GFS Mini humbucker

[highwayman]

Hi, In one of my teles i have a Little puncher in the bridge and a mini humbucker in the neck.When I switch between the two there is a huge volume and bass increase with just the humbucker on.This may sound stupid but what do the screw adjustments do on the top of the humbucker? could that have something to do with it? Thanks Guys !

[Tim Armstrong]

Only if they're really sticking out!

You might find lowering the mini and raising the puncher will equalize out the volume difference...

Tim

[cactusrob]

Well, the h/b will be a bit hotter than the mini h/b anyway (usually)...
Do you have normal volume/response from the mini h/b? If not it could be a poor connection. Could it be that the big H/B is normal and the mini is just weak?


I'm honestly not sure if raising the pole pieces (the screws you mentioned) will make a huge difference in the volume...never actually adjusted them way up myself so I don't know. It won't hurt anything to adjust them down if they're sticking way up....maybe take some digital photos before you adjust them so you can move them back if you don't like it afterward. I have been told that if you get them too close to the strings they can affect your tuning...

Rob

[boneyguy]

Originally Posted by highwayman

Hi, In one of my teles i have a Little puncher in the bridge and a mini humbucker in the neck.When I switch between the two there is a huge volume and bass increase with just the humbucker on.This may sound stupid but what do the screw adjustments do on the top of the humbucker? could that have something to do with it? Thanks Guys !

The screw poles are more for equalizing the volume from string to string on each pickup so that each string sounds with equal volume on that one pickup. Adjusting those screw will also have some effect on tone as well.

However, what you need to do is what Tim suggested which is some combination of lowering the neck p/u (thereby reducing it's output) and/or raising the bridge p/u (increasing it's output). It's a process of trial and error 'til you get it right. That should sort it out.

[Butch Snyder]

Which mini-humbucker did you buy? I bought the Fat Alnico neck version. It's got a huge warm, fat tone; but there is a big volume loss between it and even my Tex-Mex bridge pickup. I also had a GFS Modern Vintage Lil Puncher (great pickup too). I also found that the GFS Fat Alnico minihummer doesn't like 250k pots as well as 500k. At times, I'll install the pickguard with the GFS mini on and then take it off after about a 1/2 hour. I just need something brighter. Maybe you could try one of the GFS Lil Cruncher minis; the bridge model. That way it's brighter and blends better with the bridge pickup. It's also a little higher-output so you wouldn't need to raise it up as much. My Tex-Mex Tele bridge pickup is set really low and the GFS Fat Alnico mini is set really high; too high in my opinion....