Natman
New member
Hey guys, I have a really nice partscaster that is causing me grief. I don't really know if it's a pickup problem or a (bridge) setup problem. Hope you can help:
Guitar has an alder Fender AVRI body from 2000 with Callaham vintage trem. The neck is USACG ebony on mahogany, 6100 frets FWIW. Pickups are Kerry Learned 50's style using real NOS wire from the 50's.
The problem I'm having is that the low E in particular sounds dead and lifeless. Even acoustically it's not very strong. All the other strings sound fine and overall the axe has great tone! Just that low E is missing from the equation. It's like it's not even there; volume is low, tone is dull, little sustain (compared to other strings). It's my first experience with 50 style singles. Previously I always had (at least somewhat) overwound pickups in my strats. This is the first time I can't get a nice juicy SRV style "boing" from the wound strings.
I have assembled about 6-7 guitars in my day and in my experience, good parts = good guitar. Now having said that trems can be tough to set up. I am not a setup expert, just self-taught and this is my first 6-screw trem. Do you think this is because of the low output 50's pickups or a setup/hardware issue? Could it be the wood? What remedy could I try?
I really dig this guitar but need it to perform up to a certain standard or else it's not worth keeping around just for looks!
Thanks very much
Guitar has an alder Fender AVRI body from 2000 with Callaham vintage trem. The neck is USACG ebony on mahogany, 6100 frets FWIW. Pickups are Kerry Learned 50's style using real NOS wire from the 50's.
The problem I'm having is that the low E in particular sounds dead and lifeless. Even acoustically it's not very strong. All the other strings sound fine and overall the axe has great tone! Just that low E is missing from the equation. It's like it's not even there; volume is low, tone is dull, little sustain (compared to other strings). It's my first experience with 50 style singles. Previously I always had (at least somewhat) overwound pickups in my strats. This is the first time I can't get a nice juicy SRV style "boing" from the wound strings.
I have assembled about 6-7 guitars in my day and in my experience, good parts = good guitar. Now having said that trems can be tough to set up. I am not a setup expert, just self-taught and this is my first 6-screw trem. Do you think this is because of the low output 50's pickups or a setup/hardware issue? Could it be the wood? What remedy could I try?
I really dig this guitar but need it to perform up to a certain standard or else it's not worth keeping around just for looks!
Thanks very much
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