How to Help an Inexplicably Dark Sounding Guitar Sound Better?

[guitaardvark]

So I just picked up a 2003 PRS Custom 22 a few weeks ago. I love it, but it's almost unreasonably dark sounding. I swapped out the stock Dragon II pickups for a Sentient/Nazgul set, which helped a little bit, but compared to my other guitars with pickups like a DiMarzio Titan, Tone Zone T, and PRS 85/15 S, it sounds very dark and muddy, as if the tone knob is permanently stuck on 7. It's the same wood (mahogany) as many of my other guitars. I've tried adjusting pickup height, but beyond this, I'm clueless. Any advice is appreciated!

 

[MrWulf]

EMG 81/60. Yeah it is active but it is probably the brightest pickup i've known

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Pull the guts and throw some 1meg pots in. That usually has the "taking the blanket off" effect on darker guitars.

 

[guitaardvark]

Pull the guts and throw some 1meg pots in. That usually has the "taking the blanket off" effect on darker guitars.

I might try this. Any idea why a guitar would be so dark? It doesn't sound super dark acoustically, although it is loud. Would that have anything to do with it being dark/boomy?

 

[MaxOfMetal]

I might try this. Any idea why a guitar would be so dark? It doesn't sound super dark acoustically, although it is loud. Would that have anything to do with it being dark/boomy?

You can't really go by the unplugged sound, it doesn't really mean anything to an electric guitar.

Some guitars are just dark. And some can be painfully bright.

Replace the guts and go from there.

 

[Spicypickles]

Another route could be stainless steel saddles and a brass nut. That’ll brighten it up a bit

 

[Velokki]

Also, one thing to look for is the tone knob. My tone knob on my Custom 24 doesn't work and I'm too lazy to fix it. However, it's stuck on the treble side. If it was stuck on the bass side or anywhere in between... that could be problematic.

 

[guitaardvark]

Also, one thing to look for is the tone knob. My tone knob on my Custom 24 doesn't work and I'm too lazy to fix it. However, it's stuck on the treble side. If it was stuck on the bass side or anywhere in between... that could be problematic.

The tone knob does work, but I've noticed that the range that it tapers off is very small. It only sounds slightly darker when it's all the way down vs all the way up.

 

[Nightside]

Callaham or any good trem unit made of steel. Brass and zinc are soft.

 

[777timesgod]

I agree on the ideas above to change the bridge. You will automatically hear the difference.

 

[Schmeer]

I would definately try swapping the pots before changing out the hardware. Try disconnecting the tone pot, or wiring the bridge pickup straight to the output to see if that changes things.
If it still sounds unreasonably dark, that would be the time to think about changing other parts of the hardware

 

[WiseSplinter]

Yeah what others have said, messing around with the electronics is probably the easiest/cheapest place to start trying to fix this.
Removing the tone pot from the chain is what I would try first personally, it won't cost you anything and it's not very difficult.

 

[Alex79]

In addition to checking the pots:
What strings and what tuning do you use on the guitar. Since you put in a Nazgul, I'm thinking you might tuned this guitar lower. If nut or bridge slots are too tight for thick strings, they might be dampening the strings unnecessarily.
How does it sound in standard tuning?

 

[Alex79]

The tone knob does work, but I've noticed that the range that it tapers off is very small. It only sounds slightly darker when it's all the way down vs all the way up.

That sounds broken to me. You should hear a difference almost immediately. It can be that there is not much difference for most of its path, but the difference should be audible rather at the beginning. I would recommend disconnecting the tone pot completely to see how big the difference is.

 

[dr_game0ver]

Maybe different strings?

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Maybe different strings?

Some stainless strings would liven it up a bit.

 

[budda]

Some guitars are just dark. Start at the 1meg pot as suggested.

 

[vilk]

It's interesting that everyone is jumping onto the idea that the guitar is inherently dark; I've always felt that brightness/darkness comes from the amplifier and also the cab. Almost especially the cab.

The guitarist in my band was playing his dual rec through some brandless vintage 4x10 and I thought it was very bright and jangly, the sound jumped right out at you. But he wanted a 4x12 and got a Tyrant, literally without changing a single setting on his amp it instantly flipped his tone completely dark. I can't hear it anymore. But I don't tell him that because he really likes his cab and no doubt spent a lot of money on it lol, and he has of course since then compensated for the darkness with his amp settings. But still it's night and day.

The real solution here is for him to trade me his 4x10 for my 1960B and our tone would instantly double its in-your-faceness

 

[MaxOfMetal]

It's interesting that everyone is jumping onto the idea that the guitar is inherently dark; I've always felt that brightness/darkness comes from the amplifier and also the cab. Almost especially the cab.

The guitarist in my band was playing his dual rec through some brandless vintage 4x10 and I thought it was very bright and jangly, the sound jumped right out at you. But he wanted a 4x12 and got a Tyrant, literally without changing a single setting on his amp it instantly flipped his tone completely dark. I can't hear it anymore. But I don't tell him that because he really likes his cab and no doubt spent a lot of money on it lol

The real solution here is for him to trade me his 4x10 for my 1960B and our tone would instantly double its in-your-faceness

We're assuming it's the guitar as the OP has run other guitars through the same rig (assuming, I suppose) and did not have a problem.

So either the other guitars are outrageously bright, they're lying to us, or its the odd man out (PRS).

I like how you're thinking though.

 

[vilk]

nvm lol