pickup adjustment questions

[pete692]

I just replaced a set of pups in my '57 historic with a set of (covered) WCR Crossroads neck/Darkburst bridge. The neck sounds fantastic, but the bridge is really SUPER bright. What are the general rules of thumb for adjusting pickup height and pole pieces when trying to tame brightness and add a little midrange? By the way the bridge sounds really good with the tone turned down about halfway, should I just leave it there and call it a day? I pulled these pickups out of a '93 Les Paul Studio and the bridge was nowhere near as bright (or detailed) in that guitar.

[zeppelin101]

Well try dropping the bridge pickup a little, if that doesnt work drop the tone and then maybe bring it up only to jump out of the mix. Also check your amp settings. If you have too scooped of a sound that tends to happen. Try dropping the treble and the bass and bring up the mids a little

[captcoolaid]

Set the pup at 1/8 inch below the strings, then adjust down from there. what amp are you useing. I generaly bring the treb down and the bass up with the mids at about 4 or 5.

[pete692]

I'm using a Victoria 35310 tweed bandmaster w/pedals.

[korus]

1. lower adjustment screws of the bridge pickup (top of the screw's head) to be flush with bobbin if pickup is uncovered / flush with cover or even lower if pickup is covered

2. experiment with pickup height - start as close to strings as possible then lower it bit by bit

3. adjust neck pickup's height to equal the levels of bridge and neck

Also, if neck is a little bit boomy/muddy, raise the screws on the neck pickup. They can sometimes have whole heads above bobbin/pickup cover until it is enough.

my .02$, YMMV etc etc

[pete692]

Thanks for the help guys, I tried all the suggestions and just came to the realization that this particular guitar and the Darkburst bridge pickup do not get along. I put in a Wolfetone Dr. Vintage(zebra coil) in the bridge and the overly pronounced honk went away, replaced by chunky bass and articulate mids. What kills me is I ran that Darkburst bridge/Crossroads neck combo in my Les Paul studio for almost 4 years, and my sound was just fine-plenty of thump and not too bright. So now I'm running a nickel covered Crossroads neck, and an uncovered zebra coil Wolfetone bridge, and it looks pretty freakin' cool. Sounds even better. I think I'm done improving this little gem.

[korus]

Bridge and bridge studs and even more - tailpiece can be the answer why Darkburst bridge worked in Studio and does not work in R7. It just might be that Darkburst bridge does not like lightweight tailpiece. You can test it when you change strings on both at the same time - just switch their tailpieces' places.