i want a guitar that FUNKS!!!

LukeGilmour

LukeGilmour

New member
currently i have an lp (all mahongany split coils trough pot) and a strat (ash/rosewood ssl-1s)

and i really want to play some funk tones (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsOmvSlPuys is a good example) but i cant achieve the tone with any of those guitars (just too fat, middy, unsmooth and raw, with both my guitars)

so what would you guys recommend? new pups for the strat (which?)? new strat with maple fretboard? tele? p90s for the lp (i really dont think so, but.. maybe)? anything else?

any help would be welcome.
 
Re: i want a guitar that FUNKS!!!

I would probably go with a hard ash tele with a JD at the bridge and a firebird style mini-humbucker at the neck. I would also put a treble bleed on the volume and maybe a q-filter for the tone.
 
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Re: i want a guitar that FUNKS!!!

It ain't about the guitar...

but, Telecaster.

Onnie McIntyre (the greatest and best funk rhythm player of all time) played a Stratocaster as well.
 
Re: i want a guitar that FUNKS!!!

I'm really surprised that the SSLs don't deliver for you... what amp are you using? what setting?

Many guitarists had that clean tone while using the guitar straight into the mixing board BTW...
 
Re: i want a guitar that FUNKS!!!

Yep, most old Motown and funk recordings were done straight to the board. Live, those guys moslty played high wattage Blackface or Silverface Fenders. A SF Dual Showman through a nice EV loaded cab would be my personal choice for squeaky clean funk.

As far as the guitar, I usually use my ash/maple strat loaded with the EMG DG 20 set. Those pickups have great clarity and insane quack in the notch positions.
 
Re: i want a guitar that FUNKS!!!

For funk, I use my maple top/ mahogany back godin with a bolt on maple neck, and a set of emg sa's, through my fender blues deluxe.
 
Re: i want a guitar that FUNKS!!!

HotSEXJ said:
That ain't funk.

disclaimer: imho
Click to expand...

The tune, or the guitar solo?

I'd agree that the solo is a rock piece laid over a funk backing...but if you don't think the tune is funk, I gotta wonder about ya. :D
 
Re: i want a guitar that FUNKS!!!

Sorry fellas, I'm more of a 1972-1975 Tower of Power, 1976 Average White Band, James Brown type of player (and listener).

I'm biased because I am a heavy-handed rhythm player. Soloing like that is lost on me.
 
Re: i want a guitar that FUNKS!!!

an ash strat with ssl1's should be a fine funk machine. set the amp with a lot of treble, not alot of bass or mids and learn economy of notes. many of the best funk guitar parts are two or three note chord fragments played very sparsely
 
Re: i want a guitar that FUNKS!!!

Which version of a funk guitarist is more suitable to you? The Motown, James Brown, 60's soul types were part of a backing band, kept the volume under control and used varying fret hand/picking hand muting techniques. The Parliament/Funkadelic (and Red Hot Chili Peppers) sorts tend to be more out front with the sound. I dig the Band of Gypsys brand of funk playing, but mixing it up with the low-volume partial chording style helps keep the audience from going outside during a performance.

Which guitar do you use for funk? Yours. But don't be shy about turning the amp knobs around a bit, or even the guitar knobs. Each song has a different character, using the same knob settings on every tune will strand you on a plateau. I remember after playing a four hour show with a group in San Antonio a woman came up to me and said "That sounded good, but was it only one song? Or did you play a bunch of different ones?" It occurred to me then that "my sound" didn't matter as much as the "song's sound."
 
Re: i want a guitar that FUNKS!!!

a 78 silver faced Fender twin i saw locally must be a great amp for that type of sound... i'm sure a single coil strat can get there with that amp... all power and lots of highs in that amp
 
Re: i want a guitar that FUNKS!!!

yeah you've got two really good guitars there, I always use my Strat for funky things...

some say it's as important to learn to 'play' your amp as it is to learn to play your guitar.
 
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