2013 Fallout Tone?

[Jblue76]

Hi all, I just got my first G&L, it’s basically NOS. I’m finding the tone sounds pretty thin, especially on the low end. Is it just me? Any insight into why or how to fix it? I bought this guitar to replace an AVRI Jazzmaster that needed too many setups and had small frets and a 7.25” radius, but was also alder with a rosewood fretboard. Is it just a pickup preference issue with the fallout? I have 11-49 strings on now. Thanks in advance!

[Danley]

I'm alarmed if the Fallout seems thin compared to a Jazzmaster. Is it a US Fallout? What pickup is installed right now? Are you able to confirm full DC resistance can be measured at the output jack? Is the issue only in one position/pickup? If all else fails, there are many pickup choices you can select - but rule out any defect in the wiring etc. before you do that.

[Jblue76]

It’s all stock right now. The g&l p90 and the sd hb in the bridge. And it is a US model. I’m not equipped to measure output and I would not know what I’m looking at if I peek under the hood unfortunately. It seems to be mint condition and I believe the previous owner, who I believe is a pro guitarist, had it in storage for the last five years so I have to believe it’s all working properly. I did just play for a bit at louder volumes and it was better. Maybe I just need to adjust a bit. Maybe I should try a hybrid string set with fatter ones in the low end, though I just had it set up and don’t really want to mess with the intonation... if I did replace the pups, I need an f spaced humbucker, correct? Thanks for your help!

[Danley]

The G&L website doesn't list a particular Seymour Duncan model used that I can find, but specs elsewhere indicate it's probably a JB. I love the JB for high gain solos, but for other applications I think a lot of their pickups do much better. If you don't feel comfortable looking at wiring or checking resistance with a multimeter, I'd take it to a luthier and verify correct operation - Otherwise, like you said, won't hurt to play with the pickup height.

An F-spaced/trem-spaced pickup isn't a requirement, but it is the 'correct' pickup to use for the string spacing; a regular spaced humbucker will work just fine but not quite line up with the polepieces so might as well get trem-spaced. If you want a bigger low-end you might prefer something like a Duncan Invader; perhaps a Duncan Custom or Custom 5 would work. But I am again a bit confused- I have a few Jazzmasters, each has 1 meg pots (stock.) I've used stock Jazzmaster pickups and even Duncan Jazzmaster Hots (about twice regular DC resistance with more output) ; even the higher output pickup Jazzmaster isn't as loud/fat as any humbucker guitar, so I wonder if you don't have a wiring issue.

[Jblue76]

My JM has some mods done, including a 250k volume pot, rythem circuit cut out, treble bleed mod. The tone was killer out of the neck pickup. Not necessarily super powerful, but rich. I didn’t think about pickup height. What’s the correct height? I could probably measure that myself with some accuracy. Thanks again for your help!

[Jblue76]

I’ll try it stock next time I jam with some guys and see how it performs. I originally found the TB-4 himbucker that is stock in the fallout to sound a bit dark and so was thinking about a dimarzio super 2; I tweaked my amp a bit and didn’t find it dark after that. The p90 sounds pretty good, but I was contemplating one of the lollars (just not sure which one— the staple one sounds good, but I’ve had a guitar with the regular one before and it was sweet, just need to use the volume know to clean it up sometimes, though then there is some tone loss so may I should try the 50s wind or a staple version... thoughts?) or even a David Allen stray cat.