Mending the Mud-bucker

Is your neck humbucker dull and muddy? 

Have you tried brand after brand, model after model of replacement pickups only to find that, no matter what, you can't seem to get the clarity and articulation you need and deserve? Are you on a budget, and you just can't afford to replace those lifeless stock pickups?

Well, you're in luck. Before you drop another $80-$150 on a new pickup, try this simple, 5-minute mod. I just did it on two of my guitars and I couldn't be happier with the results. All you need is a screwdriver and a soldering iron to rid yourself of this muddy menace.

First, let's talk about how this mod works. Your volume and tone pots act together as a sort of low-pass filter, which bleeds some of the high frequencies produced by the pickups to the ground wires. Without this filter in place, the pickups may (depending on their particular specs) be too bright or shrill sounding for practical use. This is especially true for the bridge position.

Most guitars with humbucking pickups use two 500k pots wired together, which produces 250k of resistance. Basically, the lower the pot resistance, the more highs are sent to ground, and the warmer the tone. Many humbuckers are designed with this in mind, but may still lose too much high end in the neck position.

Since the bridge position typically benefits from 250k of resistance, and the neck position sometimes suffers, this simple mod will remove the tone pot resistance from the neck position, brightening it up a bit while leaving the bridge and middle positions unaffected.

The result is that your neck humbucker will have more high frequency content, be more articulate, have a slightly higher output (fantastic if you use the neck position primarily for leads), and still retain the warm, fat, glassy character it was designed for.

Now that I've sufficiently bored you, let's do the thing.

This example is for a guitar with 2 humbuckers, 1 volume, 1 tone, and a 3-way selector.

Here is a simplified diagram of the components and wires you'll be dealing with.

First, identify the wire connecting the tone pot to the volume pot. I've made it red here.

Heat up your soldering iron and disconnect the wire from the volume pot only.

Now, connect the free end of the wire to the bridge pole of the selector switch. Solder in place.

That's it.

If you've done it correctly, your tone pot will operate as normal in both bridge and middle positions, but will be disconnected in the neck position.

In a guitar with independent volume and tone pots for each pickup (Les Paul, SG, etc), simply disconnect the wire leading from the tone pot to the volume pot for the neck pickup.

Your neck position will now be a little brighter and louder, so you may want make some minor height adjustments, especially on the treble side.

The best part is, if you don't like it, it's incredibly easy to undo.

My guitar bucket list and why I'm just going to build it myself

I'm GASing pretty hard right now, and these guitars are not making my struggle any easier. I stopped after 10 only because the total cost of every guitar on this list was slightly out of my price range.

I was going to delete it, but a friend suggested I share the list since it's ok to have dreams. I think he just wants to fuel his own GAS. 

So, in no particular order:

#1 Skervesen Swan

This beautiful work of art is also a guitar. 

Skervesen has some of the most amazing finishes I've ever seen.

#2 Parker Fly Mojo Midi

Ever since I got my first musician's friend catalog when I was 15, I've had a fascination with Parker. This particular model can do just about anything you could expect a guitar to do. Plus midi.

#3 Parker DMFV7

I told you, I'm fascinated. Updated design that looks just as awesome and carries the same spirit as the original. And finally, a Parker 7 string. If only we could get them to make a baritone...

#4 Blackat Leon

It's like a modernized tele with big, fat ass. These finishes are on par with Skervesen. 
6, 7, or 8 string, I don't even care. 

#5 Hufschmid single cut H6

Speaking of teles. The best word to describe Hufschmid's construction is solid. Just check out this neck joint test. This one will be tricky since he only builds 8 per year and is selective about who he builds them for.

#6 Music Man John Petrucci BFR 6

Sure, there are less expensive JP models out there, but this is my list. Why not go for one fit for the man himself?

#7 Etherial EXO-R7

Pretty sure this guitar is from outer space. In the future. Glows in the dark, too!

#8 Strandberg Boden 8

I've always wanted to try a headless guitar, but the only ones I ever saw growing up were the minimalist Steinbergers. While I'm sure they were awesome, they just seemed like they would sit weird. This guitar looks more balanced and comfortable. Plus multi-scale 8 string, so...

#9 Daemoness Cimmerian

These are just gorgeous guitars. 

Awesome finishes and some of the the best inlay work I've seen.

#10 Mayones Regius 7 Angel

This finish makes me can't.

Now on to why I've essentially given up on this list. All of these companies have great reputations and employ some of the best luthiers in the world and, as expected, this is reflected in the cost to commission a build. 

While I would spend every dollar I have in order to obtain these instruments, I would also like to pursue my dream of building my own guitars. And for a fraction of what I would spend on this list, I could easily finish putting my shop together and finally start my first build. 

I'm sure that over the years I will get my hands on at least a few of these masterpieces, but I feel it would be infinitely more rewarding for my guitars to appear on someone else's list.

My name is Cam, and I believe in modifying guitars.

My name is Cam. 
I play guitar in the VA Beach Progressive metal band, Rhino Cerous.
I also like to work on, fix, and modify guitars. 

This interest started when I had to route the pickup cavities of my favorite guitar to accommodate EMG style pickups. I really didn't want to do this. It was just too scary. But it was an emergency. The original pickups were shot and we had a show the next day.

For those who have never done anything like this, if I had to compare the experience to anything, it would be my first tattoo. I didn't want to get one that I would regret and I was nervous about my choice, but I was determined to do it. I felt like it was the right decision. Even though it was painful as hell (on the calf where I had like, zero body fat), I survived the experience. And of course, I wanted more.

The major difference between these experiences, is that The guitar turned out exactly how I had planned. (pro tip: just because a tattoo artist has a great portfolio, doesn't mean it's his portfolio...also, I'm pretty sure he was on meth.) 

I've been into it ever since. I think once I realized that the guitar was my property, and that I could do whatever I wanted with it, it made it easier and even exciting to cut into it. Everytime I see a simple, traditional, or otherwise boring guitar, I see the potential in it. Like a slab of marble just waiting to be sculpted. 
I'm pretty positive that guy was on meth.

I've done a few more mods since then, and it turns out I have an increasing talent for it. It's like any project, really. You have to plan every step and make sure you have all the right tools and materials before you start. It also helps to be able to MacGuyver your way through unforeseen problems. If you make a mistake, a lot of the time you can just roll with it and adjust your plan to cover the flaw or make it look intentional.

Unless it's a bad tattoo. There's no coming back from that. I mean I could get it removed, but who has money for laser removal? I even went to another shop to see if someone could cover it up...they just laughed.

Photoshop is a huge help in the planning stage. It's probably the most important tool I use. You can make huge changes to the design without any real life consequences. Just hit "undo". 

It might actually be therapeutic to photoshop my tattoo out of all of my pictures.

Of course the best feeling comes from the finished product. Knowing that you've made something better with your own hands is extremely rewarding. Especially when it's a customer job. When someone genuinely appreciates the work you've done, it makes you forget all about that asshole who lied about his ability to draw an octopus fucking a bagpipe.