homebuckers, but would replace the pole pieces with brass ones (presumably for looks).

[Al Nico]

Before you back the pole pieces all the way out, you may want to try to lower the pickup more and then raise the pole pieces to compensate for the lack of clarity. You'll get more of a single coil tone with the relatively more focused magnetic field around the strings.