Gibson R7 extremely bright

Rafa Diaz

Experienced
Hey chaps,

got an original 2012 R7 and sounds extremely bright and sometimes harsh

has any of you had a similar issue

was maybe thinking changing the pups (maybe slash ones) and the electronics but not sure if has to do with the wood of these models

open to advices

thanks
 
Use the guitar's tone pots? ;)
Has the wiring been modded? Burstbucker pups can be brighter than the norm. You could change the tone caps perhaps? Or go with Bare Knuckles. ;)
 
I have a few Historic models (R7 and R8) and they all are pretty bright. I guess because they use 500 kOhm pots in these and not 300 kOhm like in the USA models. But I like the brightness 🙂
 
I have a 2012 R8 that was way too bright with the stock BB pickups, Gibson actually changed them but i ended up installing a set of BK Mules which are pretty decent.
 
Vintage LP's have a lot more in common with Tele's than people realize. Not surprised that an R7 would be brighter than you expected, what are you used to?
 
Thanks guys I really love the Plexi York Audio created on my SG and my LP Custom I tried it yesterday on the R7 and was just too bright.

Might be good to just reduce the treble and the presence in the Amp block to make it sound more in the line I like and forget about mods on a guitar that will just devaluate it ?
 
Thanks guys I really love the Plexi York Audio created on my SG and my LP Custom I tried it yesterday on the R7 and was just too bright.

Might be good to just reduce the treble and the presence in the Amp block to make it sound more in the line I like and forget about mods on a guitar that will just devaluate it ?

Roll tone knob down a bit.
 
Thanks guys I really love the Plexi York Audio created on my SG and my LP Custom I tried it yesterday on the R7 and was just too bright.

Might be good to just reduce the treble and the presence in the Amp block to make it sound more in the line I like and forget about mods on a guitar that will just devaluate it ?

Heck yeah. I bet you can get it sounding great. Also, don't neglect the pre-EQ section of the amp block.
 
Get rid of those burst bucker pros. Either that or swap the magnets out with some a2 magnets. That should get it closer to where it sounds like you want it
 
Make sure the pickups are backed off a bit from the strings, not cranked up all the way against the strings. I like to adjust the sound for both pickups while the toggle is in the middle- making the blend of both pickups "full on" sound good. You can also change a bit of the resonant peak of the pickup by moving the pushback shielding wire, you have to add a jumper to the pot in some cases. You may need to adjust some of the pickup screws if you have a string jumping out, most often the D. Adding a metal pickup cover will attenuate the top end if you don't already have a cover. Another approach would be to swap out the Al tailpiece for a quality steel one. Callaham. This works on SGs and 335s that sound bright. Setting the volume pot at 7 or 8 will take off some glass as well as using a tiny bIt of the tone knob.
 
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Either that or swap the magnets out with some a2 magnets. That should get it closer to where it sounds like you want it

Yes, AlNiCo 2 magnets are related to warm tones, but you have to be careful. Pickups with very low DC resistance can still be pretty bright with A2 magnets.
 
Just swapping pickups is not going to save a guitar you don't like the fundamental acoustic tone of .
You can't get a convincing LP tone out of a strat just by putting a PAF in it.
 
Tone of a guitar plugged in is not just the pickups.
No one said it was. I’m simply saying that I’ve seen many people get a guitar to sound the way they wanted with a pickup change, when they initially hated it......happens all the time. If you’ve never experienced this, not sure what to tell you.
 
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