Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

[ErikH]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

Here's a clip of me playing a mickey-mouse version of Little Wing on both my Stratocaster and my '51.

Which has better tone to you?

Little Wing 1 vs. Little Wing 2
Link to Soundclick

I like #2. #1 is a little harsh to me. #2 has some warmth to it, more "real". #1 is the '51 and #2 is the Strat, right?

 

[ErikH]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

More on TBX please!

Download the pdf here with all the mod details:
http://blueguitar.org/new/schem/_gtr/tbx_fdp.pdf

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

More on TBX please!

try here

http://guitarelectronics.zoovy.com/category/wiringresources.1basicwiringfaqs/#q3

Opps, erik beat me to it!

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

thanks guys!

Yeah, LW1 is '51 (neck single coil) and LW2 is Stratocaster (neck single coil)

I'll try a few adjustments and re-record the same little clip and see if we can make some headway!

I appreciate the help!

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

I liked #2 as well.....Might try a little cleaner tone and see if that helps.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

try here

http://guitarelectronics.zoovy.com/category/wiringresources.1basicwiringfaqs/#q3

Opps, erik beat me to it!

That link there, Joe, actually describes how it works in stock form. I omitted that part when I made the page for my Strat and included Doc's explanation of his mod.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

Dropped middle pickup, raised neck pickup, raised bridge pickup

Little Wing 3 = recorded with neck single coil of Stratocaster, now closer to strings than before

Link to Soundclick

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

I liked #2 as well.....Might try a little cleaner tone and see if that helps.

Yeah, my knobs are a little wrong for this song...a little.

It's a Fender solid state amp so I don't expect great blues tone, though.

I'll clean it up!

 

[ErikH]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

#3 sounds better. Raising the neck up there a bit helped grab some balls out of it. Just don't crank them too high up or you'll get "stratitis".

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

#3 sounds better. Raising the middle up there a bit helped grab some balls out of it. Just don't crank them too high up or you'll get "stratitis".

you mean neck, yeah?

Yeah, I dialed the neck up as high as I could, then rolled the stratitis out of it by ear

 

[ErikH]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

you mean neck, yeah?

Yeah, I dialed the neck up as high as I could, then rolled the stratitis out of it by ear

:smack: Yes, I mean neck...LOL.

It doesn't sound so bad to me. If you don't like the TBX and don't want to mod it, just yank it out for a normal 250k tone pot. I noticed that the TBX affected the overall output of the pickups it was hooked up to, hence why I modded it. I had no idea it was doing that until I got more in to the guts of my guitars the last few years. And I only discovered that effect earlier this year after putting the Texas Specials in.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

I'm thinking of doing "Hendrix Wiring" soon (3-way Tele switch that goes between neck, neck+bridge, and bridge, master volume, volume or "blend" for middle pickup on 1st tone knob, master tone on 2nd tone knob) and if I do I may put new pots in it.

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

I'm thinking of doing "Hendrix Wiring" soon (3-way Tele switch that goes between neck, neck+bridge, and bridge, master volume, volume or "blend" for middle pickup on 1st tone knob, master tone on 2nd tone knob) and if I do I may put new pots in it.

I've got mine wired with a superswitch with these combos

1 bridge
2 bridge & middle
3 bridge & neck
4 neck & middle
5 neck

1st tone control for the neck, 2nd one for the bridge. I like the idea of a blend knob, but in the heat of battle, I believe it would be hard to dial in.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

I keep mine simple. Standard 5-way, tone 1 for the neck, tone 2 for the bridge, although stock that control was wired for middle and bridge. I like the middle pickup without a tone control on it.

 

[baritone]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

When adjusting pickups, start with the the pickup which you find to be most important. It is best to play through an amp at a comfortable listening level, and use your ears. From there, adjust the other pickups to match output. With neck pickups, raise the treble side slightly, and with bridge pickups, raise the bass side slightly. On my Epiphone, the bridge pickup is more critical, so I have the neck pickup lowered deep into the body so the output matches perfectly. When both pickups are on, I can clearly hear the characteristics of both.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

When adjusting pickups, start with the the pickup which you find to be most important. It is best to play through an amp at a comfortable listening level, and use your ears. From there, adjust the other pickups to match output. With neck pickups, raise the treble side slightly, and with bridge pickups, raise the bass side slightly. On my Epiphone, the bridge pickup is more critical, so I have the neck pickup lowered deep into the body so the output matches perfectly. When both pickups are on, I can clearly hear the characteristics of both.

My neck pickup is certainly the most important on this guitar. I'm an SRV disciple, born and bred. (Hence the sunburst Stratocaster)

I care less about output matching and more about good individual tone on each pickup.

I use the notch positions less and less on this guitar since I got my '51 that can do bridge split and neck at the same time - the ultimate notch position for my ear.

I actually have lowered the treble side of my bridge to get more meat and less ice, but my neck pickup is now dead-on flat, as high as it'll go without string pull.

 

[baritone]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

I aim for the lowest placement with the best tone. One tip which helped me a lot was keepping the volume down when adjusting. Some say a solid state amp or a preamp/processor through headphones is the best way to fine-tune pickup height. I have tried both, using either my solid state bass amp or my Vox ToneLab with Pioneer headphones. Using both of those methods at different times, I got different but acceptable tones. I think with the bass amp, I got a better tone because the ToneLab adds a bit of processing to the signal, and the bass amp's frequency response is flatter and wider.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Dialing in Perfect Strat Pickup Height

I aim for the lowest placement with the best tone. One tip which helped me a lot was keepping the volume down when adjusting. Some say a solid state amp or a preamp/processor through headphones is the best way to fine-tune pickup height. I have tried both, using either my solid state bass amp or my Vox ToneLab with Pioneer headphones. Using both of those methods at different times, I got different but acceptable tones. I think with the bass amp, I got a better tone because the ToneLab adds a bit of processing to the signal, and the bass amp's frequency response is flatter and wider.

Interesting...

Since I've raised my neck pickup I've found more punchy tone (what I was looking for)

My amp is solid-state, so all my "dialing in" was done in the realm of cold transistors :laugh2:

I have an old bass amp too, I may give it a try.