Tonal frustrations

shaunm

So I went to change pick up rings on my les Paul this weekend but having only removed the neck I found out it didn't fit. I replaced the pick up as it was but now my neck pick up is booming and much louder than the bridge. I don't think it was like this before.

Am I right in thinking I must have altered the pick up height and that's what's making the neck so much louder?

Also why is it some nights you put your amp on and plug into your board and its tonal bliss and others its a case where no matter what you do it's not just right? I do wish I could find a one guitar straight into an amp set up that just works.

I think by the end of the year I shall aim to have a two amp set up that is one clean and one drive. Or maybe one amp that is a great drive but cleans up nicely with the volume?

Tonight has been a tonal pain in the butt.

ThePrettyDamned

Sounds like you have changed the height of the pickup, lower it a bit.

As for tonal variation, it proves to me how fickle our ears are. It probably sounds much the same, but your mood can affect how you hear things I reckon. If you were already frustrated at the neck pickup behaving weird, maybe you have perceived everything differently.

brucegill

I'm no expert but sounds like its higher than it was before. Should be some guide on the net for standard pick up height. Or just drop it down until they sound balanced again. I'm pleased to hear it's not just me. One night it's like heaven. The next it's like I've got cotton wool in my ears and i end up nob fiddling more than playing. Good luck!

timmysoft

Good tone days are fewer than unhappy tone days!

shaunm

I think that might well be the case because I really enjoyed the tone last night and then today I couldn't get it just right, either a little nasal or a little bit too boomy, a touch too fizzy or a touch thin.

I am sure it is all in the mind because nothing has changed since last night. I'm the only variable.

I shall lower the pickup. Do you find that you get better clarity when the pickups are lower?

Samgb

Try recording yourself on different nights and see if you can hear a difference. Everyone drives themselves crazy like that sometimes. Perfection is unattainable.
As a great guitar player once said.*

* actually that was Kevin Costner in the golf movie Tin Cup but it's true.

steamabacus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2wrw7uO4QI&list=PL154F3490A9330475&index=5

Chalky

Ears, neck muscles, blood pressure, facial muscles, jaw alignment and so on can all physically affect what you hear. For example many people when they are yawning while listening to a steady pitch will hear a drop in that pitch plus a slight darkening of the sound as the highs are reduced. Curiously many don't detect the return to correct pitch, as if the part of the brain to do with hearing is doing some recalibrating or auto correction.

Plus as the wise man said above, our mood makes a big difference to our appreciation of sound. Also taste, smell, sight, even sex )

p90fool

If I'm struggling to get my rig to sound right I just play along to some good quality backing tracks, which usually tells me that either it already sounded fine, or I'm completely barking up the wrong tree tonally.

Sometimes our ears need a datum to calibrate to, trying to make an electric guitar sound great in isolation is largely pointless anyway IMO.