Muddy Pickups? Try This Super Easy Guitar Mod 

This is such a great mod, let me know if you install it. P.S the guitar in the video is a Bailey Prototype (UK), cheers!

With humbuckers, if you don't want to install anything there's an easy way to get more clarity. Drop the entire pickup height, then raise the adjustment pole pieces back up. So dropping the entire pickup lessens the output, then by raising the poles you're increasing the output of the one coil. You can lower them significantly to the point where if you have coil splitting the only difference between the coil splitting and the full pickup is that it'll hum when you split it, but the sound is almost the same. If you want you can start here and then dial it in by raising the pup and lowering the poles if you want to dramatically brighten it up, or just lower it a bit if you're just wanting to add a little clarity or dynamic response.

This is exactly what the "Dry Switch" on a Yamaha Revstar is doing. Very informative video, thanks!

Regarding your note about muddiness in distortion. This is the reason so many high gain players use a tube screamer in front of the amp. The tube screamer has this exact characteristic of rolling off the bass. A lot of the time they will turn the gain on the pedal all the way down to make it as clean as possible. And use volume to boost gain going into the preamp of the amp.

I made up 9 of these with a range of resistors from 10K/22K/47k/100K and I'll try a few in my LP style guitar I built that has some very muddy humbuckers.

Neck humbuckers are not any more muddy than the bridge pickup. A forgotten approach from the masters is to EQ your amp to make the neck clear. Yes, the bridge will now be very harsh but slowly back off the guitar tone knob until the harshness is gone. This is why you see classic rock hero's actually moving the tone knob.

Wow, what a bunch of grumps commenting. I haven’t done this on a guitar but I have done the same thing on an old Zenith TV console tube amplifier I converted for guitar use. It has a single stage pentode preamp (6AU6 tube) that sounded quite muddy (Uncle Doug [look him up if you are interested in tube amp workings] describes the old pentode preamp amps as “warm” but that’s just being nice). I put a 100nf capacitor in parallel with the 10k grid stopper resistor, which is itself in series with the input, effectively the exact same thing you are doing here except it’s in the amp. With the guitar controls at 10 it’s electrically pretty much the same. That helped add some shine to the amp and the somewhat bigger capacitor allowed more lower treble frequencies to bypass the resistor giving a bit more gain. While no Vox “chime” or Fender “sparkle” it is a very usable sound. With the volume (the only control) on 10 and a bridge P-90 wide open, it rocks! I thought I was being innovative but this video and several of the comments made me realize that this sort of thing has been done for decades. I guess I’ll have to make my fortune elsewhere… Thanks and keep making useful videos!

Absolutely the best soldering iron money can buy. I own the exact same machine.

This is another great idea! Exploring the possibilities of resistors for example with coil splitting, ala PRS, where the resistor is used to "patially split" when the push-pull is activated keeps your output higher with a coil split scenario

Did this mod today. Works perfectly. Thanks!

Listening to this on my phone and could clearly hear the bass rolloff and a very slight shift in the mid frequencies. Awesome

Ive got an old Samick and i did a capacitor and resistor and wow! It was amazing! I love that guitar now. Vintage stuff though, seems to have a better sound when Vintage.

I'm a single coil guy and probably the most electronics ignorant viewer here lol. I found your video fascinating and interesting. You did a great job explaining it so that even I could understand. Thanks👍

Iprefer to install the demud capacitor to the output jack for three reasons: 1. It's always the neck pickup having too much bass. When you select a value that cuts out just enough of the neck mud, you won't hear any difference in the bridge pickup tone. 2. When installing the demud cap to the jack there will be no out of phase issues! 3. The cap also blocks possible dc coming out of the amp, and blocks "scratchy pots" sounds from your guitar. For example VVR can cause the DC leaking to the guitar, if your amp doesn't have caps blocking it. I have always used only the cap without resistors. But because of the video, I just tried the recommended value resistor and cap with my TV Jones Classic Filtertrons. Definitely better to use the cap with the resistor than without!

WOW!!! I've just tried this with my cheap pickups and result is killer! No mud even on neck pickup at full overdrive. Thank you! And btw this mod eliminates cable capacity influence. You saved my money :D

Yes, lower pickup, raise pole pieces first. If you put the cap in series with no resistor, it also raises the resonant peak, which can give a more "single coil sound." If it removes too much bass, use a larger value cap. You can have a cap that doesn't remove much bass but still adds a little bit of higher peak, if desired. I think that's a good place to start. There's also absolutely nothing wrong with using the resistor if you like the sound better. Whatever works for you. Feel free to experiment. BTW Good quality caps and resistors should cost pennies. They may cost more in small quantities, but should still be less than $1.00.

Cool mod! Personally when it comes to low tune baritone tuning b to b I tend to wire my pickups in parallel which gives a single coil like sound more like a p90 but still retains the noiseless factor of the pickup. It also cuts the output on the pickup a small amount but raising the pickups is an easy fix. Im always looking for something new to try for my baritone to clean the mud up. I play alternative music so cleans need to be clear and not muddy.

Your arrangement of “man in the mirror” is really cool lol I like how with the mod the low E is much snappier with more of a equal bass response to the rest of the strings!! Very good video!

Great video, thank you I did something similar to my HH tele. Using a pot at first is a good way to get an idea of what value(s) you like and then you can develop your permanent mod.

Just tried this out on my mustang that I put an SH-8 invader in 👍

Good stuff nicely explained and demonstrated, you just saved people a lot of money by replacing a pickup🙂

Really helpful and something to look forward to 👍🏼

Definitely heard the difference! I really don't like muddy humbuckers, so this would be a very cool mod indeed. Thanks for the video!

The vintage DeArmond Rhythm Chief’s control box had a capacitor in series with the pickup that could be shorted with a switch to bypass. But it lacked the resistor so probably cut too much. I think most people left it shorted. Many Framus guitars from the 1960’s and on had a bass cut control that was essentially your circuit with a 3.3nF cap and a pot instead of a fixed resistor. G&L later adopted this idea for their PTB circuit using a 2.2nF cap. I have a 1968 Framus BL-15 with a bass cut control, and it’s very useful if you have bass-heavy pickups.

Man I really appreciate this!!

This stuff is absolute gold!

I have read numerous interviews with the old guitar hero's or their techs stating that the bass knob on their amps was near or at zero. I used to play through a Hiwatt stack in a very loud band and with those size amps you need to cut the bass way back or your tone is dull. Let the bass player have that territory!

I have installed a switchable bass cut in some of my guitars (only on the neck pickup) , but only with the cap, no resistor. I think I will try the r+c in parallel. The problem with the bass cut is the fact, that your tone control doesn´t work correctly anymore. The pickup loses its resonant peak and sounds completely dull and lifeless. Maybe that´s less prominent with the rc combination. Otherwise you need a smaller cap value for the tone pot.

Appreciate the diagram - thanks.

This is awesome!! Recently diving into Arduino I have a load of caps and resistors to play around with and finally got brave enough to carry out the Danelectro Rocky Road mod. For the curious it's WELL worth it. I'll be taking your advice to my Lace Huntington as its sounds pretty good and this will surely make it that much gooder ;) Why not?

Great video. I will try this with one of my next builds.

How about combining this filter with the volume pot. As you turn the volume down, you roll off the bass as well. Full volume full response, half volume sparkly cleans.

The "muddy" sound starts with the same pickups, some have a lot of wax, getting rid of the extra material, also maybe consider replace the magnets for ceramics or alnico 8, or replace the volume pot for 1meg will work

I'm a little confused... Muddy pickups usually means too much lower mids / upper bass in the 100 Hz to 300 Hz range. You're cleaning up muddy pickups by rolling off the bass? Entirely? A band-pass filter as opposed to a high-pass filter seems like it would be more appropriate. For $40 you can get an EQ pedal that'll clean up mud way better than that mod ever could. When I build a guitar that has even has tone controls, I don't mess with that old school WW2 / Marconi "volume tone tube amp" tech, I just put a built-in EQ on-board.

Placing the package between the coils will make the coils asymmetrical, which in itself will effect the operation and sound of the pickup (slightly). For symmetrical humbucking operation, place the package in between the hot output wire and switch.

This looks like exactly what I need for my inexpensive kit guitar. The cap/resistors i have on hand are .022uf/10ohm. Would this pair be decent, or should I just order new cap/resistors in the recommended range?

Subtle change, but a noticeable difference for the better :)

Thanks for this. I love to do this sort of thing. I have just installed all new electronics in an old lawsuit Les Paul copy, and the neck pickup is a slightly muddy when the volume is all the way up. This model came with a switch from the factory between the two volume pots. Right now that hole is empty, but I'm mulling over ideas about what to do with it. Putting a miniature three way switch in there with two different combinations of cap+resistor and one thru position might be a good option.

If your guitar has two tone knows you could wire one to roll off bass, and the other to roll of treble.

I just put this cap as a "treble bleed" on volume. No resistor required. Works almost like a PTB-system on G&L.

I LOVE the way you show how to do this - I can actually follow what you're doing. Do you have suggestions on where to look for wiring this capacitor & resistor up to a push-pull pot to make the mod switchable, the way you have it? I use PTB wiring on one guitar, where the bass cut (the "B" in the "PTB") serves a similar mud-cutting purpose as the capacitor/resistor you have here. However, I've got an Epi Les Paul where I think this mod would be super useful - but I'd like to retain the original tone for when that's most useful, which is why I'd want to make the mod switchable like you have it in this video.

Hey man great vid and demonstration! Just a question on my side tho… In theory, would installing a cap at the output jack hot wire have the same effect as installing it at the pickup? I mean, it does the same thing but further down the signal chain in the guitar wiring. I appreciate your effort 😊

so this is basically the treble bleed mod on the volume pot that keeps the tone more neutral when turning the volume down

How about lowering the pickup body a couple millimeters and raising the pole screws back up?

Hi here. Thanks very much for making these vids, it actually help for people with no electronic background, I really appreciate it, I tried this in my 7 String and I do like the tod I get out of this mod lots of clarity but I am not loving the lack of gain and lower volume, any advise to remedy this issue I am using 560pf between coils, thanks

Hi Waylon! What is your take on coil split? I tested different methods and to my ears they all sound weak. Do you have any tip?

I use a Helix and can basically use the EQ's to do the same thing and per patch.

Wouldn't putting the cap in between the coils change the phase relationship between the coils?

Hi. Does this work on active pickups like EMGs? Thanks

So a lower value capacitor (say, 2nf) would remove more bass from the signal, correct?

Boss SD1 works amazingly for this.

lower the pickups or install a permanent filter or attach the filter to a switch or... buy different pickups. I wonder which is discussed... let me see.... ok, filter to switch. better than hardwiring it. You can get darker and brighter now.

Waylon, I love your mods videos and thank you for them! I don't know how to say this politely so here it goes: ditch the reverb. When your doing tone variations videos, not only is it not helpful, it is a hindrance. Go with the pure sound of whatever you're showcasing(pickups, pedal, etc). Even with the headphones, it's a nuisance. Otherwise, keep it up, what you're doing is appreciated.

What type of solder do you use? Silver solder ? Can a difference be heard?

Waylon, Johnny Marrs Jaguar guitar has the Strangle Switch which is a series 0.003uf Capacitor plus there is also another switch which you can can the Muddy Mod Switch which is a Series+Resistor in series when only the pickups are wired in Series = Humbucker. I'm not sure what Johnny Marrs RC values that he choose but Johnny Marrs said that when the single coil pickups wired in series = Humbucker which makes them sound very muddy so he added another Strangle Switch/Muddy Mod to fix this issue. Try to look into this to make a lesson about it

Sounds great !.... without the mod. :') (by the way, what are ur pickups ?) Nice interesting video.

I am going to try this on a tappable P90 pick-up which sounds fantastic at 9/10 volume on the Guitar but pure mud when lowered and the tone basically sounds wooly below 8. I may try the cap and resistor on the treble volume pot 1st and if that still sounds off I shall try it in-between pickup and switch like yours. I did this on a Les paul special which was only clear at 8/9/1₩ but after the modification using the GTR vol at 4 /5 sounded bigger and clearer than any other Les Paul humbucking or P90! Thanks.

Can you do a video showing the change in phase? I want to try this on some p90s but I quite like the sound of the middle position

Would this be the same as a Treble Bleed Mod? Great video going to give this a try.

First thing I'd suggest is removing pickup covers, if you have them, and then f around with pole pieces... Then try capacitors etc or just buy pickups you like

NZ is a pain in the butt for getting small amounts of components for guitar, pedal, and amp modding. I might just need a few 400v coupling caps and some resistors. Nobody local has them that I can find and Jaycar just has bare basics that are not suitable most of the time. It means paying more in postage to import than the cost of the handful of components. What's your workaround? I'd guess buying larger orders to stock up with all the stuff you might need. I see it's much easier for US peeps. Any part they need is usually available and sent to them in a day or two. Amp mods is what interests me most. I've tried a bit of this and that in JMP 1987 circuits. Very basic stuff though. I also have a Trinity amps 18 watter turret board that I still have not populated in over ten years, because I do not want to have to import parts.

well that answers my question from the GOAT MOD video!!! THANKS! im looking up 100k resistors and there are a bunch of different Watt values, does it matter? the ones im seeing are 100k 1/4 Watt 1% and same but 2%....what are the percentages? does it matter? sorry for the long question

Have you ever put a neck position pick up in the bridge position? I did it recently and I couldn’t believe how much better my guitar sounded.

now you've got me thinking about the variable version, I have a Zappa style (way too many switches) guitar. coil splits and phase, I love the out of phase stuff..... sometimes.... a tweakable phase shift could be fun. Would a 1 Meg pot give me the biggest range?

Nice Mod... Cheers 🍻🥃🥃 🎸🎼🎵🎶🎶

Hmmm, looks like that's the stock thing on my Fender Classic Player Jaguar HH, they call it "strangle switch". I removed the resistor and left the cap only, I think it is much more useful now for me.

How would this compare to just using higher value pots (or even putting in a bypass so the PU goes directly to the output jack, bypassing tone and volume pots)? For example, going from 250K pots on single coils up to 500K or even 1M. I guess it comes down to comparing less attenuated high frequencies vs more attenuated low frequency. It might be an interesting mod for 2 HB style guitars with separate (although they are clearly not separate) tone controls for each PU. Instead have a master tone control (normal high end roll off) and a master low end roll off.

Didn't the JHS advance guitars already have a similar thing back in the day? They used a pot instead of fixed resistor.

Do you have an overdrive example of before and after?

This only works when you engage the volume pot right? It's like a treble bleed mod?

Interesting. Do you have any plans on a how to on a treble bleed ? Been flirting with the idea for a while now . Ive done a couple of mods on my strat, different pup and tone on bridge but that would complete it quite nicely, i think. Also, can you recommend a good vol pot thats not some cheap ass linear taper for humbuckers? The one i have (on my schecter) is dreadful. Its either on or off. I don't know if its relevant but has a push pull coil split on the tone pot. Tempted to swap it out for a switch as i never use the tone lol

Excellent.

Does the capacitor only make a difference if you turn down the volume or Tone? So if i have volume on 10 and treble on 10. Will i get the full pickup range. Lot of videos saying that the capacitor only rolls of the bass and treble if u lower volume or tone…..thanx

So the bigger the cap and the bigger the resistor, the greater the effect will be both in terms of the bass-cut and the phase-shift.

Great Bluesman

If you wire it between the coils is it only affecting signal from the first coil before it goes through the second?

Nice one!!!

what you suggest about cut off single coils treble frequency

So...all factory Les Pauls.

Can you split the pickup with this mod, with the components inbetween the wires, those that normaly split the pickups?

🤩

Hello! Forgive my ignorance on this topic and my bad English... but is this mod the same mod for retaining the high frequencies? The famous treble bleed. I know that treble bleed can also be done in sequence with the resistor and capacitor, but it is also done this way in parallel... Is this the same thing you did?

You are right. I can’t hear the difference through the phone.

I'm trying to make this modification, but it only works when the pickup is in parallel with the bridge pickup (middle position). To verify this, I disassembled everything and connected the "hot" wire of the neck pickup directly to the tip of the jack, and the other wire to ground. The pickup sounds, but the capacitor has no effect. However, when I connect the "hot" wire of the bridge pickup to the same point as the neck pickup (tip of the guitar jack) and the other wire to ground, both pickups sound, and now the neck pickup with the capacitor works as it should. Does anyone know why this is happening? Thanks!

I'm a country guitar player so I don't have any pedals just a 65 fender twin reverb and a telecaster

This just a treble bleed installed on the pickup instead of the pot.

Thanks for this video, I've been trying to research putting a capacitor in series to pass highs/cut lows but there's a lot of confusion online. I have an Epiphone SG. When I dial in the bridge pickup to sound good, the neck is far too muddy. When I dial in the neck pickup to sound good, the bridge pickup sounds far too ice-picky. I've tried adjusting pickup and pole heights but the tone and volume never match. I've tried using the tone control but I have to set the bridge on 2 to match the neck, and by then the output/gain is weak. My question is, what would the difference be between placing the 0.01uF cap between the pickup and volume pot, vs placing the cap between the volume pot & switch?

Hi, isn't it a classic treble bleed ?

Sometimes a magnet change is in order.

It will drop your signal level a bit too

Hello..how to less bass on emg neck pickup..my esp eclipse to bassy on neck..I don't like it

no need for the resistor unless you have some 50 cycle hum in your guitar. a neck humbucker needs this de muddiness cap in series, put it on a push pull volume pot, 150pf. can give you a gilmore lead tone depending on how hot (how many henries) your pickup is.

I am going to buy 100k resistor but I dont know what W (for example 1/2 W 100k resistor/ 2W 100k resistor) resistor i should buy please somebody help me

7-10 band equaliser?

Wasn't Muddy Pickups a Chicago blues guitarist in the 1950's?

I wonder why guitars don't more often include a bigger variety of simple passive electronics? Especially if one uses "mutes" [pieces of soft steel] to adjust the sensitivity of pickups to different strings, it's possible to have the tone knobs affect different strings differently, which can work well if one uses different strings for different musical functions. If one wants to use a couple of strings for a bright "solo" sound while the rest of the guitar has a mellower sound, simple passives on the guitar will be able to shape sounds in ways that pedals wouldn't be able to if they only receive a composite output from the guitar.

Many times “muddy” humbuckers are a pickup height issue. You could spend less time money and energy by just raising and lowering your pickup heights until you find the sweet spot of sound you like. With any decent pickup that should be enough to get great sounds and even tones. If that doesn’t work then chances are you have crappy humbuckers or maybe you just don’t like the humbucker sound.

I thought Muddy Pickups was a blues singer.

What size capacitors and resistors are recommended?

Muddy pick ups...are wax-potted pick-ups. Simples 😊