Bridge pickup too bright, neck pickup too dark

I have humbuckers there now with two rows of screws, so if I turn the bridge around, it should sound the same! If that's what you meant.
No. I was thinking that if the bridge is dark, and it will fit, put it in the neck cavity and use the one that was at the neck for the bridge. But I then saw that I totally misread your post. The opposite is the issue.
I recently ran into a related issue with a Tele I was working on. In that case, he wasn’t getting enough “twang” as he called it. The neck was way dark and the bridge not bright enough. In this case, a slight adjustment to the pups made a big difference. I dropped the neck slightly and raised the bridge slightly. I think sometimes people forget that on guitars, something as small as 1/64” difference can make a big difference in tone and feel. Perhaps you could drop both just a bit, if you haven’t already tried that.
 
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An update - I have a Fralin noiseless alnico P90 (neck) and a Fralin Pure PAF (bridge) on the way. The Alnico P90 should be plenty bright. Excited to see how they balance.
I really dig my Fralin noiseless p90 in the neck.. I've tried tons of HB sized P90s and the Frailin are easily my favs. I also pair it with a PAF, but a wolfetone DrV instead of Frailin. Sounds superb together.
 
I really dig my Fralin noiseless p90 in the neck.. I've tried tons of HB sized P90s and the Frailin are easily my favs. I also pair it with a PAF, but a wolfetone DrV instead of Frailin. Sounds superb together.
Cool! How do you have it wired? Split in the middle position?
 
An update - I have a Fralin noiseless alnico P90 (neck) and a Fralin Pure PAF (bridge) on the way. The Alnico P90 should be plenty bright. Excited to see how they balance.
Good luck!

I do have the tone control disconnected on the neck pickup of my Custom 22's. Not having the tone control connected to the neck pickup does brighten its tone a little.

I only use the tone control when I'm playing lead on the bridge pickup and want more of that "OW" sound.

You can also use a bright cap, or cap & resistor combo to minimize treble loss when turning your volume control down.
 
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I'll tweak more with the pole pieces. I have them set like this:
This is brilliant. Worked like a charm on an SE guitar with stock pickups that I liked but wanted a tad more clarity between strings.
 
I'm gonna try to disconnect the tone from the neck pickup. Is this even possible with the rotary switch, does anyone know?
I am not sure whether this was answered but this is an easy mod. Just disconnect the wire that goes to the tone pot from the volume pot and connect that end to the switch where the bridge pickup's hot lead is connected. There you go - tone control now works only on the selections where the bridge pickup is engaged.
 
Actually I found that I did not use the tone controls on either the Custom or the S2 Standard very much. I converted both to bass contour controls a la Reverend, and I use these all the time, especially with the neck pickup. Does a great job of removing the mud on the low strings. I find it also useful on the bridge pickup when I want more cut. Even though it is not actually increasing treble but by reducing the bass, the overall balance is shifted, thereby adding clarity, especially on the low strings.
 
How are the new pickups?
They're pretty great. Great, bright neck tone with a single coil quality. The bridge is vintage and sweet, though pretty bright. I roll down the tone to 3-4 on the bridge usually and roll it a bit back up on the neck. Works great, though not completely balanced, but I have accepted that I won't get that with only 1 tone knob.
 
They're pretty great. Great, bright neck tone with a single coil quality. The bridge is vintage and sweet, though pretty bright. I roll down the tone to 3-4 on the bridge usually and roll it a bit back up on the neck. Works great, though not completely balanced, but I have accepted that I won't get that with only 1 tone knob.
Sounds like they are the kind of pickups you wanted.

Maybe you just need a mod to add another tone knob. Kind of like a PRS DGT but with two tone knobs and one volume control rather than two volume knobs and one tone control.
 
I have a custom 24 with 5-way rotary and 59/09. For my bridge pickup lead tone I like having the tone on about 5 or lower. For neck pickup tones I like the tone knob much higher. I'm used to a strat and having 2 tone knobs! So I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions.

Maybe disconnect the tone knob from the neck pickup?

Stacked tone knob with 500k/250k? I don't really know how these work.

Or, maybe change the pickups? I like the 59/09s but not in love with them.
The 59/09 is bright in the bridge to my ears , especially in something like a CU22 or 24.
Sounds like a 57/08 in the bridge might be a better tonal fit for you.
 
It all ended with Fralin noiseless alnico P90 in the neck, and the Pure PAF in the bridge. Both pots replaced with 300k, and the tone knob is wired to the bridge only.
 
Actually I found that I did not use the tone controls on either the Custom or the S2 Standard very much. I converted both to bass contour controls a la Reverend, and I use these all the time, especially with the neck pickup. Does a great job of removing the mud on the low strings. I find it also useful on the bridge pickup when I want more cut. Even though it is not actually increasing treble but by reducing the bass, the overall balance is shifted, thereby adding clarity, especially on the low strings.
Brilliant! I think I need to do this on my McCarty S2 DC594… the stock pickups I actually like but the bottom end on both pickups can get boomy and muddy with overdrive…..by turning down either volume control on the guitar even just 1 number cuts high end if I need it so I really don’t use the tone controls either
@darkbluemurder …. Can you tell me how to find a wiring diagram for the bass cut?
 
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