What wood is this SoCal body? / JB not cutting through

[highway jones]

Hey guys,

I bought this guitar listed as a SoCal MIM and was wondering what year was it produced, and more importantly, what body wood might it be? It has an MC13XXXX serial number and a recessed FR 1000. I was hoping it was alder but I somehow suspect basswood as it sounds identical to another basswood guitar I had.

There is a JB in the bridge and I am surprisingly having trouble with getting enough high-end bite and with some muddiness in lower mids/bass. I have the FR set up well and the strings seem to hit all the contact points on the nut. My first instinct is to try an SD Full Shred or Distortion before I go down the hardware rabbit hole (titanium block, chrome hardware vs black, etc). Any suggestions??? I am playing through a Friedman Runt 50.

[metalhobo]

try raising the pole pieces on the JB

[highway jones]

try raising the pole pieces on the JB

Sorry, I should have mentioned I did that already as well, in addition to moving the pickup distance closer/further away from the strings. I also replaced the stock pot (500k) with a CTS (525k) just because it was a cheap replacement.

[Number Of The Priest]

That's a San Dimas model, not a So-Cal model.

Year is 2013, the second year of Mexican manufacture if I am not mistaken.

Body wood should be alder. If you want, you can confirm this by removing the neck, and looking at the bare wood in the neck pocket. Alder will have a more noticeable grain pattern compared to basswood which is more plain.

[highway jones]

Thanks for the info!

[hairy-dude]

I wouldn't worry about going down the "hardware rabbit hole" if you think the neck pickup sounds ok. That would tell me everything else is just fine. I personally have never liked the JB humbucker, I always thought it was lifeless. I had one in a Floyd Rose strat for all of two weeks, and couldn't get it out of there fast enough.

I will always go for a Full Shred over a JB. It's my favorite bridge humbucker. I have five guitars with them installed.

By the way, love the body colour!

[highway jones]

I wouldn't worry about going down the "hardware rabbit hole" if you think the neck pickup sounds ok. That would tell me everything else is just fine. I personally have never liked the JB humbucker, I always thought it was lifeless. I had one in a Floyd Rose strat for all of two weeks, and couldn't get it out of there fast enough.

I will always go for a Full Shred over a JB. It's my favorite bridge humbucker. I have five guitars with them installed.

By the way, love the body colour!

5 guitars!! That's one hell of an endorsement for the Full Shred!!! I had a JB in a basswood Dean with a FR and had the same impressions. I thought alder would be different (brighter) but maybe I'm just not a JB guy or, at least with my set-up it doesn,t get me what I want. Its good to have options!!

[highway jones]

Update: I tried two pickups to replace the JB. I had a High Order brand custom pickup (Maximus wind at ~9.7k) lying around which as I suspected probably wouldnt be mean enough for what I want (not quite there as I presumed). The Full Shred I tried next had a good amount of clarity but was too pristine (if there is such a thing) for the clean tones, with almost a single coil sound for cleans and lower gain. i wanted the dirty cleans that come with high output pickups. My next step was to get a Duncan Distortion but instead of going through the pickup trade hassle I ordered ceramic bar magnets. In error, I ordered the standard size magnet and not the larger magnet used in the OEM Duncan Distortion. This regular sized magnet converts the JB into the "Dokkenbucker". It was a happy accident but for now I think I might have found what I am after but, will likely order the thicker ceramic magnet just to see how much more it offers in bite. The ceramic magnet change moved the JB resistance from 17k to 19k! The only other thing I might consider is a Bill and Becky Lawrence L500XL if I can trade for the Full Shred.

[highway jones]

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