*Update* Charvel Model 5fx Sounds Thin

Charvel1975

Charvel1975

Active member
Recently had my Charvel setup and gone over and it's tuned to standard E tuning with .009 to .040 guage strings and had the gold Floyd Rose Original that was taken out of it years ago put back in and the EMG-85 that was in the bridge position swapped out for the old EMG-81 that came in the guitar when I got it for a Christmas gift from my parents years ago. In the neck is a slant EMG single coil in the neck (don't know if it's an SA or S?) and it's been in the guitar since I got it, LSR roller nut and the behind the nut Kahler locking nut.

Well last night me and my other guitarist and the drummer got together at our practice spot and was running through some songs and the Charvel is extremely bright sounding and doesn't have any punch, clarity or definition to it and when I plug it in the gain loss is significant... I also hooked u to other guitars as well: Ibanez JEM Blue Foral, my single hum partscaster with Seymour Duncan JB and my Gibson les paul special with Dimarzio P9 Super Distortion in the bridge.

I was using a Blackstar HT40 Club 40 watt 1x12 combo with the matching Blackstar HTV112 Cab and both the combo and cab have the Celestion 70/80 speakers in them, Gigitec RP360XP through the effects loop for effects only and volume pedal on it set for solo boos and also and my Maxon OD808 through the front of the amp. My other guitarist is using a Marshall DSL40CR combo through a vintage Marshall vertical 2x12 cab.


I have no idea what's wrong with my Charvel??!!
 
81s should sound plenty full and send a nice hot signal to the amp. Though not everyone’s pickup of choice, if an 81 sounds thin and bright, something is going on somewhere. Not sure if these are the solder-less or soldered. Check the tabs on the input Jack and battery. Make sure the hot and ground aren’t switched at the Jack - pickup will work, but will sound like a weak single coil. Make sure you have a hot 9v in there. EMGs don’t lose too much signal til the battery drops quite a bit, then they drop signal pretty fast. Make sure something isn’t getting accidentally grounded out when the wiring and battery all get pushed down into the control cavity.
 
Add a smaller titanium block if the floyd cavity is small and you want full range of motion, or add a brass block if you have a large cavity and don’t mind limited range of motion. It really helps keep a floyd guitar resonant like a fixed bridge guitar.

Put the 85 back in the bridge or try the HET bridge EMG instead of the 81 if you don’t like the 81 or 85.

Check to make sure the screws for the neck joint are tight if it’s a bolt on neck. Check to make sure the nut isn’t loose. Check to see if the battery is dead.
 
sounds like a problem with the EMG (which I am not a fan of) but it shouldn't sound "thin" that's for sure.
 
PDC said:
81s should sound plenty full and send a nice hot signal to the amp. Though not everyone’s pickup of choice, if an 81 sounds thin and bright, something is going on somewhere. Not sure if these are the solder-less or soldered. Check the tabs on the input Jack and battery. Make sure the hot and ground aren’t switched at the Jack - pickup will work, but will sound like a weak single coil. Make sure you have a hot 9v in there. EMGs don’t lose too much signal til the battery drops quite a bit, then they drop signal pretty fast. Make sure something isn’t getting accidentally grounded out when the wiring and battery all get pushed down into the control cavity.
Click to expand...
What kind of 9 volt battery would you recommend?
 
glpg80 said:
Add a smaller titanium block if the floyd cavity is small and you want full range of motion, or add a brass block if you have a large cavity and don’t mind limited range of motion. It really helps keep a floyd guitar resonant like a fixed bridge guitar.

Put the 85 back in the bridge or try the HET bridge EMG instead of the 81 if you don’t like the 81 or 85.

Check to make sure the screws for the neck joint are tight if it’s a bolt on neck. Check to make sure the nut isn’t loose. Check to see if the battery is dead.
Click to expand...
I'm not familiar with the tremolo blocks, what's the difference? I'm curious about the EMG James Hetfield bridge pickup you mentioned and I saw on EMG's website the EMG-57TW?
 
Charvel1975 said:
I'm not familiar with the tremolo blocks, what's the difference? I'm curious about the EMG James Hetfield bridge pickup you mentioned and I saw on EMG's website the EMG-57TW?
Click to expand...
Huge difference. Adds girth to the guitar sound. Takes whatever sound the wood is and amplifies it especially with heavier gauge strings.

I like the HET set personally. I’ve considered swapping my 85/81 combo over to them to try out. It’s straight plug and play, so easy to do on an already EMG converted guitar.
 
glpg80 said:
Huge difference. Adds girth to the guitar sound. Takes whatever sound the wood is and amplifies it especially with heavier gauge strings.

I like the HET set personally. I’ve considered swapping my 85/81 combo over to them to try out. It’s straight plug and play, so easy to do on an already EMG converted guitar.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't be able to do the 2 humbucker set as my Charvel model 5fx has a humbucker in bridge and a slant EMG single coil in the neck, don't know if it's an SA or S as the logo color is worn off?
 
*UPDATE* Took my Charvel Model 5FX this morning to guitar repair shop and said they've never encountered a EMG pickup that went bad but could not rule that out and they then plugged it in through an amp briefly and then suggested I get a new Switchcraft short shaft 3-way toggle switch, new EMG wiring kit, 1 - EMG volume pot, 1 - EMG tone pot and new EMG stereo output jack.
 
paulyc said:
I hate EMGs personally, to me they always sound lifeless, I’d pull that and put a good passive in.
Click to expand...
I know what your saying, my Charvel is my first and only guitar with EMG's in it and the owner where I took it to yesterday to have looked at again almost seemed like he was suggesting going to passive pickups on it.

I took 2 of my other guitars there as well yesterday and the initial bill he gave me about made my heart ❤️ sink!!
 
I’m a passive pickup guy, but I keep an EMG guitar around and love the sound of my 81/85 Les Paul personally. It doesn’t sound thin at all and if anything, in typical LPC fashion, stomps a mudhole in my edwards loaded with a JB/59.

EMG pickups can go bad. There’s a thread on here somewhere where older ones have internal failures - you’ll have to search the forum but I know it’s been mentioned before.
 
glpg80 said:
I’m a passive pickup guy, but I keep an EMG guitar around and love the sound of my 81/85 Les Paul personally. It doesn’t sound thin at all and if anything, in typical LPC fashion, stomps a mudhole in my edwards loaded with a JB/59.

EMG pickups can go bad. There’s a thread on here somewhere where older ones have internal failures - you’ll have to search the forum but I know it’s been mentioned before.
Click to expand...
Man I hope my 81 isn't bad 😕
 
griff10672 said:
what value tone cap do you have running with the EMG's ?
Click to expand...
I think years ago the guy I had set it up put an Orange Drop .047mf cap in it, I'm pretty sure that's the value cap he put in it and at that time, I had the newer EMG-85 in the bridge and he also replaced the factory phenolic nut with the Fender LSR roller nut and also at that time he had set my Charvel model 5fx up for drop B tuning for the band I was in at that time.

I'm just wondering if I should just get the new wiring kit from EMG with the short shaft potentiometer option or not? I also saw on the EMG site that their wiring kits, the pots are splined and the factory knows on my Charvel are the ones that have a screw on them so would that work or would I have to get solid shaft short pots?

Someone else mentioned that Poplar tends to have a somewhat harsh/shrill tone having little in the way of bass/lower mids and to find a bridge pickup with attenuated highs and boosted lows to compensate for the wood's sonic traits.
 
I would check all of your pickups/wiring with a multimeter. THIS is going to sound crazy, but I had the same problem for years. I switched to thicker gauge strings after using 9s for 16 years. Now, all of my guitars except my Jem (I think) have at least 10s and my Parts caster is up to 11s! Never, ever in a million years thought I would do that but I was actually able to get the action lower and prefer the solidity of the sound produced. I remember when it first hit me was a few years ago at a band session. I let a kid plug his little affinity into my setup and something about it just sounded *good*. Like a sound I couldn't quite get for years. I grabbed his guitar and realized it was the thicker strings.

Life has taught me all sorts of weird lessons like that. I also found earlier last year that my tone was being affected by a pedal that had a 9v going bad while it was connected to the ISO supply. Once I removed the battery, fuller sound and other pedals sounded better. Check every little thing you can and good luck!
 
GuitarGuy08 said:
I would check all of your pickups/wiring with a multimeter. THIS is going to sound crazy, but I had the same problem for years. I switched to thicker gauge strings after using 9s for 16 years. Now, all of my guitars except my Jem (I think) have at least 10s and my Parts caster is up to 11s! Never, ever in a million years thought I would do that but I was actually able to get the action lower and prefer the solidity of the sound produced. I remember when it first hit me was a few years ago at a band session. I let a kid plug his little affinity into my setup and something about it just sounded *good*. Like a sound I couldn't quite get for years. I grabbed his guitar and realized it was the thicker strings.

Life has taught me all sorts of weird lessons like that. I also found earlier last year that my tone was being affected by a pedal that had a 9v going bad while it was connected to the ISO supply. Once I removed the battery, fuller sound and other pedals sounded better. Check every little thing you can and good luck!
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for the information and advice 😀 I did years ago use nickel wound .010-.046 on my Charvel and then the one band I was in we were tuned to drop B , had it setup with Ernie Ball Beefy Slinky's and the guy I took the Charvel too at that time for the setup replaced the factory ungrooved phenolic nut with a Fender lsr roller nut, blocked the black Original Floyd Rose that was on it and put sleeves over the trem springs and I had a new Quick connect Emg-85 in the bridge that of course the quick connect was snipped off and everything was sautered in and he also put in an Orange Drop capacitor, .o47Mf I think was the value 🤔
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top