Mahogany & compression

[Doughboy]

I have a chambered mahogany strat w/ Koa top, mahogany neck w/ bloodwood fingerboard. I'm trying to figure out if mahogany has a natural compression to it's tone or if it's the pickup, which is a Dincan Custom 5.

All of my other Warmoths are alder/maple w/ maple necks & all sound more open & less compressed.

The guitar just doesn't sound right to me. Everything seems compressed & squashed.

 

[jackthehack]

How is the wiring set up? Hard to tell from your sound description, but I had a similar experience when  using a 4 conductor HB in a 2 conductor wiring scheme. I thought I'd gotten a bad pickup, but hadn't been careful shortening/stripping the leads and had accidentally shorted the wiring inside the shielding leaving the pickup hard wired in coil tapped mode.

 

[Doughboy]

The wiring is perfectly done. I double checked. The whole guitar has a compressed tone to it. I've never had a mahogany guitar before so I have no idea if this is what they sound like. I'd like things to sound more open. Mauybe I'll change PUs & see what happens.

 

[tfarny]

My guess is you just don't like the pickup. If mahogany guitars were "compressed" then all Les pauls and SGs would sound that way. Swap pickups and see if the sound follows the pickup or the guitar.

 

[Superlizard]

Assuming you're using 500k pots, try a pickup that isn't as high output as the Custom 5 (14.4k DC resistance).

The hotter your pickup, the muddier your tone gets.

Or, get a pickup of similar output (if you just have to have a hot pickup) but is voiced for more treble, or alternatively, has
less bass and mids.

Plus, there's a reason why they put maple tops on LPs - to add brightness (detail) to what
would otherwise be a very thick tone.  I don't know what the Koa top does tone-wise but
it appears it doesn't add the treble detail that a maple top would.

It's all about balancing the lows, mids and highs.