The Tone Thread

[JD01]

Yeah, seems like it. I want one more guitar

What in the hell is wrong with you!!?!

Out of all the many numbers you could have put in that sentence, why would you choose that one?
It's the smallest number you could have chosen and doesn't seem to fit the rest of that sentence.

Hell, you could have eliminated it entirely and the sentence would have made perfect sense!

Fair point... I want all of the guitars. But I feel like I need one more at this particular stage of my life.

[Lt. Bob]

I always find that two humbuckers together sound single-coily, don't know why that is.

It's because of phase cancellations.
Same thing that you can get when using more than one mic on a speaker.

You have two sensors picking up the same thing at two different points.
So unless it precisely time-aligned (which it's NOT going to be in the small distances between two p'ups ) you get phase cancellations.

Those cancellations are going to be more prominent in the mid and lower freqs so you get a thinner sound because of some of the bass and mids being eliminated.

[Greg_L]

Yup. And believe it or not you can make a Les Paul sound pretty Tele-ish by balancing the two humbuckers against each other.

[Lt. Bob]

Yup. And believe it or not you can make a Les Paul sound pretty Tele-ish by balancing the two humbuckers against each other.

that's one reason that I prefer my gits have separate volume controls for each p'up.
that's more important to me than tone controls

That's the only thing I don't like about my one-knob Slick.
Eventually I'm going to correct that and then carve a heart with my wifes' and my initials on it!

[Greg_L]

that's one reason that I prefer my gits have separate volume controls for each p'up.
that's more important to me than tone controls

That's the only thing I don't like about my one-knob Slick.
Eventually I'm going to correct that and then carve a heart with my wifes' and my initials on it!

Lol right. I was way late to the party but I've learned how to coax so many tones out of a guitar with just the volume controls.

[Lt. Bob]

Lol right. I was way late to the party but I've learned how to coax so many tones out of a guitar with just the volume controls.

[WhiskeyJack]

LOL. This isn't any kind of serious at all. Just something to mess with and annoy the hell out of you guys.

The Dumpstercaster is alive. It works great. I haven't got a clue what any of the settings are on this stupid thing. So if any of you strat dudes feel like enlightening me as to what each switch position is doing that would be cool. Also i don't think the tone knobs worked at all for the first switch position. I assume it is the bridge.

The first bit of the clip is what i think is the bridge position, the second half is middle position. Whatever the fuck those are. Just weird surf noodling. Both are kind of cool would be fun to turn them into something.

Dumpstercaster Tones.mp3

Signal chain is as a follows.

Squire Dumpstercaster (with the same shitty landfill dumpster strings it had on it when i found it ) into a little bit spark boost, into a little bit of Hantaun boost, into a bit of Holy Grail nano verb into.....

► Show Spoiler

[JD01]

Hey, I've heard worse tones - I've recorded way worse tones and thought they were good!

While it initially sounds really thin, I reckon its probably not that bad, and if you stuck it in a mix it would be alright. The only real problem with it is that its thin and a bit scratchy.

[Greg_L]

It's not bad at all considering how you recorded it.

[WhiskeyJack]

Hey, I've heard worse tones - I've recorded way worse tones and thought they were good!

While it initially sounds really thin, I reckon its probably not that bad, and if you stuck it in a mix it would be alright. The only real problem with it is that its thin and a bit scratchy.

It came out hot when i rendered it down which could be the scratchyness and the thinness is likely the 3 inch speaker and plastic enclosure lol. I wasn't expecting much. More of a shits and giggles kind of thing. I still do not know the makings and hallmarks of a good strat tone.

It's not bad at all considering how you recorded it.

yea i played it in the car and my initial thought was "slightly better than a toy amp sound"


I'd have to try a little harder with a louder clean tone sometime but is it normal to not have either of the tone knobs affect what i thought was the bridge only pick up position?

[Greg_L]

I'd have to try a little harder with a louder clean tone sometime but is it normal to not have either of the tone knobs affect what i thought was the bridge only pick up position?

Bridge only should be the 5 way switch jammed all the way back towards the jack.

One of the tone knobs should control it. I'm not sure which one though. Probably the bottom one?

[WhiskeyJack]

I'd have to try a little harder with a louder clean tone sometime but is it normal to not have either of the tone knobs affect what i thought was the bridge only pick up position?

Bridge only should be the 5 way switch jammed all the way back towards the jack.

One of the tone knobs should control it. I'm not sure which one though. Probably the bottom one?

Slick. I'll investigate. I don't know i'll waste too much time on this guitar. It's kind of fun and cures my itch for some fender twang until i can get that stupid tele built. but i want a tele. not a strat.

[Greg_L]

Slick. I'll investigate. I don't know i'll waste too much time on this guitar. It's kind of fun and cures my itch for some fender twang until i can get that stupid tele built. but i want a tele. not a strat.

Plug the guitar in, and tap on the pickup pole pieces with something metal, like a small screwdriver. As you cycle through the switch you'll be able to tell which pickups are on for any given switch position.

[rayc]

Sounds decent given the rather idiosyncratic set up.
The 5 way on my AUS$80 Teleclone only has 4 way as the position ONE is broken.

[Bill L]

I believe all of my Strats have 1 tone pot for the neck and 1 pot for the middle. The bridge is straight through. I've been toying with changing 1 pot for the bridge but I hardly ever use that pup alone (I'm pretty much a position 2 and 4 guy. At least when I was playing Strats regularly). But you can wire it however you like.

[WhiskeyJack]

I believe all of my Strats have 1 tone pot for the neck and 1 pot for the middle. The bridge is straight through. I've been toying with changing 1 pot for the bridge but I hardly ever use that pup alone (I'm pretty much a position 2 and 4 guy. At least when I was playing Strats regularly). But you can wire it however you like.

Ah!! Interesting! Then i am not 100% in crazy. I should open it up and try to navigate my way through it and see what is up.

For the record i was quite partial to the middle position and all the way towards the neck. SO probably just the middle pick up and neck pick ups on their own. The bridge was just kind of mega thin twang central.

ThanksBill.

[Greg_L]

You know I think Mr [mention]Bill L[/mention] is right. The bridge pickup on a stock Strat has no tone control. I vaguely remember modding mine to have tone control on the bridge pickup.

[Minerman]

Yes, Bill is correct, a stock strat does have tone controls for the neck/middle, but the bridge doesn't...I always wondered why they were wired that way because the tone knob can be very helpful with single coils...

FWIW, my strat has a single tone knob & separate volume knobs since I put the Muttbucker set in it...

[WhiskeyJack]

Yes, Bill is correct, a stock strat does have tone controls for the neck/middle, but the bridge doesn't...I always wondered why they were wired that way because the tone knob can be very helpful with single coils...

FWIW, my strat has a single tone knob & separate volume knobs since I put the Muttbucker set in it...

That sounds cool miner. What made you want to do it that way?!

[Minerman]

Yes, Bill is correct, a stock strat does have tone controls for the neck/middle, but the bridge doesn't...I always wondered why they were wired that way because the tone knob can be very helpful with single coils...

FWIW, my strat has a single tone knob & separate volume knobs since I put the Muttbucker set in it...

That sounds cool miner. What made you want to do it that way?!

Actually, a guitar I had previously inspired the way I re-did my strat Shan...Once upon a time I had a USA Fender Tele Plus II ('94 model, I think), which had a humbucker (that was actually 2 single coils put together) in the bridge, single coil in the neck, & 3-way p'up selector switch, but also had a mini 3-way switch for coil splitting the bridge p'up...Center position of the mini was both coils, front was the front coil, & rear was the rear coil...One of the best, if not the best gigging guitar I've ever had, so I set the strat up sorta like it...



Here's a pic of me with it in the spring/summer of '99 (note the Jackson PS4 on your left & Kramer Nightswan opposite side, both were pointy with reverse headstocks & Floyd Rose wank sticks... ) :


Here's a pic taken on July 3, 1999 during an outdoor gig celebrating the 4th (which was on a Sunday that year):
(Note my awesome Marshall Valvestate full stack behind me with my pointy guitars on my stand)... )


If you wanna know more about that model Tele, just Google "Jonny Greenwod's tele", the guy from Radiohead...I actually didn't know he used one until around 2009 or so, when I got back into playing again after about 8 years (or more) of not even picking a guitar up...


I didn't mention the volume knobs I installed are both push/pull so I can get single coil sounds with it too...Mutt's p'ups transformed that into the best guitar I have & the p'ups he made were based on what I remember that guitar sounding like...The humbuckers growl like an LP/SG, & the split coils sound like they should...First set of p'ups I've ever played that sounded equally good in humbucker or single coil mode...I can't brag on [mention]muttley[/mention] enough...I told him what I wanted & he nailed it, first try...It still blows my mind how I tried to explain the sound I was after & he just nailed it...Don't let Mutt fool ya, he's as sharp as they come on everything guitar-related...I'd love to meet him in person & let him play this thing...I know I'm blabbing on about my strat, but I've got about $450 in it, including Mutt's p'ups, & I'd put it against that tele anytime, which go for about $1500 or more, when you can find 'em now...

Here's the strat "before" in stock form:


And here's the "after"...Note the volume knobs actually say "tone", & the tone knob says "volume"...I didn't have another matching volume knob 'cause I'm a cheap fucker, but EVH's volume knob on his Frankenstrat actually said "tone", so it's a nod to one of my heroes too....




So after all this blabbing, if you ain't happy with the way your "dumpstercaster" sounds, re-wire it where the tone control works on the bridge p'up...Or, talk to Mutt...I'd bet the farm he can cure what ails ya...