EQ TIPS TO MAKE MY STRAT SOUND MORE VINTAGE.

I had a custom shop strat that was shrill as hell. Fralin Hot Blues were not an improvement.The tone controls did very little. Then I played (and bought) a John Mayer strat. The tone controls let me get a nice tone in any pickup combination. I can roll off just the right amount of highs, even the bridge pick up solo. I believe it's due the 0.22 uF cap + pickup interaction. Strat's always seemed finicky to me, and I prefer to own one that doesn't need "improvement". I've played many strats of all vintages and models, and for me, the guitar either "has it" or it doesn't. You can spend a lot of money and not get what you are after. And I will never forget a stock Tokai I played 25 years ago that was cheap and one of the best sounding stratsI ever played. And the hundreds of strats I played since, very few of which came close.
 
I once read a story about the strat playin King ( Freddie)? or maybe it was Buddy Guy or one of those revered dudes leaving his strat on top of the car and then driving off. Apparently they picked it up off the road afterwards and it still played well and may have even stayed in tune.... (probably couldn't do that with a Gibson)
Any way try that for getting a truly "vintage" tone!
 
tweedster said:
I had a custom shop strat that was shrill as hell. Fralin Hot Blues were not an improvement.The tone controls did very little.
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If the tone controls do very little, they're either designed wrong or built wrong. It's pretty strightforward to design a tone control that will significantly cut the top end of any pickup. I wonder what your custom-shopper would have sounded like with a change in component value.
 
FractalAudio said:
Nothing sounds like a real single-coil. I've tried every type of noiseless "single-coil" and nothing sounds like the real thing. The closest I've found are Duckbuckers but even those don't have the quack.
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I pretty much feared this may be the case. I'm definately looking for more Quack. Looks like I'll have to pick a vintage style "noisy" pup and just deal with the hum. I don't really feel like buying and trying a succession noiseless if the differances are marginal. That money could go towards an AXEII
 
Well, an EMG SA or SV set is noiseless... I wouldn't call their sound vintage, but they give a nice clean single coil sound without any noise...
 
Suhr ML singlecoils. More vintage than antiquity pup`s IMHO. Sounds unbeliveble on my Suhr classic ash.
 
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I've tried most of the silent design single coil offerings out there ( including Kinmans, Lace, Areas, EMG ) and I've also tried the Suhr backplate system, the Suhr system and the Kinmans were the best IMO, but none of them truely captured a vintage strat sound. The Suhr system robbed just a small bit of the bell tone, quack and dynamics but it was enough to ditch it.

My advice would be to spring for a set of quality vintage voiced single coils, such as

Ron Ellis (top choice)
Lollar
Suhr ML classic set

Hope this helps
RB
 
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Two words: Chris Kinman.

When Cliff played mine, he loved them, and never even knew they were noiseless! (See his comment above).
 
I have two Suhrs with SSC (a Tele and a Strat). The Strat has FL (ML) PUPs and I can switch the SSC off. The sound difference is in the absolute lows and absolute highs, but only when you listen like a bat. The cancelled noise is worth a lot more to me. It's great. I don't think it compromises the quack. In fact it might quack more than RWRP PUPs.
 
merlin17 said:
I have two Suhrs with SSC (a Tele and a Strat). The Strat has FL (ML) PUPs and I can switch the SSC off. The sound difference is in the absolute lows and absolute highs, but only when you listen like a bat. The cancelled noise is worth a lot more to me. It's great. I don't think it compromises the quack. In fact it might quack more than RWRP PUPs.
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Great Peter - I must have bat hearing then :)
I had the SSC with a bypass option via a push-pull tone pot. Like I said above, to my ears the SSC just robbed a small bit of the bell tone, but it was enough to make me always use the guitar with the SSC bypassed, so I ditched it. I can totally see the SSC working for others though.
 
My favorite Strat has Kinmans and they are fantastic but the Suhr SSC system is great too. I used to have a Suhr classic S with the internal SSC (thin channel routed around the pickups), not the backplate version.

Both had great single coil tone but the Suhr was worth WAY more $$ than my Kinman equipped Strat. So I sold off the Suhr to fund my Axe-Fx II.. well worth it!
 
Gotta chime in and say the Kinmans are indeed killer. i have his noiseless P90s and they are the only noiseless P90's that come close. For strat pickups, you will want the impersonator set / AVN-54 set.
 
A parametric EQ *before* the amp does amazing things too. Just pick a single frequency, bump it to +6db and sweep it up from 200hz to 4000hz and back to find what your in to. Then dial the gain back a few dB. Won't make you noiseless sound vintage, but it does amazing things nonetheless.
 
Hucky said:
It's also a good idea to have the bridge pup wired to the tone control.
- Hans
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+1 on the tone control being wired to the bridge pickup. I did this when I installed a set of DiMarzio Area pickups and it really made a big difference on patches that are heavy on the top-end.
 
BK-Amps said:
A parametric EQ *before* the amp does amazing things too. Just pick a single frequency, bump it to +6db and sweep it up from 200hz to 4000hz and back to find what your in to. Then dial the gain back a few dB. Won't make you noiseless sound vintage, but it does amazing things nonetheless.
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If your going to try the EQ route, why not try to tone match instead?

Personally, I sold my Strat plus for a '69 Relic, then I went to a PRS 305 Prototype* before I was satisfied with my "Strat Tone." So, I'd change the pups and the hardware(i.e. steel tremolo block, and unfinished brass tuners and saddles), and then go for another guitar if that doesn't work.

*Disclaimer: This prototype's pick ups are wound more like a Strat's than the production.
 
catnick said:
+1 on the tone control being wired to the bridge pickup. I did this when I installed a set of DiMarzio Area pickups and it really made a big difference on patches that are heavy on the top-end.
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+2 = huge difference. Have tone control for all pu's. - especially the bridge
 
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