2 guitars, same pickup, different sounds.

[OceanMachine]

Hi guys, gota a question about 2 very similar guitars I have and the difference in sound I'm getting from them.

Got 2 superstrats, a Jackson and a Fender. The Jackson is alder with a bolt-on maple neck, rosewood board and has a licensed floyd-style trem. The Fender is a MIJ model and I got second hand so I can't be 100% sure it's definitley alder, but I can only assume it is, however it is noticabley heavier than the jackson. It too has a bolt-on maple neck with maple board and a classic vintage style trem. When I got it it was a standard S-S-S strat with classic strat wiring and I have it modified with a 'bucker in the bridge and wired to just a single volume knob.

It's worth noting both trems are locked down, the Jackson I have put a stopper in front of the sustain block (the side closest to the neck) and then simply used all 5 springs and tightened the screws. Fender uses pretty much the same method but without the stopper.

Both have the duncan distortion in the bridge, both the tb-6 model. I love the pickup, its loud, aggresive, pretty balanced across the board. Recently after getting a new amp and doing a little more scrutinizing I'm finding the Fender lacks a little clarity in the higher strings when playing full chords at higher gain settings and is a touch more bassy and harsh in the mids than the Jackson which does have the clarity I'm after. Also it seems as if the Fender reacts more to the amps gain, sounding as if I've turned the gain knob up a touch..

My question really, is this just the way my guitar sounds, is the difference in weight of wood or the difference of trems just causing my guitars to sound quite different? I understand different woods yield differnet tones but I thought these guitars to be quite similar. And if I'm after this same definition I get from my Jackson, a clarity in distorted chord playing and such, will I need a different pickup altogether?

Basically I appreciate this is long and I'm not asking a clear question, I'd just appreciate some back and forth on the subject before I go and buy a Bare Knuckle Painkiller or a Dimarzio D-Activator or Crunchlab on a whim, so any discussion greatly appreciated.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: 2 guitars, same pickup, different sounds.

They sound different because they are different. There are so many differences between those two guitars I don't even know where to begin.

FYI, the MIJ Strat is likely a basswood body, but it depends on what year it was made.

Also, a "superstrat" by most definitions has 24 frets and a Floyd. I wouldn't call your MIJ a superstrat.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: 2 guitars, same pickup, different sounds.

Basswood MIJ Stratocasters are perfectly fine by me - especially when the serial number begins JV.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: 2 guitars, same pickup, different sounds.

I'm finding the Fender lacks a little clarity in the higher strings when playing full chords at higher gain settings and is a touch more bassy and harsh in the mids than the Jackson which does have the clarity I'm after. Also it seems as if the Fender reacts more to the amps gain, sounding as if I've turned the gain knob up a touch..

.

This is a fair discription of basswood vs alder. Also the Jackson has a rosewood board, while the Fender has a maple board. Also A floyd and vintage trem will not sound the same. But you can go to guitar center and pickup five different but identical strats and they won't sound exactly the same anyway. If you want more clarity in the mids and highs probably you should go with a Seymour; my first guess would be a C5 or a 59b.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: 2 guitars, same pickup, different sounds.

Basswood MIJ Stratocasters are perfectly fine by me - especially when the serial number begins JV.

Nothing wrong with basswood MIJ's at all. I have two of them, and they're both keepers.

 

[OceanMachine]

Re: 2 guitars, same pickup, different sounds.

One small detail, something I typed wrong they both have rosewood boards. I do appreciate that I probably sound like and idiot here, I recognize how small differences in a guitar can effect the tone, I just didn't think there would be such changes in 2 fairly similar guitars with the same pickup. If the strat is basswood then that obviously sheds new light on the situation. A new pickup may be the best thing for it.

 

[Rockstar216]

Re: 2 guitars, same pickup, different sounds.

Yes wood and bridge will make the biggest diffs. Plus a vintage trem has a diff size block from a Floyd stock block

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: 2 guitars, same pickup, different sounds.

One small detail, something I typed wrong they both have rosewood boards. I do appreciate that I probably sound like and idiot here, I recognize how small differences in a guitar can effect the tone, I just didn't think there would be such changes in 2 fairly similar guitars with the same pickup. If the strat is basswood then that obviously sheds new light on the situation. A new pickup may be the best thing for it.

Don't worry about sounding stupid. This isn't common knowledge, and we all started somewhere

 

[richard parker]

Re: 2 guitars, same pickup, different sounds.

Take two seemingly identical guitars with the same pickups and they can still sound quite different to one another. Or two identical amps with the same tubes - it's not an exact science.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: 2 guitars, same pickup, different sounds.

It all comes down to..."what you get is what you get".

 

[Elias Graves]

Re: 2 guitars, same pickup, different sounds.

That's the scariest part of building a guitar. You think you know what it's gonna sound like but more often than not, it doesn't.
There are literally millions of different interactions going on in a guitar system. String dynamics is complicated and seemingly small changes make big differences.

Take this little experimental job I'm doing. Completely hollow and I've been swapping bridge blocks inside. Basswood, pine, walnut, maple, small and large. The differences between such small parts makes huge differences.

 

[uOpt]

Re: 2 guitars, same pickup, different sounds.

A floyd with one of those one-screw stoppers isn't nearly the same as a 6-point resting solid against the wood.

The heavy nut of the floyd also changes things.

Things that would help: float the 6-point (or use a one-screw stopper), a steel trem block for the Fender.

Overall, however, I would just take things as they are. You don't like the Fender so you should probably flip it and get another Floyd thing.

 

[chadd]

Re: 2 guitars, same pickup, different sounds.

Is the output the same on the pickups? I had two traditional pros with BB3s and they sound very different when plugged in to the same amp.

 

[Amplifuzz]

Re: 2 guitars, same pickup, different sounds.

Maybe too obvious, but are you using the exact same strings (brand and gauge), both equally worn? They make a world of difference. Is the pickup height the same? The bridge setups would seem to be the biggest differentiators here. You didn't talk about the wiring and I'm assuming you replaced the 250k pots on the Fender with 500k, but even if you have pots that spec 500k they could measure significantly lower, accounting for the treble loss you experience with the Fender. If your goal is getting them as identical sounding as possible it's worth checking out.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: 2 guitars, same pickup, different sounds.

No 2 guitars will ever sound 100% the same so 2 different models by 2 different brands...even more so that they'll never b the same.

They might be similar and have lots of tonal qualities in common but they'll never be the same.

 

[tonello]

Re: 2 guitars, same pickup, different sounds.

Yeah, you've got two completely different guitars. It's not like a Gibson Flying V versus a Gibson Explorer (IMO two very similar sounding guitars), the Strat and the Jackson are completely different.