Tribute Legacy flame top - waaaaay too bright

[RCJ0877]

Just bought a used Tribute Legacy flametop. It's used, so no warranty to fall back on.

This thing is supremely bright. I'm having to keep the treble control at around 2. The bass control is full on 10. Even then, it's still pretty bright. Playable, but bright.

I bought it at Guitar Center, so I was able to A/B'd it with other flame topped Tribute Legacies on multiple amps with multiple cables. No doubt that this one was significantly brighter than the others. But I prefer the aesthetics of the trans black, and I figure I can cure the brightness somehow. So, here I am seeking advice on tackling it.

Serial # starts with 15, so I'm assuming it's a 2015. I see where the pickups are new production, and there were some possible differences in wire gauge initially. But I'm not sure if that was actually an issue or not. Regardless, the brightness is on all three pickups, so I'm inclined to think it's in the pots, not the pups.

I'm thinking that I need to change out the pot on the treble control. Maybe that will cool off some of that high end. But the question is if I should go with a 500k or another 1M pot. I'm not sure that replacing it with another 1M will change anything. On the other hand, a 500k could neuter the whole thing.

Anyone hear about a similar issue with these guitars?

[Craig]

Just bought a used Tribute Legacy flametop. It's used, so no warranty to fall back on.

This thing is supremely bright. I'm having to keep the treble control at around 2. The bass control is full on 10. Even then, it's still pretty bright. Playable, but bright.

I bought it at Guitar Center, so I was able to A/B'd it with other flame topped Tribute Legacies on multiple amps with multiple cables. No doubt that this one was significantly brighter than the others. But I prefer the aesthetics of the trans black, and I figure I can cure the brightness somehow. So, here I am seeking advice on tackling it.

Serial # starts with 15, so I'm assuming it's a 2015. I see where the pickups are new production, and there were some possible differences in wire gauge initially. But I'm not sure if that was actually an issue or not. Regardless, the brightness is on all three pickups, so I'm inclined to think it's in the pots, not the pups.

I'm thinking that I need to change out the pot on the treble control. Maybe that will cool off some of that high end. But the question is if I should go with a 500k or another 1M pot. I'm not sure that replacing it with another 1M will change anything. On the other hand, a 500k could neuter the whole thing.

Anyone hear about a similar issue with these guitars?

Because you bought it used and found that it sounds different from the others you tried, I would check the wiring to see if it matches the stock setup.
The stock wiring should be the same as the US Legacy, so see the Legacy Diagrams we have in the Instrument Manuals and Wiring Schematics album of the Gallery.

In case you are not familiar with the PTB controls, see this post: Can you explain the PTB circuit?.

If you need new pots, check out the G&L On-Line Store: ELECTRONICS.

Hope this helps.

[RCJ0877]

The wiring looks fine. No issues there.

Like I said, I'm keeping the treble control down low. I said at 2, but it's really more at 3.5 or 4. Bass control is cranked.

It's okay set there, but it'll break glass if I pull the treble up any more than that. It kind of sucks losing much of the flexibility of the PBT system, but I'm a "set it and leave it" kind of guy anyway.

I'll be honest, if this were a MIM Strat, I'd take it back. Actually, I never would have bought it. For one, the build quality and the components of MIMs are clearly inferior to the Indo G&Ls. But there is a clarity in these pickups that I've never gotten out of a Strat. There's more sparkle than spank.

I guess it's like anything in life: the things that are your greatest assets are also, in some ways, your biggest liabilities. In this case, I'm getting an incredible sparkle out of this guitar, but that's likely because the guitar is just super bright to begin with.

I'm still not convinced that moving to a 500K pot on the treble control wouldn't be a good move. But I am sloppy with soldering, and the idea of paying a tech $50 or whatever to swap out a pot is beyond me. I was hoping someone else would have experienced something similar that could give me some guidance. I'm now leaning towards just accepting that this one is just a naturally "bright" guitar.