Eastman T486 pickups

[Nick75]

Got a t486 and felt in love with it, plays amazing, looks awesome, sounds great acoustically!!

But plugged in it sounds very dark, especially on the neck pick up(I struggle to make it a bit bright and it’s very loud comparing to bridge pickup, which is more balanced...) And now reading about it, I see most people are saying it’s a bright guitar(SD jazz is a bright pickup).

Anybody has an idea of what could be causing this? Is it the pick up height(tried to changed it to not much effect), the amp, wiring, pot problem? Maybe a default somewhere... Or is it normal.
Watching videos again, others does sounds brighter than mine...(and with darker settings on the amps).

I was thinking of changing pickups but I guess first I should check if everything is ok with it...

Any ideas will be welcome
thanks

[Chris Pile]

Could be strings.... Could be the speaker in your amp.

[Zeiss]

First thing I think I would look at is pickup height . Also do all the pots seem to be working fine ? Once I had a bad tone pot that made a pickup sound really bad , or the switch . A few times with used guitars I bought it was hard to believe what cleaning the pots did for the tone . If you bought the guitar used you never know if someone changed capacitor or pot to a different value and wanted the total difference ? Just throwing some things out there, good luck ?

[Rad]

I have a T486.  I have no problem getting a bright tone.  however, a warm tone is what I’m after with my Eastman.  My Gretschs give me plenty of bright. 

The first to things I do to any new guitar along with a general set up is change strings immediately and set the pickups to the recommended manufacturer specs.  I then play it for a awhile before I start making any changes to the pickup heights​​​​​. 

Enjoy

[gnappi]

Did you buy it new or used? The T-486 comes with a Duncan "jazz" pup in the neck, and it's pretty universally accepted that it's a bright pickup. Even the Duncan site says:

"The Jazz Model neck is a bright, vintage-output humbucker which stays clear even under extreme distortion"

Muddy? Not the Jazz pickup.

[Nick75]

Thanks for the replies!

Yes bought it new, I know, it supposed to be bright, that’s why I was wondering if any issues might be causing it.

So I put the pickup height down and it helped.
Then got it checked and set up by a pro(He checked all electronics etc...He was very impressed by the quality of that guitar, said it kills any new Gibson es).

Now the playing is even better than it was and the tone is spot on! Jazz pick up is bright and sweet for soul or funk and with the tone down get an amazing beautiful jazz tone that stays very clear, all across it’s always very articulate! (Now I get the choice between dark or bright, makes it very versatile).
It’s perfect in every way!
Love that guitar even more!

[lapompe]

Hello, 

I also have  a new t 486  and  i  was wondering  how did you adjust the pickup? Is it  the 2 screws or the  screw poles?
I would like to be more warmer on the  brifge pickup.  Thank you

[pdxbmw]

I suggest adjusting the stop tail piece first, followed by the individual pickup screws, then the height adjustment screws.  

The stop tail piece will help you find the sweet spot particularly above the 12th fret.  I usually adjust it until I can get a good tone when doing a barre chord around the 15th and 17th frets.

[tele_player]

That suggestion leaves me scratching my head, and I’ve been playing guitar with stop tailpiece and Tune-o-matic off and on since the sixties.

[DaddyG]

Got a t486 and felt in love with it, plays amazing, looks awesome, sounds great acoustically!!

But plugged in it sounds very dark, especially on the neck pick up(I struggle to make it a bit bright and it’s very loud comparing to bridge pickup, which is more balanced...) And now reading about it, I see most people are saying it’s a bright guitar(SD jazz is a bright pickup).

Anybody has an idea of what could be causing this? Is it the pick up height(tried to changed it to not much effect), the amp, wiring, pot problem? Maybe a default somewhere... Or is it normal.
Watching videos again, others does sounds brighter than mine...(and with darker settings on the amps).

I was thinking of changing pickups but I guess first I should check if everything is ok with it...

Any ideas will be welcome
thanks

A general note for Muddy Pickups: I had a similar problem with PRS Se humbuckers going dark. Pickup height was checked, but was within spec. I thought it was a wiring problem with the pickups. Then, I tried a different cable and the problem went away ! (?): How come ....->
The cable was Partially shorted, showing about 60k ohms tip to ring instead of infinite ohms. Reading up on pickups, a low resistance across a magnetic pickup will roll off the top end. They really want to go into a 1 meg ohm input.

FYI,
DaddyG