Brass block on a strat?

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r34vspec

New member
Hi guys. I have problem with my reissue 54 strat. I tried a lot of pickups already (fralin, bill lawrence, suhr, lollar). But I never got fully satisfied with the sound.

After listening to a youtube comparation, I think I have found the culprit. Ash bodied strat produce more quack, at the expense of warmth and depth of alder. I feel my tone is a bit thin sometimes, and it just doesn't have that bluesy warmth I get from playing another strat (even a squier I played yesterday have this sound)

So I'm thinking of swapping the block on my strat for a brass one. I have great result using them on my Ibanez, PRS, but I don't know how they fare on single coil guitars. Any opinion on this matter?

Btw, Part of the problem might also be the pickups I use. Most of them have really narrow sweet spot, as a result I tend to set them really low. I plan to try the SSL1s next, since I read that they're not really fussy about height, tend to be plug and play. If I like the tone, I might consider buying the antiquity set.
 
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Re: Brass block on a strat?

It wouldn't hurt to try a brass block. The bridge and the block of a vintage strat style trem is major factor within the overall tone equation. Recently I experimented with jamming wood blocks between the steel block and the body inside the trem cavity on a PRS. A wood block essentially changes it to more a fixed bridge. It changed the tone (making it less warm to my ears actually) and slightly increased sustain. I liked it better without the wood block. This illustrates how important the bridge (and sustain block) is in the tone equation. I also noticed that sound of the pickups was more like the same pickups in a hard tail guitar when the trem was blocked.

I think Seymour's SSL-1 singles have a few more turns on them than the average SC. I like Seymour's singles best, but some Dimarzio's True Velvets a client had me install in his guitar were very sweet sounding. I was rather surprized. Have you tried those? They might work good in ash.
 
Re: Brass block on a strat?

I'm curious about the true velvets as well. The description on their website is very interesting. How does it compare to duncan ssl1?
 
Re: Brass block on a strat?

I only heard them on the one guitar and didn't hear the same guitar with SSL-1s so it can't be a direct comparision, but thought they were mellower in the highs than typical. A bit more polite if you will.
 
Re: Brass block on a strat?

My Charvel has always had a brass block. I know it's a totally different guitar concept than a 54 strat, but it is all maple and I'd hate to think how bright it would be with a steel block.
 
Re: Brass block on a strat?

The brass block sounds like a good idea, though a steel one is the only "orthodox strat" in my book. Another thing is pickups being set too low might add to the thinness.
 
Re: Brass block on a strat?

I recommend the Stainless steel for strats usually and the Brass for floyds. Reason being the floyd block is thinner and needs a darker and rounder sound to add balance to prevent it from sounding too thin. A big Stainless Steel one for a strat just improves everything. Sustain, harmonics, clarity, you name it. It is a bit heavier though when you change it. I recommend Callaham, their blocks rock.
 
Re: Brass block on a strat?

I think the Ash body/Maple neck Strat might not be for you. Its really nice, but they're noted for that mid scooped sound.

Antiquity Texas hot (Standard wind) is an awesome bridge PU in that guitar coupled with something slightly lower in resistance in the middle and neck slots. Its not going to be thick, just pleasing to the ear.

The pickup quest I had (tried lots) in a similar guitar I ended up with Suhr V54. If you wanted Duncans, I'd contact the custom shop for a custom neck/Middle pickup.

I actually pulled the Callaham bridge I had in that guitar in favor of the Stock bridge. It seemed to be a bit thinner with the Callaham. Top notch product, but just not for that guitar.
 
Re: Brass block on a strat?

Raising pickups, and/or e.q.ing, and/or upping gain will help. I don't think you can generalize one wood vs. another so accurately, and "quack" has nothing to do with the wood. IMO, tonal difference between guitars has as much or more to do with plank-to-plank variation as it does with species-to-species variation. Anyhow, your tone controls are there to use, so have at them. It's easy peasy to thicken a guitar that it too trebly. It's tough to do the opposite. Also, no pickup has a clearly defined sweet spot, as that is subjective. Running your pickups low is a way to thin them out, so doing that when you think the sound is too thin is counterproductive.
 
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Re: Brass block on a strat?

My advice is roll the tone back a bit and see if that helps. Upgrading the block is another option but it really changes the tone alot. Another option is getting some hotter single coil pups OR get a stacked bucker. A humbucker will give you that thickness BUT you won't get the same feel as a single coil.
 
Re: Brass block on a strat?

which Lollar, Fralin, Suhr, etc., did you try? For example, the Lollar blonds or tweeds are meant to sound on the thinner side, whereas the blackface and specials are meant to sound on the thicker side.

That being said, if you tried the Lollar specials or the Fralin Blues specials and it was still thin and weak, I might suggest punting on the guitar at that point...is the bridge really going to change the entire nature of the guitar (maybe...but I sort of doubt it)? While I have one mid 1980's Squier that can go up against any recent american made strat, I am struck when you say the Squier you recently tried sounded better...

Also, you note that the "sweet spot" for the pickups is on the low side, but then complain it is thin-sounding...as noted above, try raising them up. I have had various Fralin and Lollar pickups, and on my guitars, they sounded better a bit higher vs. slammed to the pickguard.
 
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Re: Brass block on a strat?

Going from alnico V magnets to alnico II magnets in the pickups will probably help. Seymour offers A2 strat pickups in both standard models and Antiquities (sp?) The Texas Hot ants are A2 if recall correctly. There's also the 5/2s which have A5 rods on the bass side to keep things tight and A2 rods on the treble side to take away excessive brightness.

The good thing about pickups and even the block are that they are all reversable. Giving up or an alder body is kinda drastic. I like swamp ash a lot and I expect it can sound awesome given the right combination of pickups and hardware. My number one is swamp ash (but its HSS- rosewood neck) and some of the most successful jobs done for clients have been swamp ash. However, it really depends a lot on the exact piece of ash (no pun intended). One guitar from my past that is probably the most hated was a heavy ash tele (weighed 12lbs and sounded like poo). Ash is less consistent from piece to piece than alder.
 
Re: Brass block on a strat?

Sounds like you just should get another guitar instead...
It is like chasing your own tail.....never gets you anywhere, or accepts that it is a quacky, and not so thicksounding strat and use it for that.
The rest will just drive you crazy in the end.
 
Re: Brass block on a strat?

I think this might potentially be an issue with wood rather than magnets and wire. Especially if you like the sound of a squier more. Try the sound of your guitar acoustically against some others. If it is not up to par, then move it on and get one that resonated nicely. After that, pickups or bridge blocks will just be icing on the cake.
 
Re: Brass block on a strat?

gibson175 said:
I think this might potentially be an issue with wood rather than magnets and wire. Especially if you like the sound of a squier more. Try the sound of your guitar acoustically against some others. If it is not up to par, then move it on and get one that resonated nicely. After that, pickups or bridge blocks will just be icing on the cake.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your suggestion. I was thinking of making a replacement body. The guitar resonates very well unplugged, albeit more twangy, almost tele-ish.
The guitar still have original block, which is quite thick and massive made of steel. I upgraded the saddles to raw vintage.
Pickups I've tried in this guitar:
Fralin blues special (non rwrp)
Suhr ML standard (non rwrp)
Wilde micro coil
Lollar Blonde (rwrp)
 
Re: Brass block on a strat?

I've got an Ash strat/maple f/b. It certainly has more bite to it than an Alder. I went for BKP Apache's in it, as these are A3 magnet and were wound for early strat tone (more mids). These seem to give the fullness that makes this guitar work for me. A2 mag pickups might also work as they will fill the mids void even more.
This guitar is loaded up with a callaham bridge too, although the addition of something like a KGC big brass block for yours might also be OK.
 
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