Cutlass BFR

[JoeMussari]

Good morning everyone,
I have a Cutlass BFR HSS in green. it has a DiMarzio in the bridge pickup position. I love the guitar. The bridge pickup does however not sound as good as i think it should. it sounds kind of quacky and no matter how much i mess with my amp settings/pickup height it still sounds quacky and not as treble-y. Almost sounds like i have a wah wah on and rocked back a little. I know thats a horrible description. If anyone knows anything or can help me out id appreciate it. Im a gibson/fender guy normally so EBMM is new territory for me.
Thank you!

 

[beej]

That's odd- did you buy it new or used? Do you have a sound clip you can post?

In terms of helping you out, if someone has wired it incorrectly (e.g. out of phase- which usually produces the sound you're describing), you might need to get in there and look at the wiring under the pickguard.

 

[JoeMussari]

I dont think its out of phase. I wired a phase switch into one of my les pauls. This sound is like having the tone knob rolled off to about 3 or 4. I will get a sound clip and try and post it later. its driving me nuts because i love the guitar, but that bridge pick up lol

 

[beej]

Hmm. Yes- post a clip if you can and we can try to help you out. I'm guessing you'll need to take a picture of the wiring as well.

 

[JoeMussari]

Hmm. Yes- post a clip if you can and we can try to help you out. I'm guessing you'll need to take a picture of the wiring as well.

Here we go. I just uploaded to youtube.
Bridge pickup with distortion:

bridge pickup clean:

middle position for reference clean:

Thanks for the help! I messed with pickup heights last night and seemed to help a little. Its almost like theres too much treble and not enough bass or maybe its the other way around? i could mess with my amp settings some more too.

 

[DrKev]

That sounds awesome! What model DiMarzio is in the bridge? It may just be the sound of that pickup?

 

[L3forMe]

sound clips sound absolutely perfect. Clean was top notch, lead was not harsh, sounds like a BFR guitar to me!
Those single coils might be alittle thiner than my HSS BFR L3, but not by much. pull up the bass side of the single coils a hair and that should help.

 

[fbecir]

Joe, I do not hear anything wrong in your sound clips.
But of course, we all have a perfect sound in the head that we try to achieve.
Changing the pickup height is the first thing to do.

 

[JoeMussari]

Joe, I do not hear anything wrong in your sound clips.
But of course, we all have a perfect sound in the head that we try to achieve.
Changing the pickup height is the first thing to do.

Thanks for listening! of course it doesnt sound squawk-y in the video it actually sounds pretty good but ill keep messing with my settings and see what i come up with. i appreciate you helping me out!

 

[loocnmad]

I'm with Dr Kev on this one, that sounds great in the video. Do you know which model it is? If you ever have the pickguard off let us know.

 

[KasperFauerby]

I also think the recordings you posted sound great - but trying to listen to it with your description from the OP in mind I think I can kind of hear what you mean. I think we can safely establish that there is nothing wrong with your pickup, wiring or anything like that... but it IS a very full/fat sounding tone with lots of mids.

May I ask; are you getting the tone in your head with your other guitars on this rig, just not this new MM guitar, or are you still tone searching in general? Because there are lots of other components to your tone I would suggest trying to experiment with before focusing too much on the pickups or their exact heights etc..

 

[loocnmad]

Joe, I watched some of your other YT videos and you have a great tone in general. What kind of amp are you using?