Lead sound on wound strings

Johnnyseven

I find that when playing single string leads or solos with my neck pickup my wound strings sound dull compared to unwound strings. The unwound strings have a nice thick singing tone but not the wound strings. Anyone know why this is? I'm using a vintage output a2 hb in a tele, would a hotter pickup or different magnet type help.

ICBM

Johnnyseven said:

I find that when playing single string leads or solos with my neck pickup my wound strings sound dull compared to unwound strings. The unwound strings have a nice thick singing tone but not the wound strings. Anyone know why this is?

Because that's one of the differences between a plain string and a wound string.

Johnnyseven

Is there anything that can minimise the difference?

ICBM

Johnnyseven said:

Is there anything that can minimise the difference?

Not really, it's an inherent difference between a single vibrating piece of metal which produces quite a pure tone and a more complex structure which has a lot more overtones and so sounds muddier when distorted.

For what it's worth I much prefer a wound 3rd string to a heavy plain one exactly for this reason, but I often play clean. A plain 3rd sounds too smooth and clangy - 'bell-like' in the wrong way.

Roland

Raising the neck pickup should make it a bit brighter, as long as you don’t get too close to the strings. Whether you like the sound is a different matter, because it will make the whole pickup brighter, and increase the volume vs the bridge pickup.

If you’re going to the expense of changing pickup then you could try a humbucker sized P90, which ought to be brighter than a humbucker.

Alternatively, I use a bridge pickup which has different magnets on the bass and treble sides. I’ve not seen this on a neck pickup, but I’m sure @Alegree or @TheGuitarWeasel would be interested in making one.

guitarfishbay

How old are the strings?

There's always going to be a difference, but as strings age wound strings typically go 'dead' sounding faster than plain strings, which would exacerbate this character

Johnnyseven

They're not brand new but it happens with new strings too.

skullfunkerry

More gain will help :P 

EricTheWeary

Messing with pick up heights might do it. I used to ( try to) do the Jimmie Vaughan thing of having pickups higher on the High E side and lower on the low E side than you’d typically see. Jimmie has flatwounds on the low three strings and sets up this way so that the flat wounds don’t sound boomy/ muddy. 
I guess also try different strings gauges? 

roberty

You could try railhammer pickups. They're really for downtuning and high gain I think

Johnnyseven

So i've found a solution to my problem. It's the Creamery Custom 13 humbucker. It combines al5 threaded rod magnets and an al2 bar and it sounds fantastic. Creamy leads on the gbe strings and not muddy at all on the ead. Highly recommend!

ESBlonde

As people have said, it's one of the natural charaturistics of the electric guitar. A bit like picking in different positions along the string length and using open strings etc. for the tone.

There is much machination on here and elsewhere about single coil or humbucker, neck or bridge pickup, but they are all flavours or the same dish that you can learn to incorporate into your sound. The less overdrive/distortion you use the more these nuanced sounds can be used in your playing. Try altering your pick attack for more flexibility with the note selection.

Jimbro66

Johnnyseven said:

So i've found a solution to my problem. It's the Creamery Custom 13 humbucker. It combines al5 threaded rod magnets and an al2 bar and it sounds fantastic. Creamy leads on the gbe strings and not muddy at all on the ead. Highly recommend!

That’s an interesting pickup that I’ve not seen before. Somewhat similar in principal to the Oil City Wapping Wharf bridge pickup that I have in one of my Teles.

Another option for addressing the tonal difference between wound and unwound strings is to change the bridge saddle material. My ES-335 has a Faber ABR-1 bridge with titanium saddles for the three wound strings and nickel plated brass for the three plain strings. It does make a difference but not as pronounced as having a pickup with A2/A5 magnet mix.