A less bright bridge p/u alternative?

[ClassA]

SO I got a new(used) Squire Prosound Thinline Tele. Its pretty great, considering its age. Everything works great. I am loving the feel of the guitar and the sound, but the bridge pup is a bit bright. I know, don't yell at me its supposed to be bright, i know. But through my amp i can be a bit shrill. Was wondering what are you guys trying with different pups, Seymour, Dimarzio, Lawrence etc.. Also as a life long HB user the single coils are a little noisy. Does going to a noiseless pup really work and will it alter the over feel of a single coil sound alot? I am enjoying the cutting sound the tele is getting just would just love to tone it down a bit. Any advice o'Tele masters?
F
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ProSound Tele Thinline, Schecter Custom Shop, Ibanez Artcoer 105nt
Gibson GA15RV

[telex76]

Welcome. Some will tell you to use your tone control or turn treble down on your amp, so I thought I'd get that out of the way.
If you have steel saddles sometimes replacing them with brass saddles can warm the sound enough.
I don't know how your Squire is wired, but if its got the treble bleed cap you could try running a resistor in parallel with the cap, or do away with the treble bleed and do the Fez Parka Mod (look it up in the search function).
I'll let others tell you which pickups they like. I don't like the noiseless myself.

[Anchoret]

Originally Posted by telex76

Welcome. Some will tell you to use your tone control or turn treble down on your amp, so I thought I'd get that out of the way.

Yes, and try lowering the pickup some as well.

No need for expensive screwing around with pickup swapping yet.

You can tune brightness down.

[ClassA]

thanks telex- yea I already do the roll back on the tone and on the amp, but then when I switch pups i have reroll up the tone for the neck. I do roll back the tone on my amp, but same thing when I go to a different guitar i have to go over to the amp and reset the tone for the humbuckers. Not a huge deal but on my amp the controls are at the bottom on the back so its a bit of a pain. I will look into the mod you mentioned. Thanks again

[ClassA]

I will try that right away Anchoret, thanks.

[robt57]

Use a lot longer cable to the amp and or add a lengthy pedal chain...[of non buffered pedals] ;)

[CatalystGuitars]

I use a Duncan Hot Rails in the bridge of my strat, they also make one for the tele and it is great. It's got a nice balance of warmth and a nice high end sizzle to it as well.

[Brandon mac]

dimarzio twang king!!!!!!

[mellecaster]

If I remember correctly, those Pro-Tones use 500K pots ?

If that's what yours has, I would suggest (2) 250K Pots, and a .047 Cap,

A lot cheaper and easier than New Pickups.

[ClassA]

Hey Mellecaster- I am going to check that out... and also how embarrassing I misnamed my own guitar!!! You are absolutely correct, it's a pro tone. The former owner of this guitar took all the squire name info off of the the headstock, not sure where I got the Pro Sound moniker from? Anyway thanks for the advice from everyone.

[garrett]

If the bridge is disproportionately bright, another inexpensive option is to wire a 200k resistor from the bridge lug of the switch to ground. You could also experiment with different R values to get the amount of treble cut you want.

[RomanS]

You could also wire the tone control so that it only works on the bridge PU - then you can leave it dialled down for the bridge PU permanently, because it won't affect the neck PU.

Another option: wire a small value cap (something in the 560 to 1000pF range) in parallel with the bridge PU (ie. one leg to the hot wire, one to the ground wire of the bridge PU) - that will bring down the resonance frequency of the bridge PU (= make it sound fuller/darker).

[ClassA]

Thanks Garret and Roman- I am ordering the 250K pots first thing then next will be the mods you guys suggested. Roman is your suggestion similar to mellecaster?

Mellecaster said:
If I remember correctly, those Pro-Tones use 500K pots ?
If that's what yours has, I would suggest (2) 250K Pots, and a .047 Cap

Will the tone be altered more with the resister on the switch or the capacitor on the pup?

Many ways to go before replacing the pups- thanks guys for all your help.

[ScottJPatrick]

I used to have just my bridge p-up wired through the tone control, worked well to knock the edge off the pickup but it does affect the neck pickup slightly when the two are combined (don't think there is any way round that) I have a 4-way switch now so can't figure out if it's possible with this switch but it was pretty usable on the 3-way.

[RomanS]

Originally Posted by ClassA

Roman is your suggestion similar to mellecaster?

Haven't tried mellecasters method...

[garrett]

Originally Posted by ClassA

Will the tone be altered more with the resister on the switch or the capacitor on the pup?

It depends on the value of cap or resistor, but the general difference is that the resistor will just roll off some high end, like going to a lower value pot. The cap will add mids, so the tone will fatten up. So if it's just too bright, I'd do the 200k resistor. If it's overall too think, I'd do a 1nf capacitor.

How do you like the neck pickup? If you like its tone, I'd go the cap/resistor on the bridge pickup. If you think the neck pickup could use some darkening too, then I'd try the 250k pots.

[backalleyblues]

Well, if all the above don't work out (and it might, ya never know!) try a Duncan Broadcaster pickup in there... much more bark, and not shreikish at all... perfect example of that sound is the lead guitar on Tom Petty's "Breakdown"... Broadcaster into a tweed Deluxe... don't get any better than that...

Franc Robert

[elelpe]

Originally Posted by mellecaster

If I remember correctly, those Pro-Tones use 500K pots ?

If that's what yours has, I would suggest (2) 250K Pots, and a .047 Cap,

A lot cheaper and easier than New Pickups.

^ This. Congrats for new old guitar. I have Pro Tone thinline too.

[ClassA]

Hey Garret- I do like the neck , it could be a bit stronger but its tone is overall pretty nice, I have not played with a single coil p/up in over 15 years, and I forget how nice they could be. My humbuckers can be split on the Schecter I own but its not the same.
I think I am going to do a combo, the 250k pot plus the resister on the bridge pup. I will keep you guys in the loop when I hear the results.

[robt57]

Originally Posted by ClassA

I think I am going to do a combo, the 250k pot plus the resister on the bridge pup. I will keep you guys in the loop when I hear the results.

FWIW, I have few guitars I did not diddle the circuit in some fashion.


But I gotta ask, does that bridge pickup have a base plate on it, and is it properly grounded and more importantly, properly secured to the bobbin?