What is a H535 supposed to sound like?

[tbonesullivan]

So, I will admit that for years now I have struggled to "understand" my H535 and the type of sound it has. Basically, I'm on the fence over whether to try swapping out the pickups, or just selling the guitar. It has the stock electronics, which are Schaller Golden 50s. Some here really don't like them in some situations, but word in most places is that they are nice pickups. Heritage used them for years and people played them for years.

 

So, is the problem with me? Am I expecting the wrong type of sound from an H535? The sound I get from it is somewhat woody and bright from the neck pickup. There is a lot of definition to the sound. But something is missing. I just don't get the same type of feel that I get from other guitars like my Millennium, so of course I'm focusing in on the pickups and electronics.

 

But, will that solve the problem? Is a semi-hollow just brighter than I think it should be? Just listening to it unplugged, it seems to have a lot more snap. Is the center block maple or mahogany? It looks very light in color to be 'hog. It's a 1998.

[PunkKitty]

Changing the pickups will make a big difference. The Golden 50's use Alnico 5. I'm partial to Alnico 2 and Alnico 4.

 

To me, a 535 should sound similar to a Gibson 335. The neck should be dark sounding but it should still have some edge and some brightness to it. The bridge should be thick sounding. But you should still be able to hear the depth of a hollow body. I really don't know how to describe it well.

 

Unless you play at really high volumes, I'd recommend Seth Lovers for Alnico 2 pickups. I like the Mojotone '59 Clones for Alnico 4 pickups. Sheptone also makes some really nice pickups. If you can afford it, you can't go wrong with Throbaks.

 

Throbak gives a good explanation of magnet types and how they sound. If you were using a standard humbucker, I'd recommend changing the magnet. But Schaller uses custom magnets. Here is a link to the Throbak site. http://www.throbak.com/alnico-magnets.html

[PunkKitty]

Here is some more info on magnets from Mojotone and Duncan.

http://www.mojotone.com/support/kb-pickups/What-is-the-right-pickup-for-me

http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-tone-garage/differences-in-guitar-pickup-magnets

 

Putting a wiring harness with 50's wiring will also make a difference.

[Vanschoyck]

PunkKitty is spot on.

 

An easy way to go would be to listen to various 335 payers; they abound. Off the top of my head, there are examples of Clapton with Cream, the guy from the Moody Blues, BB King, Larry Carlton, Alvin Lee, Chuck Berry. Lots of sounds there, all good and all different.

 

This guy gets a good sound from an actual 535.

 

[yoslate]

Agree with most everything Monica and David said. My 535 came with Seths, and I wouldn't think of changing them. And it is all in there, the most versatile guitar I've ever owned! Smooth, warm, articulate, and emotive in the neck. Assertive, round, and honking in the middle position. The bridge bites like a honey badger, or can do a crystalline R&B chord chink. A complete workhorse, and a joy to wrap your arms around!

[Gitfiddler]

Agree with most everything Monica and David said. My 535 came with Seths, and I wouldn't think of changing them. And it is all in there, the most versatile guitar I've ever owned! Smooth, warm, articulate, and emotive in the neck. Assertive, round, and honking in the middle position. The bridge bites like a honey badger, or can do a crystalline R&B chord chink. A complete workhorse, and a joy to wrap your arms around!

Ditto. My 535 Goldtop sounds amazing with Seths! It sounded damned good with SD Phat Cats as well, but for my style of playing, the Seths work best.

[DetroitBlues]

While I have yet to own a 535 (which will be shortly resolved), my Dot was a great all around guitar. But I used Seth's in mine. I loved it for just about anything I played (exception of certain SRV/Hendrix stuff).

 

In your case, if the neck pickup is too bright... Lower the pickup down down a bit. See if that smooths it out some. I like to adjust pickup heights while playing the guitar to find the "sweet spot".

[Polo]

My #1 guitar in this world is a factory stock '09 H535 w/Seth's.

 

Over the years I've bought and sold a handful of other H535s each with different pup configurations which included SD 59's, TV Jones Filtertron Classics and Throbak SLE 101's and Seth's.

 

IMHO....an H-535 loaded w/ Seth's is THEE best pairing I've yet to experience.

 

SETH LOVERS 4 LIFE!!!!

[Yooper]

 

 

I'd recommend Seth Lovers for Alnico 2 pickups.

 

I agree with Monica and the other Seth fans.

 

If not Seths, then P-90s of course.

 

 

 

While I have yet to own a 535 (which will be shortly resolved), my Dot was a great all around guitar. But I used Seth's in mine. I loved it for just about anything I played

 

Ditto, DB, but in present tense. The Dot is sweet, but my 535 is out there somewhere.

[212Mavguy]

@the OP...

 

Some great advice has already been written here. Nothing in the post indicates whether the operator has picked up a screwdriver to adjust height, pole piece settings, and relative output volumes...

 

So if no adjustments have been made there, don't freak, just tweak. Use your best amp and ears. It's fun...

[PunkKitty]

I would definitely try adjusting pickup height first. Bill Lawrence gives a good explanation of how to adjust pickups. http://www.billlawrence.com/Pages/Pickupology/Introduction.htm

[tbonesullivan]

Thing is, I've got a bunch of guitars with SD59s that are solid bodies, and they sound great /warm on the neck pickup. Listening to my H535 unplugged, it's kind of woody and bright when compared to my H150 and other guitars. The Millie is less bright and woody sounding unplugged. It has seth lovers, which to my ears sound kind of "rude" in a great classic rock kind of way.

 

I'm really just wondering maybe I'm not really understanding the maple semi hollow body concept/tone. It seems more punchy than smooth at times.

 

I have thought about putting a set of SD Pearly Gates or Dimarzio 36th Anniversary pickups. I've also thought about changing out the wiring harness.

[PunkKitty]

Many people swear by the 36th Anniversary PAFs and the Pearly Gates. Remember that two different guitars of the same model won't sound the same. Every guitar is unique.

 

Another really good option that looks a bit strange is the Bill Lawrence (Wilde) L-90. Old Bill knew how to make pickups. Becky carries on that tradition.

[tbonesullivan]

I really should have made more attempts to try out other 535s when I had mine at PSP. I am leaning heavily towards the Pearly Gates. I had an epiphone sheraton years back, and replacing the stock pickups with pearly gates was one of the ways many made them a more usable guitar.

 

I'm gonna A/B my Millie and 535 for a while, and see what I come up with. Then I need to decide if I want pickup covers, or not. Though without covers I'd have the SD logo on them.

[PunkKitty]

Do a blind test. Have a friend play both your Millie and your 535 while you are in an adjoining room. Just listen to the tone of the instruments and decide what you like best. You may be surprised by what you hear when you hear your guitar from a distance.

[tbonesullivan]

Do a blind test. Have a friend play both your Millie and your 535 while you are in an adjoining room. Just listen to the tone of the instruments and decide what you like best. You may be surprised by what you hear when you hear your guitar from a distance.

 

That is the other thing I worry about. I don't play with super volume levels, so I could be hearing a lot of the sound of the guitar, vs the sound that goes through the electronics. Everyone I've asked said it sounds great.

[PunkKitty]

Use your own ears. Have a friend help you with a blind test. Sometimes hearing someone else play your instruments blindly gives you a new perspective.

[JeffB]

Im kind of on the other side of the fence about pick up swaps.

I acknowledge they make a difference but maybe I dont have a great set of ears for that level of detail. Maybe Im just over swapping out pick ups and would rather find another way of getting what I like out of a guitar.

Having said that I do like Seths, 59s, 36th anni's and a few others. I know they give a sound I like. I would put them in any sort of guitar. I find that at a certain point or quality level none of it matters too much to me.

A friend/acquaintance has an H535 with Schaller Golden 50s in them and it sounds good to me, and to him as well.

I guess I would be glad that I couldnt get the same feel and sounds out of a 535 as other non 535 guitars.

Before you get too engaged in p/up swaps and the waste of time and head space that sort of thing can be, maybe crank the amp and turn dials until you think you have found the sound you think you want or until you have exhausted every combination of the amp/amps and guitar tone and volume controls and still cant find exactly what you want.

Its more fun than swapping out p/ups or scrolling through user reviews and sound clips of pick ups.

You could negate the whole p/up, feel, sound thing by just not worrying about any of it, playing it as often as possible and accepting the guitar on its own merits. Or selling it and buying something you "get" instantly.

Or, if you enjoy swapping out pickups, do that.

[High Flying Bird]

Thing is, I've got a bunch of guitars with SD59s...

In that case your 535 will sound bright compared to those guitars with the '59s in them. Roll the tone to it's darkest setting and you will start getting s sound closer to your other guitars.

[tbonesullivan]

Im kind of on the other side of the fence about pick up swaps.

I acknowledge they make a difference but maybe I dont have a great set of ears for that level of detail. Maybe Im just over swapping out pick ups and would rather find another way of getting what I like out of a guitar.

Having said that I do like Seths, 59s, 36th anni's and a few others. I know they give a sound I like. I would put them in any sort of guitar. I find that at a certain point or quality level none of it matters too much to me.

A friend/acquaintance has an H535 with Schaller Golden 50s in them and it sounds good to me, and to him as well.

I guess I would be glad that I couldnt get the same feel and sounds out of a 535 as other non 535 guitars.

Before you get too engaged in p/up swaps and the waste of time and head space that sort of thing can be, maybe crank the amp and turn dials until you think you have found the sound you think you want or until you have exhausted every combination of the amp/amps and guitar tone and volume controls and still cant find exactly what you want.

Its more fun than swapping out p/ups or scrolling through user reviews and sound clips of pick ups.

You could negate the whole p/up, feel, sound thing by just not worrying about any of it, playing it as often as possible and accepting the guitar on its own merits. Or selling it and buying something you "get" instantly.

Or, if you enjoy swapping out pickups, do that.

 

Oh, I totally agree. It's very rare that I swap pickups in a guitar. Usually I keep them stock, unless someone before me has already replaced the pickups. The H535 is pretty much completely stock. The grovers were replaced with new grovers with a higher ratio, but otherwise the guitar is as it was when first made. The same is true for the other 3 heritages I have. My Kahuna has HRWs, the H150CM has '59s Neck and Bridge, and the Millie H-158 has Seths.

 

I did replace the super duper hot P-90s in one of my Hamer specials with some more "reasonable" ones, because I wanted to play something besides Mississippi Queen, and also because I had another special that had the stock pickups, which are the SD Custom and Hot P90s which are exactly as advertised.

 

I also have replaced pickups on my carvin basses, mainly because I wanted the single coil sound instead of the stacked humbucker.

 

I am well aware of the trap that pickup swapping becomes, which is why I have avoided doing it, as I go through my process of sorting through guitars.

[kidsmoke]

I know that getting rid of the stock harness in my 535 changed things a LOT.

 

Another note is that Seths are unpotted Humbuckers, as opposed to everything else I've seen mentioned in this thread. Perhaps this is part of the sauce we're under appreciating?

 

I have Sheptones in my 535 now (with a newer 50's style harness) I have the same reaction to it that Yoslate and Polo do to theirs. The Sheptone Tributes are also unpotted, so they're very very very much like the Seths (the main reason I gravitated to them...the "cottage" version of SD Seth Lovers, if you will).

 

IMHO, a 535 with any decent PAF type pickup, a couple pedals and a decent amp....you quite simply have it all available to you at that point.

[tbonesullivan]

How much different is the stock harness from a standard one? My 535 is from 1998, so I don't know what they were using back then.

 

In general, I'm a FULL ON type of person, so things like tone caps really wouldn't do much for me.

[Hfan]

I have Antiquities in my 535 so kind of in the neighborhood of a Seth, and I totally love the tone. Very sweet and vintage sounding. I lived with the Schallers in my 157 for some years and they sounded good I suppose but when I installed Seths it just added more warmth, just a better voice if that makes sense.

 

FWIW, I was comparing my 535 with my CS 59 VOS 335 which has 57 Classics and the 535 probably sounds better. Other variables at work besides pups (body size etc) but I bet the pups come into play.

 

I would try other pickups without spending a ton. Then sell the Schallers. I got like $100 pretty easily. Good luck

 

No telling what they used for pots. Hopefully CTS 500ks. If it were me, on a semi hollow of that age I'd put in new pots while I was at it. They'll be out anyway would be a pain to take it apart again.

[PunkKitty]

I had very good results with the Mojotone '59 Clones when I had a 535. They are probably my favorite pickups. I pulled them from my 150 when I sold it just so I would have them when I can afford another 535.

[kidsmoke]

How much different is the stock harness from a standard one? My 535 is from 1998, so I don't know what they were using back then.

 

In general, I'm a FULL ON type of person, so things like tone caps really wouldn't do much for me.

 

here's a recent thread that discusses many variables surrounding harness'

 

http://www.heritageownersclub.com/forums/topic/30781-50s-vs-modern-wiring/