Empress Legacy - pickup swap

[tildeslash]

Just bought an Empress Legacy. My god it weighs like 6 lbs.
Perfect neck for me.
However the pickups sound very weak. Very dark.
Any recommendation for swapping them out for something that is more sparkly or more punch or louder.

Because at the same amp setting my SRV Strat sound normal.
I guess I am looking for Strat sounding pickups in my Empress Legacy.

[Danley]

Congrats on your guitar Before mentioning anything further, have you tried measuring/adjusting the pickup heights, or playing with the PTB controls? The G&L master treble tone and bass controls don’t quite interact and load pickups the same way as a Strat does (even with everything on ten,) so if you want it to sound exactly like a Strat (even using similar pickups as Fender) you might have to fiddle around with the controls a bit.

[Craig]

Just bought an Empress Legacy. My god it weighs like 6 lbs.
Perfect neck for me.
However the pickups sound very weak. Very dark.
Any recommendation for swapping them out for something that is more sparkly or more punch or louder.

Because at the same amp setting my SRV Strat sound normal.
I guess I am looking for Strat sounding pickups in my Empress Legacy.

Did you buy this used or new? If used, do you know if it has been modded or is it stock?
Also, please post some photos as it does not exist without proof. And, do add it to our G&L Registry.

Looking forward to see you Legacy.

[tildeslash]

Bought it used from Reverb. All stock.
I did adjust the pickup height but it just sounds dark.
I also messed with PTB and sonically it took me away from where I wanted to go, even darker.
Not sure what to try.

https://i.imgur.com/qMut7pd.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ELnBCkd.jpg

[Danley]

Bought it used from Reverb. All stock.
I did adjust the pickup height but it just sounds dark.
I also messed with PTB and sonically it took me away from where I wanted to go, even darker.
Not sure what to try.

https://i.imgur.com/qMut7pd.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ELnBCkd.jpg

It ought to be possible to get a quite bright, even over-nasal tone by rolling back the bass control - although this doesn't necessarily make the guitar sound like a Strat. I would advise, the pickups themselves are probably not at fault - the CLF-100 pickups are essentially identical to Strat pickups; well within the construction and specification spectrum/range of pickups that are typically used by Fender, Seymour Duncan etc.

In fact, I doubt there is a pickup that would give you both an expanded treble response and greater output; likely very little room to move the direction you want by only switching pickups, assuming your magnets aren't somehow degaussed (since the CLF-100 is an A5 magnet pickup wound at the lower end of the DCR spectrum- any thinner gauge wire/additional winds that might boost output would also likely cause the pickup to have attenuated highs.) In comparison to an SRV Strat (which I think most models use slightly over-wound Texas Special-esque winds,) your G&L pickups are probably brighter when considered alone.

As-mentioned though - the biggest 'on-paper' difference between a Legacy and a Strat is the wiring. If raising the pickups and rolling back the bass control do not help, then I would recommend installing a standard-wired loaded Strat pickguard (with individual tones for Middle/Neck, volume only on Bridge, pot values each 250k etc. - or perhaps 500k if you really want things brighter.) Either keep your G&L pickups, or switch to something like Seymour Duncan SSLs (which ought to not sound any different.) I will caution that I don't off-hand mathematically know how differently the control setups load the pickups Fender vs. G&L nor have I experimented in practice; but there is a definite difference in wiring, and quantity/value of pots affecting each individual pickup does affect tone.

(Alternately you could try to retain the standard PTB wiring, but replace the volume/treble pots with 500k - 1 meg for increased brightness; I'd like to hear from anyone who has done that.)

My last (and real) advice- have you considered altering your amp settings when playing the Legacy vs. the settings you use for the Strat? You may need to boost the gain/treble/presence to get the Legacy in the same sonic area as the Strat. On the other hand - it can be the case even two Strats with the same wiring, same body wood and pickups will sound quite different. It could be that the differences are just inherent to your guitar. Good luck