Tonal differences between Strat and Mustang pickup locations?

[freefrog]

so, a 2n2 cap (approximating the 2.4 cited in the article) between central lug of the vol pot and ground and, voilà , the hendrix coil cable trick is served, right ?

Yes... it emulates the parasitic capacitance of 15 to 20m of straight typical guitar cable (necessarily shorter when the cable is coiled).

Now, 2.2nF is already a bit high. Not unusable but quite noticeable. The 1nF value mentioned by hamerfan and that I also use is the threshold after which stray capacitance starts to be sonically obvious with a Strat. It is therefore a good starting point IMHO...

I leave aside the question to know if a mere capacitor can mimic ALL the "parasitic properties" of guitar cables. The PRS "Sweet switch", for instance, is based on a delay line - IOW a series of inductors separated by capacitors to ground, meant to give a better approximation. But a cap still does the job IME. YMMV.

 

[marcello252]

I assume it would work with teles too, at least for bridge position

 

[freefrog]

I assume it would work with teles too, at least for bridge position

IME, it works as a potentially efficient tone shaping tool with Fender single coils and pickups exhibiting similar specs (lipsticks, TriSonic, Filter'Tron, Dynasonic). It has a less obvious effect if any (and even possibly detrimental consequences on tone) with many humbuckers.

 

[Chistopher]

I use a 2 nF capacitor on humbuckers sometimes. More for the shift in resonant peak than the low pass I guess, if I were to put it in words.

 

[Clint 55]

The OPs problem is one of the problem I am working on since 30 years. I did a lot of things mentioned here like baseplate, magnet changes, humbuckers, booster pedals, degaussing the magnets. Best solution was what I call the Hendrix solution, that means mimicking the coily cable Hendrix used.
Get a 1nF cap (or lower) and solder it hot to ground. You can also use the lower tone pot to dial it in.

30 years?! Rough! Simply move the bridge hum toward the neck. You can route a pickguard yourself or have one custom made.

 

[freefrog]

We all agree about the position of pickups as being critical, since it's what makes the difference between a bridge, mid or neck position...

But why would it be a solution OR (if not "against") the others when there are so many roads to Rome?...

For anyone who wouldn't have the patience to listen the vids shared in the post 3, here is visually the difference between a bridge humbucker then the same humbucker 5mm closer to the bridge, played again after I had routed the guitar body:



And here is now what the EQing of a Filter'Tron clone becomes with a 3,3nF cap from hot to ground (soldered in 5 mn on a push-pull tone pot) :



Sorry for the blurry screenshots: no time to refine them. People will "get the picture" anyway.

Guitars played direct to the board through a 1M input in both cases. Looks like both tricks do the job, differently.

And incidentally: with the 3,3nF cap trick, I've shared the recipe to obtain the sound of a P.A.F. clone from a Filter'Tron bridge. For the opposite shift from a hot HB to a lighter vintagey sound, I would have used a dummy coil + a resistor, giving the measured inductance and resistance of a P.A.F. PU...

SIDE NOTE - That said, increased capacitance might not be the solution required for the issue discussed in this topic: the Blue Lace Sensor being already hotter than a regular Strat PU, the "jangly" sound evoked might actually come from a too LOW pitched resonant peak, located in the high mids and aligned with an ice pick frequency of the loudspeaker(s) used. In which case the solution might be to shift UP the resonant peak, beyond the bandwidth of the cab, for a flatter response in the frequencies heard... I had to apply this idea a couple of times among the hundreds of mods done here the last decades.

FWIW.

 

[marcello252]

freefrog your knowledge in this matter is gold

 

[freefrog]

Thx for the kind words but let's not forget than one man's gold is another man's trash. ;-)

Always glad to share at least.

 

[hamerfan]

so, a 2n2 cap (approximating the 2.4 cited in the article) between central lug of the vol pot and ground and, voilà , the hendrix coil cable trick is served, right ?

Mark Foley of https://www.mfguitarproducts.com/ calculated a 4nF for the 40 inch of Hendrix's coily cable.


I don't prefer this additional cap for the middle and neck pup, they sound good as they are. With my other Strat I use the 2nd tone pot for the bridge pup with the 1nF.

 

[freefrog]

Mark Foley of https://www.mfguitarproducts.com/ calculated a 4nF for the 40 inch of Hendrix's coily cable.

Not surprising, knowing that 40ft of coily cable = much more staight wire... If memory serves me, 4 nF is also the value of the cap added from hot to ground in the Fryer treble booster for strap, in order to emulate the coily cables formerly used by Brian May...

The 2,4nF evoked by marcello252 = the value mentioned by Bill Lawrence in his "pickupology" about cables, for the record (in the third paragraph from the bottom. I've shared the related link somewhere above).

 

[marcello252]

I'm going to install a 1nF or a 1.5nF across my tele bridge PU today, I'll let you know

 

[marcello252]

Ok, tried it, it works.
I got rid of the harshness I had in this tele without compromising the sound, I connected a 1nF across the bridge PU only, even the in between position is better

thumb up

 

[Chistopher]

It's reasons like this why I use smaller cap values in my tone controls. 22 nF and 47 nF tend to be overkill on a guitar. I use 10 nF on a knob or 4.7k nF on a switch in my instruments.

 

[marcello252]

I use 10 nF on a knob

I tried it but I don't like it so much, I do prefer a darker tone sometimes, especially if I have to use with a bit more distortion the neck one, I like that 'ooouuuuuumpf' sound, for example slow soloing over an ambient canvas

 

[jeremy]

10nF is fairly subtle, but i do like it.