Guitar too dark / hardware?

[Tremster]

Hello everyone, I haven't posted in a long time.

A question about guitar optimization:
I have a Partscaster Humbucker Tele that sounds a bit dark, but it does sound dark even unplugged, the high end that I get unplugged from my regular Tele is missing, so it's not the humbuckers. I had these pickups in a different guitar before, so I know them, they're not too dark. It must be the hardware.
The guitar has a Tele Humbucker bridge with brass saddles.
It has a black TUSQ nut.
I play D'Addario "Half Rounds", which are a sort of "bright flatwounds" on all electrics, I'd like to keep those. But they're not too dark either.
Do any of you guitar experts have an idea how to get a bit more high end out of that guitar? Steel saddles are the only thing I can think of. Do they make things much brighter and have a big effect?
Any tip is appreciated.

[jwin615]

I would go strings first, especially if it sounds dark accousticly. Have you tried lowering the pickups?
I'd also check the capacitance of your cable. Or at least try a different cable. Maybe try guitar>a short patch cable>buffer>rest of the rig.
Higher capacitance cables will eat up your high end, especially on longer cables.
If you need new cable, the BTPA house brand is wonderful and very affordable
https://btpa.com/Bulk-Product/Cable/Guitar-Line-LevelBP/

[Aleph Null]

I usually like to start with the least expensive option first and work my way up in cost and complexity.

• Humbuckers are more susceptible to parasitic capacitance. You might get your treble back with a shorter cable—10' or less
• Pickup height can effect string response. Lowering the pickups will result in lower output, especially of mid frequencies. There will be proportionally more treble content
• Pot values can make a noticeable difference. 500k pots are typical with humbuckers. Do the pots actually measure 500k? 1M pots might sound better in this guitar. Also, you can mix an match if all 1M pots is too bright

Beyond these things, you're looking at replacing more costly parts.

[jimilee]

Hello everyone, I haven't posted in a long time.

A question about guitar optimization:
I have a Partscaster Humbucker Tele that sounds a bit dark, but it does sound dark even unplugged, the high end that I get unplugged from my regular Tele is missing, so it's not the humbuckers. I had these pickups in a different guitar before, so I know them, they're not too dark. It must be the hardware.
The guitar has a Tele Humbucker bridge with brass saddles.
It has a black TUSQ nut.
I play D'Addario "Half Rounds", which are a sort of "bright flatwounds" on all electrics, I'd like to keep those. But they're not too dark either.
Do any of you guitar experts have an idea how to get a bit more high end out of that guitar? Steel saddles are the only thing I can think of. Do they make things much brighter and have a big effect?
Any tip is appreciated.

Steel saddles should brighten it up quite a bit. Strings really won't make a long term change, in my experience.


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[gordo]

Pics please and what's the details?  Body wood, neck wood, string-thru vs top-load, neck joint, etc... can all play a factor.  What's sucking all the top end out of the guitar as a whole is what you're looking to find.

[jimilee]

Although, if it doesn't resonate acoustically, that's more of a guitar body issue. I had a bass that Justus see terrible no matter what I did. I finally replaced the body, it sounds amazing now.


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[gordo]

I worked on 5 strats today.  Squire thru vintage and all sounded different, but all sounded not too far off how they sounded acoustically.

[Tremster]

Sorry, busy weekend.

Warmoth Boatneck roasted maple
Oiled roasted pine body with Strat contours
Tonerider AC2 Humbuckers
G&L PTB wiring (aka Reverend Bass contour), parallel/serial switch for each pickup via push/pull

I will start with steel saddles first and see how that works out.

Edit:
can't sem to embed the image: https://www.directupload.eu/file/u/75016/eq69pfey_jpg

[gordo]

Pine tends to disperse vibrations slightly (I think of it as being warm...in a good way) but nothing about your combo of parts that would suggest a dark sounding platform.  One interesting experiment if the steel saddles doesn't help is to capo the neck at the first or second fret and see if that makes a difference acoustically.  Not sure if you're using string trees or not so that span between the nut and tuners may be sapping a bit of brightness.

Damn fine looking guitar in the meantime!  That body is gorgeous.