Anyone wanna chat guitar tone?

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by albee1952

Heh, maybe "fight" is not the right word, but most every great Tele or Strat I have played has required a bit more effort than my Les Pauls and Ibanez(all upper end) guitars. I adore my Tele that takes some extra effort as the sound is worth it. I also will always spend time without plugging in. If a guitar rings well unplugged, its going to be good and if it doesn't, then it goes back on the wall My favorite LP is one I had no intention of buying. I was in a local shop to try an amp and just grabbed the first thing with humbuckers. After 30 minutes, I realized I couldn't put the guitar down, so it had to come home with me The crowning glory to that guitar came from a chat with a friend that was teching for Neal Schon and I mentioned I was thinking about trying some other pickups. He goes into his work box and flips thru a drawer and hands me a pair and says, "This is what Neal has in his guitars. Let me know what you think". Back to the Tele as I recently changed the wiring to have stacked volume pots. Being able to back the neck off(to 6 or 7) completely changed what its capable of in the middle position

Agreed that 'fight' might not be the best of words but still if I have to put a lot of effort into getting comfortable physically with a guitar then that guitar is not for me. I like my time and work with a guitar to flow without effort. I don't care how good a guitar sounds - been playing since '66 so I've got the right to expect ease of playing from an instrument.


This is why my LP mostly sat in it's case until I got some tools from StewMac and reworked the frets and fretboard. Now it gets equal time with my Strats. Had a Tele back in the early 2000's but sold it because I couldn't comfortably play it due to a severe weight loss due to medical issues. Now I see Fender has been doing belly-cuts on some Tele's - maybe time to get back into that game.


Got to replace the pickups on that LP as the Dimarzios I have on there have become wornout and are sour sounding. Maybe a set of Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates? The reason I even have Dimarzios on there is I purchased it knowing the original pickups were toast (the store I bought it from was straight-up that it had issues). PAF in the neck and Super Distortion humbucker at the bridge.

[Darryl Ramm]

Need to get cracking on assembling two Telecasters, one with Seymour Duncan neck humbucker (uh oh a Pearly Gates... maybe I am just buying gear to chase Billy Gibbons tone after all) and a Zexcoil single coil bridge. Other with dual TV Jones Filter'Tron. 5 way series/parallel switching. Hey experiment, have fun. Both Teles use chambered modern style Warmouth bodies, just cannot handle heavy guitars. Double bound, I have a thing about double bound Telecasters.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Need to get cracking on assembling two Telecasters, one with Seymour Duncan neck humbucker (uh oh a Pearly Gates... maybe I am just buying gear to chase Billy Gibbons tone after all) and a Zexcoil single coil bridge. Other with dual TV Jones Filter'Tron. 5 way series/parallel switching. Hey experiment, have fun. Both Teles use chambered modern style Warmouth bodies, just cannot handle heavy guitars. Double bound, I have a thing about double bound Telecasters.

Did you have to do any shaping or sanding to the Warmoth bodies? I buy stuff from StewMac and they have a fair bit of work to do with their guitar bodies like body & headstock shaping and sanding and I just don't have the tools to do that anymore. Looking for a Tele body with the belly cut like Strats have.

[Darryl Ramm]

OK now we've completely trashed this thread.

These are the first Warmouth bodies I've purchased. They blew me out of the water with how nice they were. Mating up with genuine Fender "USA Made" telecaster necks (American Standard, 22 Medium Jumbo Frets) with rosewood fretboards, I prefer rosewood or similar, not lacquer/poly finished fretboards, have sticky hands.

I wanted double bound and classic Fender colors and got lazy and purchased the bodies pre-finished. The quality looks fantastic and the Fender factory necks just slide in. neck angles look good from quick tests, but obviously I need to assemble and dial it in. Did have to be careful with a custom bridge route one of these bodies (supplied the actual bridge to Warmouth to be sure).

Lots of just personal preference stuff here, real Schaller locking tuners (not Fender/Ping knock offs... Oh Fender why do you keep wanting to rush to lower quality and attack your own premium suppliers). Heavy Gotoh bridge plate for the single coil bridge Tele. 6 saddle bridges to make intonation easier. Chambered bodies for weight.

Now I was talking about these with a non-Guitar friend and he pointed out his girlfriend's father had started Lace (and I like the old Lace equipped superstrats)... so now I have to build something as well with modern Lace pickups. But got the color picked already... graffiti yellow

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Now I was talking about these with a non-Guitar friend and he pointed out his girlfriend's father had started Lace (and I like the old Lace equipped superstrats)... so now I have to build something as well with modern Lace pickups. But got the color picked already... graffiti yellow

Got Lace Sensor Golds on my Clapton Signature Strat in that 7-Up green hue. First production of the original EC Strats. Quiet as can be with a ton of mid-boost that can be dialed in via the onboard circuit Clapton wanted. Maple fretboard - no preference either way on fretboard material.

[Darryl Ramm]

Oh. I'd love one of those Strats. Anyhow just put together a parts list for a Strat build with Lace S/S/H pickups, Gotoh hardtail bridge, candy apple red, mint pickguard,... (will use graffiti yellow on a different Telecaster). Won't use a boost circuit with the humbucker bridge.. and have a thing about batteries in guitars but I know that circuit can be great, will wire the humbucker lace to split. Should probably stay on paper for now, no buying more stuff until I finish what is on the bench

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Oh. I'd love one of those Strats. Anyhow just put together a parts list for a Strat build with Lace S/S/H pickups, Gotoh hardtail bridge, candy apple red, mint pickguard,... (will use graffiti yellow on a different Telecaster). Won't use a boost circuit with the humbucker bridge.. and have a thing about batteries in guitars but I know that circuit can be great, will wire the humbucker lace to split. Should probably stay on paper for now, no buying more stuff until I finish what is on the bench

Changing the battery in the EC Strat is super simple - remove the trem spring cover plate on the back and it's right there. For those that don't know Eric's Strats had a regular tremolo bridge but were blocked with a wedge of wood between the trem block and body edge underneath the trem spring cover. And I have the original wood wedge in use. Only work I've had done was a $400 refret about a decade back.

[Darryl Ramm]

To me it's not just changing the battery, it's finding the damn thing has leaked, or are flat and you don't have a replacement, etc. Yes a reflection on the user more than the guitar BTW I've looked for your Strat in the past on Reverb etc. in that green, been close to buying. One on there now.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

To me it's not just changing the battery, it's finding the damn thing has leaked, or are flat and you don't have a replacement, etc. Yes a reflection on the user more than the guitar BTW I've looked for your Strat in the past on Reverb etc. in that green, been close to buying. One on there now.

That could be a problem. I change my strings at least once a year and by virtue of that I have to remove that cover so I know the state of said battery. Battery gets changed at the same time. It may be odd for some but I believe in periodic maintenance of all my equipment especially guitars.


From what I understand this particular green was a rare bird.

[albee1952]

Guitar maintenance.....there is no escape Either you learn how to do it, or you spend lots of money to pay someone else. Glad we have stewmac and the like for parts and tools. Love those 2 tele colors! I'll stick with stock neck pickups though. I added the middle strat pickup to one of mine. I am a fan of the Pearly Gates pickup as well as the DiMarzio PAF. On a tight budget, stewmac's Golden Age Parsons Street are quite nice. All this talk has shamed me into going and finishing the wiring on one of my Les Paul's