TV Jones pickup height... WOW!!
 

I'm still getting acquainted with my Godin Montreal Premiere Ltd. I haven't played electric regularly for a good 20 years. I'm used to most of the tone just coming form the strings and my technique in striking them. I forgot how involved electric guitar can be!

I really like the neck pu on it's own and also both pu on. I wanted an acoustic type of clean tone that was big, warm and clear. This guitar has it. Most guys set TV Jones to sound kind of thin. There's more here than just rock-a-billy. Regardless, I found the bridge just to thin and harsh sounding. All nasal without any soul to it. Even with mild distortion it was just harsh to me.

One problem with this guitar is that the TV Jones pickups are kind of an after-thought. What I mean is, the mounting rings LOOK nice but they aren't level. This guitar needs Les Paul style mounting rings so that the pu's are parallel to the strings. So becuase of the rings, my pu's were angled weird so that the front of the pu's are close to the strings, back is not. I was talking to a guy at a music store and he said the old trick is just to stick some foam under the low side! Of course, pickup has to wiggle for that to work. Well it did!

I still found that bridge thin. So I raised it up with just a few turns of the screw. I'm probably around 2.5 to 3 mm from the depressed string now.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!

I was shocked. It was now a very usable tone for me. I have this nice classic rock sound coming from it with very little distortion. Crank up the distortion and it is now nice and meaty. That OOOMPH is now there. Full and clear rhythm and lead tones. Clean tones are also better, warmer and still very clear without being harsh. I generally don't use the bridge alone when clean, so the BOTH setting got nicer.

These pickups need a delicate and measured touch. They are low output, so that makes sense. But MAN are they ever rewarding. It has some natural growl that doesn't color the tone too much. A Tele is CERTAINLY a Tele, can't get away from it. These pu's don't color the tone as much. Roll back the tone knob a bit on this and it gets so warm.

I love it more each time I play it. The Boss Katana Artist combo is an awesome pairing!

Lastly, Sean Jones @ TV Jones is awesome! Fabulous service from these guys. These pickups really allow the Godin "breathe-through" carved core semi-hollow design to shine through.

Thanks for sharing this. It’s amazing to me how many people change out pickups before ever really dialing in the “stock” or current pickups in the guitar. Getting pu’s adjusted correctly makes a huge difference (as you well know).

I’ve found that by getting pu’s set correctly, and then re-wiring with quality pots, caps, switches, and jacks, not to mention good wire...makes most guitars that I’ve owned reach their potential. All for far less than most pickup sets.

Congrats and well done. Enjoy!

There's a sweet spot for every pickup in every guitar and you just found yours. Thanks for sharing and reminding us to dial in pickups.

I had the opposite once. The JB is a hot pickup and I had raised it too close to the strings. The guitar had feedback at the gig. Lowered it a little and that fixed the problem.

very interesting
 

I complained to Guitar Center about that when I bought my ES339 from them and they said that Gibson designed the pick ups to work best at an angle and for me to leave them alone. Being the rookie that I am, I never touched them, and so I never play it, I just play my Amer Strat, it sounds better. I think I'll dig up some foam tomorrow and put a little under my picked ups to level them up and see if it makes it a little smoother. Thanks for the tip!

At first I thought it was perhaps designed that way as well. Then I looked at other Godin Montreal guitars with HB's and they have the tilted rings so that the pu's are level. Then I looked at a Gretsch and it was obvious... full hollow bodies don't have multiple curves in the top the way a semi-hollow does! My pu rings are for a full hollow body guitar. However they look good on my guitar so I'll leave them for now. :)

These pictures are not mine, just from the web to illustrate the point.

Gretsch pu's with flat rings

http://www.gretsch-talk.com/proxy.ph...da09caea37ffed

Gibson pu's with tilted rings

http://images.lilypix.com/albums/old...366_p37458.jpg