(Finger)-pickiness; Single Coil Twang

[Silence Kid]

Imagine me in 1999 , playing the **** out of this song and trying to get my guitar to sound as close to that as possible. Frusciante really turned me on to Fenders in general, and it was this track that did it. To this day if I'm playing a traditional Strat, I really sort of want it to sound like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLvohMXgcBo

But now focus on the sixth finger-picked note you hear in the intro, the twangy "D" played on the neck pickup. It has an almost flange-like reaction to it; it bounces, hits, and then fades out in quick succession. It's dumb but, I LOVE that. However it seems really hit or miss how to actually get it; hell, live even John Frusciante almost *never* gets it. But I've tried a variety of pickups in my Strats that really nail it:

-Rose Mariposas (vintage single coils)
-Rose Buff Beauties (hot singles)
-Duncan SJAG-2s (despite not otherwise sounding much like singles)
-Duncan Jazz/Duncan Designed HB-102n (the only humbucker I've found that will, even slightly)

I also have a Jaguar (SJAG-1s) that has no problem doing it, and a Mustang that's much the same. On top of that, I have an inexpensive Yamaha with cheap ceramics, and while they sound pretty goofy overall, they do it. Pickups that are adjusted too high or too low do seem to compress that little twang reaction out. But some guitars/pickups I've tried will not do it no matter how much you adjust them:

-Most humbuckers
-Duncan APS Singles
-Duncan Classic Stack Plus
-Fender Tex Mex singles
-Fender MiM Ceramics
-Telecaster neck pickups
-Jazzmaster pickups

So the question is: What guitars or pickups would you recommend to really hit that little flange-like twang sound consistently? As mentioned I've discovered the above, but it's still an elusive sort of search and I haven't really seen a pattern among what "gets it" and what doesn't.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: (Finger)-pickiness; Single Coil Twang

2 single coils in series in a humbucker slot. Single coil mojo through the roof with some flange that you're talking about.

 

[KNUCKLHEAD]

Re: (Finger)-pickiness; Single Coil Twang

That's because It's the official og Recording , I believe - as well . Half of the Equation is Jag or Strat ( Your correct some pickups will Never sound like that but the Other 50% is Fingerpick (Beg.) , Gear + Mixdown. I've never Experienced a Finished guitar Track that Wasn't optimized to some extent thru the individuals +/or mastering Channel for Finalize . There are some Fender Pickups that could be used . There was no Duncan when Jimi Recorded everything . Prima could make You Any single config U could want for Reasonable and Michael Does all kinds of color finishes that look really awesome , He made me a Jag and a Strat pickup .

 

[Mincer]

Re: (Finger)-pickiness; Single Coil Twang

Those notes don't have the evenness of Jimi playing similar stuff, and John's fingerpicking technique/dynamics are all over the place there (I thought that at the time, too, although I don't mind the song). Of any of the pickups you mentioned, the Stack Plus would be my thought as the closest.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: (Finger)-pickiness; Single Coil Twang

Sorry if my post rambled too long making it hard to tell, but the second grouping (with the Stack Plus) are the pickups I have tried where I don't really get that specific twangy note. But they are still good pickups and really nail the tone other than that.

Clint brings up a good point of which pickups are being used; to me the sound overall says "neck" more than "in-between/quack." It has more of an open, sonorous feel than the more stifled-sounding quack positions to my ear. I could still be wrong.

 

[KNUCKLHEAD]

Re: (Finger)-pickiness; Single Coil Twang

2 single coils in series in a humbucker slot. Single coil mojo through the roof with some flange that you're talking about.

I Like that , have done it + might again soon . that could be some Tele-phonic Bliss

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: (Finger)-pickiness; Single Coil Twang

I have a pickup like that (vintage output humbucker w/ twelve A5 polepieces.) It's a midrange-thick, twangy pickup without much bass.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: (Finger)-pickiness; Single Coil Twang

I Like that , have done it + might again soon . that could be some Tele-phonic Bliss

It is Tele-phonic bliss!

Silence Kid I think you're right about it having an open neck sound. The SSL1s get like that when you have your tube amp turned up. The advantages to putting 2 SSL1s together is that you have the pole staggers going opposite directions so it increases the Strat twang, more power so you can get the punchy jangleyness thru any amp or volume, plus the new humbucker retains the exact character of the singles themselves - it sounds single coil because they are single coils!

 

[AlexR]

Re: (Finger)-pickiness; Single Coil Twang

In the studio recording there are 2 guitars in the intro......just listen to it with some good headphones. The main riff is more in the LH one and the high note (D then C#) is in the RHS.

The second guitar playing the single notes is the guitar that goes on to play the more driven main verse riff.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: (Finger)-pickiness; Single Coil Twang

Good observation on there being two guitars; that's a good excuse why it never happens live (I'm seeing the Peppers this Summer, so I'll pay attention.) Still, it seems possible through technique and equipment selection to get a twangy sound that approximates it, with just one guitar.

Anyway, background is I have a bunch of pickguards that I tend to (for I guess OCD reasons) switch in and out of several Strats pretty regularly. Going from the Tex Mex pickguard to the pickguard with the SJAG-2s, there is a great improvement in obtaining that twangy sound. I just switched back to my pickguard with the STK-S4n (which I earlier said wasn't so great at getting the twang.) So same guitar, setup etc. other than changing the pickups...

To my surprise, I got it with the STK-S4n; I just needed to pick the note close to the neck pickup to bring it out, whereas with the other pickups (the Rose and the SJAG2s) it pops out more when picking near the bridge pickup. This probably all goes deeper than I want it to... Funny, I'm usually ok just plugging in whatever and tweaking knobs till I sound like 'myself,' until it comes down to trying to nail this one tone.

 

[AlexR]

Re: (Finger)-pickiness; Single Coil Twang

The different tones here is because the second guitar is slightly overdriven. So you have the lower notes being clean and compressed, and the single note being fatter and a bit edgier. In a way I guess if you were playing it on one guitar the Tele sort of tone might do the twang a bit better......in fact when I gigged covers and we did this song I used a Tele with an eq pedal to suck out some of the mids. But I didn't own a strat at that stage.

 

[KNUCKLHEAD]

Re: (Finger)-pickiness; Single Coil Twang

I pull out the mids from blues (Standard ) to Drop C metalish on my Head ~ I have never really found a brand of EQ pedal that doesn't Rip-off parts of other freqs. while trying to accomplish that . but what's a Strat have to do with that ? I tend to chase my own tone more than Anyone elses anyway ~ Always been that way ( of Course when ya write scads of Orig. songs for decades .

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: (Finger)-pickiness; Single Coil Twang

In the studio recording there are 2 guitars in the intro......just listen to it with some good headphones. The main riff is more in the LH one and the high note (D then C#) is in the RHS.

Yep. What you're hearing is natural chorusing. Doubling the note or adding it an octave lower would approximate this better than a particular pickup.

 

[rshanks]

Re: (Finger)-pickiness; Single Coil Twang

I don't know his music very well, but I do know he has at least one of his pickups out of phase - it's possible you're hearing that. There's some diagrams of how to reverse the pickup phase here if you want to try it, it's totally reversible. This thread on Ultimate-Guitar barf talks about his pickup wiring. I hope you find the sound you're looking for soon!