SD Custom model '78

[gonogotoday]

A year ago i purchased a Custom 78 and put it in a fender/Alder body and
maple neck/ and finger board/ no tone only one 500k volume pot, and it sounded supperb.

This I purchased another Custom 78 and put in a fender/cedar body and
and a rosewood finger board / with only one volume control
1-try a 500k sounded spyky
2-wiht a 250k il litle better but the overall sound it not at all same as
my first mod, sound is lest clearer, not even close to my first mod.

Could it be the wood that effect that much or do I have a defective pick up?
Any pro know anything about this
Thanks all

 

[JeffB]

Re: SD Custom model '78

Wood has a major effect on tone. I don't recall having played any cedar instruments but it wouldn;t surprise me as being a poor tonewood otherwise you'd see alot of it around, as cedar is very common, and easily harvested.

Try swapping the new 78 into the old guitar and see what happens. while I'm sure there is a remote possibility you got a defective new pup- I highly doubt it coming out of the custom shop.

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: SD Custom model '78

My understanding is that cedar is oily and has to be sealed right to use for a guitar. On it's own it might not be bad, but once it's treated and painted the sound is probably not at all what it started with.

 

[gonogotoday]

Re: SD Custom model '78

Wood has a major effect on tone. I don't recall having played any cedar instruments but it wouldn;t surprise me as being a poor tonewood otherwise you'd see alot of it around, as cedar is very common, and easily harvested.

Try swapping the new 78 into the old guitar and see what happens. while I'm sure there is a remote possibility you got a defective new pup- I highly doubt it coming out of the custom shop.

Yea I was just about to do that, when I wrote, I just did it, and the conclusion
is that its the guitar that sound svery very different, hard to match an
humbucker to that guitar. The sound of that guitar is very hi freq spyke sort of
I never tought the difference in wood would affect that much, going to put
back SD JB in that cedar guitar.
Thanks for answering
regards

 

[Mr 9finger]

Re: SD Custom model '78

They use Ceder a lot in acoustic guitar tops. It's such a light and soft wood, that I don't see it working out to well for a solid body guitar unless it was a jazz box or semi hollow guitar.

I remember working on the line at the saw mill. All of us guys on the stacking/sorting line loved the red and white Ceder days. You could 1 hand a 16 foot plank on to the sorting stacks. Maple, hard Ash, and Oak were a completely different story. Those were the days you worked for your money.

 

[IanBallard]

Re: SD Custom model '78

FWIW, that pickup was designed for a hard ash body/maple neck bolt-on guitar (bright and spanky) and will sound best in something like that.

Although I'd love to try different mags in a '78 if I could ever afford one.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: SD Custom model '78

yeah the culprit is your cedar body

whoever did that needs to do some homework on what guitars are usually made of...

 

[flieger67]

Re: SD Custom model '78

Are you certain that your second guitar body is cedar? That's really unusual to see in a Fender-style solidbody. I don't know that I've ever seen a solidbody made from cedar.

Regardless, I think the other respondents have pretty much answered your question in that tone is affected by the type of wood chosen for the body, among many other variables.

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: SD Custom model '78

They make pine bodies, which are supposedly awesome, so I don't know why cedar couldn't work, aside from the oily thing.

I don't know that to be fact, I was researching alt wood stave shell drums and came across that somewhere. Supposedly it's an awesome drum wood btw.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: SD Custom model '78

Are you certain that your second guitar body is cedar? That's really unusual to see in a Fender-style solidbody. I don't know that I've ever seen a solidbody made from cedar.

Regardless, I think the other respondents have pretty much answered your question in that tone is affected by the type of wood chosen for the body, among many other variables.

IIRC, my vintage mod is cedar.

it is:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TeleSVMSSHOWT/

 

[uOpt]

Re: SD Custom model '78

No, all guitars are the same. Pickup and electronics make all the sound. Don't you read magazines?