Need YOUR help to achieve this tone!

[A Skater]

Okay, many have heard me brag about Hollowbody guitars and such, but I decided to get away from that. I need something that can give me THIS tone! I currently have a strat copy w/an invader in the bridge, but i'm thinking of just getting the Tom DeLonge Fender Signature! Here's my plan!

**Budget**
Less than $700. Yes, I will look for used guitars.


**Equipment to be used**
Vox AD50
Vox Footswitch
Boss GE-7
The Axe

**What's going to be played**
Blues to Hard Rock (Punk rock in between)

**Axes to be used**

1. Currently using a Strat copy with invader in bridge. Single coils(neck and middle) are excellent. The invader sounds good in it, but I might stick a JB in it.(I'm guessing my body is basswood, thus comes up the choice of getting a better guitar). What's this going to be used for in the future? BLUES->Hard Rock. A JB can do anything and is excellent in a strat...If not, I'll sell and upgrade to a les paul.

2. Fender Tom DeLonge Sig. If I get it, this will definately be my rock(soft rock->hard rock/metal). Keep in mind I'm trying to achieve this tone! I'll use it for solos and lead punk guitarist(pop punk).(I do solos with my strat and I try to balance out the tone/noise with my EQ pedal)

3. Gibson Les Paul Studio. My friend has one and it rocks. I'll stick in a JB in it ASAP! This will be my lead guitar!

4. Gibson SG Studio. I hear these are great and SG's can be rivaled tonally to a Les Paul. Is it true? I'm not sure, I need to try them both out. This will also be my lead guitar if it's not a LP.

A few questions I ask:

Q: Does a Gibson SG rival a Les Paul tone-wise?
Q: Can it be the wood that doesn't help my strat sound like I want it?
Q: How would an Invader sound in solid mahogany body?

 

[Nite_Maresz_25]

Re: Need YOUR help to achieve this tone!

have fun trying to find all that for under 700 bucks.

and i will answer the first w questions:
1) NO! not nearly as thick IMO.
2) possibly, it could be any of many thinks (body wood, fingerboard wood, pickup. it could ever be your amp/amp settings)

 

[Jag513]

Re: Need YOUR help to achieve this tone!

Your strat copy's body's basswood? Most Strats, and thus the copies, are made with alder or ash. At least, the copies should be made with alder or ash.

1. No, the LP is very thick and full compared to the SG.

2. It very well may be. But then again, you have to realize that someone else's tone is extremely complicated. No matter how much money you shell out to get the same gear, tone comes from the fingers too. However, different equipment can get you places.

3. IMO very muddy. I had an Invader in my mahogany Schecter when I was borrowing pickups from a friend and sticking them in my guitar to see which I liked and would buy. I thought it lacked definition and was too bassy. But a brighter guitar could balance it out. And somehow I doubt the Tom Delonge sig is a mahogany Strat.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Need YOUR help to achieve this tone!

i smell a les paul PAF combo. If you want a fool proof tone that can handle all these genres and more, just put seths in a les paul, or even a strat or tele. no muddiness, clear, woody, and sounds awesome through distortion...

 

[A Skater]

Re: Need YOUR help to achieve this tone!

Well, if I buy a Fender Tom DeLonge Strat, I'll change the pickups in my old guitar to suit my blues->rock needs. The tom delonge will be my punk rocking guitar, and the extra guitar is going to be my soloing guitar and like....my eric clapton kinda strat.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Need YOUR help to achieve this tone!

be warned though-as you age, you might start liking blues and classic rock more than punk...it happened to me. When i was 14-15 i loved punk rock and wanted a punk rock tone; a strat, a blackface amp, duncan surfer pickups, and 3 years later i can't stand punk rock any more.

Don't be ashamed of getting a guitar that has a neck pickup...

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Need YOUR help to achieve this tone!

Umm if you have a Strat with an Invader, getting a Tom Delonge Strat would be redundant i think. I think a gibson-style guitar would be a better addition, or if you REALLY want to improve your tone, get a sweet amp. Any guitar will sound good thru the right amp...

-X

 

[Mewmender]

Re: Need YOUR help to achieve this tone!

a tom delonge signature strat will probably be the last signature i ever wan to own, i mean seriously i would get a fat strat over that any day.
Ill advise you to get a guitar with more versitility to it

 

[bbking1021]

Re: Need YOUR help to achieve this tone!

+1 your music style and your guitar needs will most likely start to change as you age. go with versatility.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Need YOUR help to achieve this tone!

Back to the LP vs SG thing, I've got a 61LP SG so I love to talk about this one-
As mentoioned above they are absolutly completely differnt guitars, but prehaps the most complimentary other than a tele/strat with a LP- The neat thing about them is being Gibson designed, I've always had very good luck using similar systems for both, but you achive a very different, but very good sound from both-

I amy get flamed for this one as it's such contrversial issue, but I find the SG the far more useful of the two- Don't get me wrong, the LP shines at what it does, but in context, the SG is far more compatbile with a lot more music (again this may be just for me)

These underlying tone issues link directly to the construction- The LP has a ton of sustain and that is mainly due to it's heavy weight- This works fine for some styles of music, but try to switch over to sustainless sounds and there is practically no way to get rid of the sustain and it takes a number of trciks to cut thoguth the 'thickness'- BTW back when we had to use 1 gtr for practically everything, a very common mod was to replace the 2nd tone with a master mid reduction cap-

First i heard fo this was the group that did green grass and high tides- (anyone old as me rember who this was?) It became a pretty standard mod for a while, but I find that the single coil combinations of the humbuckers can today can achive similar sounds to thin out the beast-

The SG on the other hand has a bit more sustain than a strat, very similar to a tele in that vein, but it's tone is not fenderish at all- Far more like a firebird and a lot depends on the pups- To me a fender/SG combo is the best if you can take 2 gtrs on the road-

The SG can get much of the LP sound and you can manufacture plenty of sustain with feedback, compressoion as examples- But it also gives you far better stonesish bluesish soudn than a LP (althought they dont play sgs), and if you compare the great sg players (Frank Morino, Buck Darhma, early sanatana, early mid townsend, adn of course Angus) to their conteporaries, you will see that it can cover just about any sound other than fender- And then there were the 3 pup sgs that could quack a bit-

Sorry to go on, but SGs are awesome- Unfortunately, I can't play a 24.75 neck anymore, but the wamoth I am planning right now is a p90 mahagoney sg with a 25.5 neck, just so I can get back to this sound (yes I know the scale will have a little impact, but..)

 

[MikeS]

Re: Need YOUR help to achieve this tone!

Sorry for hijacking the thread...

Sorry to go on, but SGs are awesome- Unfortunately, I can't play a 24.75 neck anymore, but the wamoth I am planning right now is a p90 mahagoney sg with a 25.5 neck, just so I can get back to this sound (yes I know the scale will have a little impact, but..)

I've got a Warmoth P90 mahogany SG w/ 25.5" neck I'm getting ready for paint. I can tell you that the balance stinks (even though the warmoth body is thicker than a gibby SG). I have no doubt it will sound killer, but it is going to be a bit neck heavy. If I had to do it again, I'd build a 24.74" neck instead of finding a showcase neck.

Back to the topic at hand... A Skater, if you are looking at LPs on a budget, and are going to replace electronics, I'd recommend an Epiphone LP. Don't get me wrong, I love my Studio, but I wasn't restricting myself to $700, and unless I can play it before I by it, I won't risk buying a used instrument.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Need YOUR help to achieve this tone!

Mike S, I owe you a drink- Next time you're touring the Raleigh NC, I'll pay up
Yep, I've been just a bit worried about that exact issue, but would rather make a slight body change and have considered the flat LPS instead- I need to confrim this, but understand it to be almost 1/2lb heavier so it may be inbetween SG and LP weight, but no maple top-

Or since we are really off topic, for the exact same reason, I had considered going really radical with their uncapped L5S body- Here's my thinking:
-Weight should be more than enough to offset body
-Have you seen the size of that cavity?
-It would be really unusual
-I'm still playing around with a SC between the p90s and have you seen that cavity?
(I know this is sacriligous)
- And here's the one that will drive some up the wall- I'm seriously considering a maple fingerboard if I go with the L5 instead of the SG- I'm thinking that there will be more than enough mahoganey mass to offset that little bit of briteness-

As usual, I'm off the beaten path- But SGs are supream and I sure hope it works out for you (assuming you mounted the strappeg at the heel of the neck, is there any leverage advantage if you used the upper horn instead? But even if there is , it's pretty pointy there isn't it? Other than the strange look I wonder if there's enough wood to dig into? Maybe a case for the inlaid straplock kind of connection if you know what i mean? On the other hand if it doesn't get you enough ballance, this would be a waste of time-

Like to hear how it turns out- What pups/wiring are you going with?

 

[Forbes]

Re: Need YOUR help to achieve this tone!

a tom delonge signature strat will probably be the last signature i ever wan to own, i mean seriously i would get a fat strat over that any day.
Ill advise you to get a guitar with more versitility to it

The Delonge Strats were good quality guitars for a good price that sounded great IMO, and it's so easy if he ever wanted more versatility to swap out the pickguard and have a whole different set of pickups in it.

However i think seeing as you already have a strat with an invader, getting a tom delonge strat, especially now they are discontiued and not always easy to find, may not be the best option.

 

[Xeromus]

Re: Need YOUR help to achieve this tone!

I would suggest you find your own tone. You can never match another person's tone perfectly, and guitar, amp, and effects companies love guys like you cause you buy all kinds of stuff unneccesarily. Find a good starting point and go from there.