50s mod question
- Thread starter MattPete
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MattPete
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Re: 50s mod question
Hmmmm...So, with the volume and tone dimed, I'll have more treble than using the normal mod?
The reason I'm asking is that I'm try to diagnose a guitar that I never finished last summer.
It's a swamp ash strat with humbuckers. At first I slapped it together just to make sure it worked. It sounded great. Unfortunately, I don't remember if I used just a volume pot, a volume + conventional tone, or 50s mod volume and tone. This will be important later.
The guitar wasn't done. I also had a Graphtech Ghost system to install. This involved replacing the saddles with Graphtech piezo saddles, adding the preamp for the piezos, properly wiring the tone and volume pots (i.e. no twisting wires and electrical tape), and then wiring the passive circuit to the Graphtech preamp. From what I understand, the magnetic signal passes through the preamp [unaltered] -- the preamp is only used to boost the piezo signal up to a usable volume. The controls are pretty simple: piezo volume controls the piezo signal, passive volume controls the signal, and you can blend the two from both, to none, to just one, and every point in between.
When I slapped it together, the guitar sounded pretty good, but there was something that wasn't quite right. There was a clunky, thin, twangy undertone that I don't remember being there before. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to diagnose it, so I let it sit for 9 months.
So, I'm trying to figure out what changed the tone. Here are the possible culprits that I can think of:
(1) Graphtech Piezo saddles
(2) Change in the passive circuit (50s mod?)
(3) Preamp altered the passive signal
I've ruled out #1 by changing some of the saddles back to the steel saddles. It didn't make an audible difference, and the clunk is still there.
Because it is a top-loaded Strat, it's a pain to diagnose. I'm thinking about interrupting the circuit in as many places as possible (e.g. bypassing the preamp), and running the wires out through the pickguard so that I can externally change the circuitry to make diagnosing easier.
Hmmmm...So, with the volume and tone dimed, I'll have more treble than using the normal mod?
The reason I'm asking is that I'm try to diagnose a guitar that I never finished last summer.
It's a swamp ash strat with humbuckers. At first I slapped it together just to make sure it worked. It sounded great. Unfortunately, I don't remember if I used just a volume pot, a volume + conventional tone, or 50s mod volume and tone. This will be important later.
The guitar wasn't done. I also had a Graphtech Ghost system to install. This involved replacing the saddles with Graphtech piezo saddles, adding the preamp for the piezos, properly wiring the tone and volume pots (i.e. no twisting wires and electrical tape), and then wiring the passive circuit to the Graphtech preamp. From what I understand, the magnetic signal passes through the preamp [unaltered] -- the preamp is only used to boost the piezo signal up to a usable volume. The controls are pretty simple: piezo volume controls the piezo signal, passive volume controls the signal, and you can blend the two from both, to none, to just one, and every point in between.
When I slapped it together, the guitar sounded pretty good, but there was something that wasn't quite right. There was a clunky, thin, twangy undertone that I don't remember being there before. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to diagnose it, so I let it sit for 9 months.
So, I'm trying to figure out what changed the tone. Here are the possible culprits that I can think of:
(1) Graphtech Piezo saddles
(2) Change in the passive circuit (50s mod?)
(3) Preamp altered the passive signal
I've ruled out #1 by changing some of the saddles back to the steel saddles. It didn't make an audible difference, and the clunk is still there.
Because it is a top-loaded Strat, it's a pain to diagnose. I'm thinking about interrupting the circuit in as many places as possible (e.g. bypassing the preamp), and running the wires out through the pickguard so that I can externally change the circuitry to make diagnosing easier.
