PATB1 Questions - New vs. Old - and how to make Neck Pickup Brighter.....

[Monsta-Tone]

I've been experimenting with pickups in my ESP MH-1000FR.
It's a pretty dark sounding guitar.
Set maple neck with mahogany body and rosewood fretboard.

I have an older PATB-1b (probably at least 10 years old with rusty pole pieces) and a newer one.
The older pickup came from one of the forum members here. There is no sticker to identify it, but it measures 16.19k ohms.
The newer one has a sticker on it that says, "PATB-1b." It measures 16.18k ohms.
The Tone Chart on the SD website says that it should read 15.7k ohms. I did not take readings with the original magnets installed.

I installed an alnico 8 magnet in both of them. I used the standard rough cast a-8 from Addiction FX on flea bay.
Both magnets look identical, as identical as rough cast metal can look.....

The newer pickup is shrill and harsh sounding, especially on the clean channel of my amp.
The older one sounds phenomenal! It is warm and fat and has harmonics and sustain like I have never seen out of this guitar!

So....Here is my list of questions for the bridge pickup. Forgive me if they seem odd or out of line or if I'm beating a dead horse.
1. Does the magnet in a pickup change the resistance reading on an ohm meter?

2. Have you guys seen dramatic differences in tone within magnets of the same type (most likely the same manufacturing batch)?

3. Have you noticed a difference in tone in the PATB-1's over the years?

4. Could it be that I got a super bright one or maybe they mellow with age? If they do mellow with age, is there a way to simulate the aging process? The older one sounds extremely phenomenal! It's the 1st bridge pickup I have liked since my PRS with original Dragon pickups.

The neck version sounds dull and lifeless in comparison to the bridge version, and in comparison to most neck pickups that I've had over the years. It did sound much better in my McCarty, which is a little bit brighter sounding than the ESP.
Here is my list of questions about the neck version.....
1. Would an A-4 magnet loosen it up a little and get rid of the tubby bass?

2. Would I be better off looking for a more dynamic pickup for the neck position? I want something with intense pick dynamics and the neck Parallel Axis just doesn't seem to have that.

[dominus]

Wire the neck pickup in parallel.

[Monsta-Tone]

Thanks! I'll give that a try this morning.
I don't think I'll like it though. I've never liked split or parallel sounds. Kind of like the Triode switch on my amp, it's cool, but I never use it.

[idsnowdog]

Options:
Wire the neck in parallel
Turn the screw coil towards the bridge
Put A3 magnet in the neck
Replace fillister screws with hex screws

[Monsta-Tone]

Thanks!
I'll try the parallel wiring this morning. No screws though, it's a PATB-1n.

[allstarrme]

were the 2 pickups tried in the same guitar?

The DC reading are going to vary dependin on things like temperature and such, but tah seems well within the acceptable limits.

[Monsta-Tone]

Yeah, same guitar, same cables, same amp & settings. Same strings too.
I had the older one installed and decided that a brand new guitar should have a new pickup, so I swapped them. That lasted all of 20 minutes.
The cleans were not nearly as nice with the new one and the distortion tones, although they had incredible sustain and crunch, were just too bright for me.

[CloneRanger]

Put a 22nF cap in series with it, if it's still tubby sounding try 15nF, 10nF, 8.2nF, 6.8nF and 4.7nF.

[Monsta-Tone]

So the cap in series will darken the tone of the bright one or brighten the tone of the darker sounding one?
Sorry, I'm not sure I fully understand your post.

I really like the darker one.

[CloneRanger]

So the cap in series will darken the tone of the bright one or brighten the tone of the darker sounding one?
Sorry, I'm not sure I fully understand your post.

I really like the darker one.

You like dull, lifeless & tubby? If you have the small caps, it's pretty easy to insert them one at a time, just clamp them in between the hot wire from the p'up and the selector, take a listen, maybe one of 'em changes the tonal balance favorably.

[Monsta-Tone]

You like dull, lifeless & tubby?

Hell no....
The darker sounding one is in no way muddy or lifeless, I would call it incendiary! Huge fat mids, great bass thump and highs that sing. The notes seem to grow as they sustain, harmonics jump off the fretboard, and controlled feedback is effortless.
The brighter sounding one sounds like the falsetto version of the beefy one.....