Strats

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Glad you like the Blackstar Doug!

They have great engineers but I think their marketing department is operating with one brain cell to share among all of them. I'm told the TVP button is there so the sales drone can demo it to customers.

My buddy modded his ID15 to have an output jack and hooked it up to a 4x12 cab...it kicks ass. And it's a damned sight cheaper than the Blackstar TVP head unit.

Keep an eye out for firmware updates. They seem to be adding features now and then.

[72doug2,2S]

So, here's an update. Probably one of the best additions to the the amp and Tele is my three guitar- guitar stand, made by On Stage Stands. This little number is getting me playing the guitar more frequently. Keeping it in an old acoustic case was not ideal. This stand is completely safe for the fender necks. The pivoting cradles take all the weight and by telescoping the neck up there is no chance of damaging necks by contact with other guitars. I also like the spring neck holds that keep your guitar from accidentally falling out. They are plenty soft and easy to cradle and uncradle the guitar even with one hand.

After watching many you-tube lessons, I decided I wanted to play an open G setup as much as I wanted to play the standard tuning. So I picked up another Tele. One just for open G.

This is a rock bottom Squire Tele, but man it plays sweet. I love it. It has an unfinished neck and alder body in butterscotch with all the grain showing. It is beautiful. It did have fret ends that needed filing down so I did that myself. I'm very pleased with the results.

[stuartj]

Gone from 0 to a pair of Teles Doug! Nice. Theres a "Tubby Tele" thread around here somewhere- they'd be good additions.

[ramonesfreak]

Originally Posted by Nathans_Dad

Stuart I agree that Fender has lost their way. To my mind there is no reason a slab of wood with a bolt on neck should cost $10000.

The Strats that we all revere now were the equivalent of the MIM Strats of today. They were mass produced and priced to allow an average player access. Custom shop stuff is just a bit ridiculous today, IMHO.

Don't even get me started on the relic craze...

You dont have to spend 10K. I just picked up a new 2013 American Standard with maple neck for $1,000. Its amazing. Easily the best new American standard strat I have played. I have many nice guitars that I payed a lot more for and the new standard strats are very very impressive...and I dare say, finally perfected. I find it hard to believe one can get such a fine instrument for a grand.

I went into the shop to buy one of the American Vintage series strats for $2,200. Played the std just for comparison and walked out with it instead.

Now, I DO NOT like what they have done to the body shape of the new telecasters...bummer

[ramonesfreak]

Could you tell me who made your tweed champ clone? Im considering the Victoria 518 and the Clapton vibro-Champ but, i cant get over paying $1,200 for champ

Originally Posted by 911dean

Here are 2 amps I find good for in home use. A 68' Fender Champ original everything with speaker upgrade and a Tweed Deluxe 5E3 clone w/ nos tubes and reconed Jensen c12q.

They both can get loud, especially the 5E3. The Champ keeps the wife happier, but they both sound good at a reasonable volume.

[72doug2,2S]

Originally Posted by stuartj

Gone from 0 to a pair of Teles Doug! Nice. Theres a "Tubby Tele" thread around here somewhere- they'd be good additions.

Yes, it's like a disease. I should have named this thread Teles. I checked your thread on the Tubby Tele. That is bad ass.

[stuartj]

Originally Posted by 72doug2,2S

Yes, it's like a disease. I should have named this thread Teles. I checked your thread on the Tubby Tele. That is bad ass.

Doug- heres a Tubby Tele Tip. If you want less G.Brooks and more J.Page- lower the bridge pickup.

Cheers Stuart

[72doug2,2S]

Learn something new everyday. Thanks Stu.

The Art of Pickup Adjustment

Dean Farley
February 11, 2010


How’s everyone doing? This month I’d like to discuss how you can learn the art of adjusting your pickups and the reasons why it can be critical to achieving even more stellar tones than you may have heard from your guitar yet. Over the years, I’ve noticed it was a rare instance when I didn’t have to make any pickup adjustments on a guitar I’ve owned. A heightened sense of what is “right” musically all starts when your brain begins to make mental notes about the tones you encounter while listening to your favorite records and CDs. Particularly important are those tones that really jump out at you from the home stereo or car radio speakers. You know what I’m talking about—those times when you just have to stop and ask yourself, “How is he getting that sound?” These are the moments when we get really inspired to recreate a stunning tone. Conversely, you may have heard a sound that wasn’t very pleasing to your ear and you want to avoid it at all costs. It’s very much a two-way street here, and this is where your preferences in musical sounds are being shaped.

For our tonal examples, let’s take the distinct sounds we heard on the first two Led Zeppelin albums, okay? These two albums are great studies in the contrast between fabulous Fender Telecaster tones and glorious Gibson Les Paul tones. There are two very distinct sounds that I want to break down a bit here. On the debut Led Zeppelin album, it’s no secret that Jimmy Page used a 1959 Telecaster as the main electric guitar. That big tone he got on their debut record didn’t sound very twangy, as you might’ve expected from other records at that time also featuring a Telecaster as the main guitar. It’s also safe to say that the sound Page got here certainly wouldn’t remind anyone of a modern-day Telecaster master like Jim Campilongo (as just one example). Page’s tone was too dark compared to the brilliantly treble-laden tone found on many of Campilongo’s records.

Fabulous Tele Tones
In my opinion (and I’m not alone), the Fender Telecaster is the world’s most versatile electric guitar by far. It can do anything in any given musical genre, beginning from the country and western music heard in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s all the way to Page in the late ‘60s, and right on up to today. If you lower the bridge pickup of a Telecaster, it will get bigger and thicker, giving you a sound that is much more akin to a rock ‘n’ roll type of tone—less twangy or bright-sounding. The higher you raise the bridge pickup the brighter it will become. The optimal bridge pickup position for your own version of Telecaster bliss is a matter of taste and intent, but keep in mind that you can also control very effectively the way the two Tele pickups sound together by raising and lowering the bridge pickup while keeping the neck pickup at its original height.

It’s a really good idea to do the adjustments in small increments on both the treble and bass sides of the pickup—perhaps a quarter of a turn at a time so you can always return to your starting point. Remember to count the number of turns to each of the three height adjustment screws. Better yet, get a ruler that measures smaller increments of 1/32nd and 1/64ths of an inch. Just be sure to measure from the bottom of the string down to the flat part of the pickup’s pole-pieces to know where you started from. The bottom line is that you can get the sound you really want just by getting the pickup height right. Anything that goes too far in either direction of bright or dark will probably not sound good. There are a few sweet spots to listen for, and if you do it correctly you’ll be a very happy camper. I’m of the view that each instrument has its own sweets spots, and you’ll have to learn to listen for exactly where they are!

Glorious Les Paul Tones
The second Led Zeppelin album featured a vintage Les Paul, and Page’s rhythm/lead sound came from using both of the humbucking pickups at the same time. Before this record hit the airwaves, I had not heard a timbre of that particular quality. I cannot tell you how many Les Pauls I’ve played in a music store whose double pickup sound was very banal and lackluster in character. The trick here is to get the sound of the bridge and neck pickup to sound really good by themselves first. It might be a cool thing to have the sound you’re aiming for firmly in mind before you do any tweaking. Take the time to listen very carefully to how and where the instrument reacts to your own touch, and then proceed to make fine adjustments until you’ve arrived precisely at your aim. The sound that I am referring to here can be achieved when you understand how the pickups work in concert with each other.

The Art of Pickup Adjustment

[stuartj]

Well there you go. Good article. If you start playing about, keep a high bias to the treble side, quite a lot. The bass strings carry much more mass. As always, let your ears be your guide....

And Page's middle pup LesPaul sound-very elusive. As a kid I hated it, but now, its so distinctive. Less gain, lots of amp treble- and pickup heights. Little bit of tone wound off the bridge, and fine adjustment of the vols...Volume knobs really should be called tone controls.

[LSA]

A change from your regularly scheduled programming. My most recent guitar a George Lynch tiger strat.
Not a traditional strat but this thing is so rad. I'd been on a used guitar kick and was dropping one off to get set up when I saw this guy and the price was right. Made by a local custom shop, custom pup, hand painted, real floyd, made in america! My other guitars feel so neglected now that I have this one.


The attention to detail is just lightyears beyond my other cheap imports.

[Aragorn]

Originally Posted by LSA

A change from your regularly scheduled programming. My most recent guitar a George Lynch tiger strat.
Not a traditional strat but this thing is so rad. I'd been on a used guitar kick and was dropping one off to get set up when I saw this guy and the price was right. Made by a local custom shop, custom pup, hand painted, real floyd, made in america! My other guitars feel so neglected now that I have this one.


The attention to detail is just lightyears beyond my other cheap imports.

Very nice find.