The New Tone Thread

  • Thread starter Thread starter Telegram Sam
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Hey Sam, I use the neck pickup on my strat quite a bit. But I do switch up to 2nd position, middle position, and sometimes the 4th position, and only occasionally use the bridge pickup. I think how your amp projects the sound of your guitar will determine which pickups you use also...on a trebly amp the bridge pickup justs boosts that treble. IMHO.

That's a great point, I noticed that minerman went with the middle and neck on his strat for his clips.
I think I might be able to improve some of my solo note tones by using the neck p/u on my Strat through my vox, it is a pretty bright amp.
The LP sounded more rock through both of my amps and the bridge p/u was fine.
If a guy (like Greg) is going to rip it it up on chords (like he do) the bridge p/u has a lot going for it.
Very concise and to the point.
Having the bridge p/u wired to the tone control on my Strat seems to give it a lot of flexibility.
I have a Supertweed model that doesn't open up and crucnh until I turn the tone down to 7.
 
That's great work minerman.
I did my tones in my kung fu studio, and it is a lot of work to haul all your shit down there and set-up.
I got confused (well didn't take good enough notes) and I have already forgotten some of what I did.
I need to do it again, I think I can do better too.
Nice playing, the slide / epi greenback was a great clip.
The last clip was a bit dark, the one before it was nice.
 
I can honestly say that I virtually never use the neck pickup on any of my guitars. Sometimes, very rarely, I'll double track a lead part once with the bridge, once with the neck. Then I'll pan them away from eachother. I do this for effect more than for tonal considerations. Sometimes for my surfy stuff I'll use it on a rhythm track just for a different flavor. I generally don't like the way the neck pickup sounds for chords or for leads though. Never have. Too mellow. Too fat. No bite. I remember my first electric guitar and how I wondered why it even had a neck pickup. I remember my first Strat clone and how I thought every pickup position sucked except for the bridge. 5 positions, how cool! Too bad 4 of them suck. Lol. I'm not that crazy now, but I'm still pretty close to it. I don't mess with the tone or vol knobs either. I'd be totally fine with just a bridge pickup running wide-open and an on/off switch.
 
It's weird that they aren't,
the bridge p/u utilizes only a portion of its functionality without a tone control.
 
I remember my first Strat clone and how I thought every pickup position sucked except for the bridge.

I can totally see that.
I'm a Strat guy, and I hate the "quack" of positions 2 and 4! :D
 
I can totally see that.
I'm a Strat guy, and I hate the "quack" of positions 2 and 4! :D

Yes, those two especially suck.

I wired my Strat with a toggle to fire all pickups at once and do any combo there is. I still like bridge-only the best.
 
I can totally see that.
I'm a Strat guy, and I hate the "quack" of positions 2 and 4! :D

The ONLY time I ever use position 4 is when I'm fiddling around with Sweet Home Alabama. Only time position 4 works.
 
Bonnie Raitt uses the middle pickup exclusively.

I think that's kind of weird, but it actually sounds pretty good tone-wise.

There is some decent sounding slide here, I've never really listened to her,
since Country ain't my thing, but she's pretty damn good.

I also did come across the idea of lowering one side of the pickups to reduce some boom.
It seems like a good idea.

 
I mainly use the middle p'up on a strat ...... very rarely use the bridge .... occasionally use the neck.

And Bonnie's great ........ she's also not all country.
 
Ditto on Bonnie Raitt. She's all that. She is as good a slide player as I've ever seen live. The best may have been Lowell George. Never saw Duane. :(
 
Lowell George is my fav followed by Allman. Trucks is pretty damn good though.
 
I mainly use the middle p'up on a strat ...... very rarely use the bridge .... occasionally use the neck.

And Bonnie's great ........ she's also not all country.

Do you fiddle around with the pickup height?
 
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