LIV
Active topics
  1. Originally posted by Alex:[..]

    Sorry, but I'd guess Mr. Page either fell for some kind of self- induced voodoo mojo placebo effect or the pickup covers from the good old days of rock and roll were made of inferior metal.

    Keep in mind that guitar players and HiFi fanatics believe in almost anything that's said to improve the sound. There's a gazillion topics about overpriced sound gizmos and electronical wizardry that no one really needs.

    I saw Page and Plant live on the Clarksdale tour, and though I hate to say so - the guitar sounded awful. In fact everything sounded awful, and all that was audible consisted of an overloud bass drum, screaming vocals and a mumbling layer of sound mud.

    Alex


    Live sound is naver really that good...anyway, it could be that he was just experimenting to see if it made a difference...or just to change the looks...I don't know. I am actually just commenting...I am no guitar player. Maybe we can find a blindfol test on this issue...that would be interesting.

  2. It'd surely be.

    But there was another question that hasn't been answered yet. Wait for the bump.

    Alex
  3. Bump

    Originally posted by Alex:Right now I'm collecting parts to assemble another strat. When it's finished it's supposed to have a different sound character than the one I already own.

    The one I have (transblue): Highway1 rosewood neck with jumbo frets, light ash body, 2-point tremolo
    The one I'm gonna assemble (honey blonde): Squier Deluxe maple neck, basswood body, 2-point tremolo

    I own a set of Robert Cray pickups (same as Texas specials). Two of them are right now installed in neck and mid position of my blue strat, accompanied by a SD Little59. But I also like the raw over- the top- wound modern power rock pickups of the current Highway strats. Since an ash body scoops mids while basswood pronounces it - what set would you suggest to put in which guitar? The highway pickups are very mid- pronounced while the Texas specials can get a little ear- piercing with lots of gain.

    I'm also thinking about giving the Texas pickups an extra switch for a mid- and bridge- in series- sound. Has anyone of you ever tried that? And does it sound more humbucker- like? In theory, it should sound like a widely oversized humbucker.

    Thanks for answering

    Alex


  4. Originally posted by Alex:Right now I'm collecting parts to assemble another strat. When it's finished it's supposed to have a different sound character than the one I already own.

    The one I have (transblue): Highway1 rosewood neck with jumbo frets, light ash body, 2-point tremolo
    The one I'm gonna assemble (honey blonde): Squier Deluxe maple neck, basswood body, 2-point tremolo

    I own a set of Robert Cray pickups (same as Texas specials). Two of them are right now installed in neck and mid position of my blue strat, accompanied by a SD Little59. But I also like the raw over- the top- wound modern power rock pickups of the current Highway strats. Since an ash body scoops mids while basswood pronounces it - what set would you suggest to put in which guitar? The highway pickups are very mid- pronounced while the Texas specials can get a little ear- piercing with lots of gain.

    I'm also thinking about giving the Texas pickups an extra switch for a mid- and bridge- in series- sound. Has anyone of you ever tried that? And does it sound more humbucker- like? In theory, it should sound like a widely oversized humbucker.

    Thanks for answering

    Alex
    'm sorry I can't give a decent answer, my knowledge about pickups tends to zero But as you say, theorically that in-serie-connected double pickups shall sound like a humbucker. Nevertheless I would be seriously worried about the possible humming and feedback, you'd better be careful while setting up the pickups or that would sound like a plane taking off

    PS. You rock a lot. You are assembling another Strat from parts? OMG
  5. Technically speaking, if I wire together two normal single coils the single hums double up. But most strats use RW/RP middle pickups which are reversely wound and reversely polarized. Now if I wire a normal single coil together with an RW/RP one the two single hums nullify each other, no matter if in parallel (strat switch positions 2 and 4) or in series (that's how they invented humbuckers). But of course I must be careful not to wire anything out-of-phase which would result in a thin and useless sound. Thankfully there are a lot of guitar wiring diagrams on the internet. A series / parallel switch is often labeled as "useful", and the Fender American Deluxe strat has even got a stock switch for this. I just can't get any decent sound files and I'm curious if it could serve as a substitute for a "real" humbucker. If not I might just wire one of the strats SSH.

    I posted it before: There's no wizardry in assembling a strat, it's almost like assembling IKEA furniture plus a little soldering. The trickiest part is the setup. But I really love doing all that stuff myself. If I bought a preassembled strat I'd most likely want to change pickups, pickguard, etc., so I'd have to deassembe and reassemble it anyway. On a partsocaster I can choose the parts I want to have right from the beginning; a preassembled strat has got most likely the wrong colour, the wrong pickups, etc.

    Self assembling doesn't save a whole lot of money. Anyone can buy a chinese strat copy for 50EUR on ebay, and there's no way you could do it yourself that cheap. That's what you'd have to pay for decent potis, switch and tuners alone. You can get as good deals on guitars as on guitar parts. And if you go to warmoth.com you can easily spend a fortune on a neck alone.

    Alex
  6. Originally posted by Alex:Technically speaking, if I wire together two normal single coils the single hums double up. But most strats use RW/RP middle pickups which are reversely wound and reversely polarized. Now if I wire a normal single coil together with an RW/RP one the two single hums nullify each other, no matter if in parallel (strat switch positions 2 and 4) or in series (that's how they invented humbuckers). But of course I must be careful not to wire anything out-of-phase which would result in a thin and useless sound. Thankfully there are a lot of guitar wiring diagrams on the internet. A series / parallel switch is often labeled as "useful", and the Fender American Deluxe strat has even got a stock switch for this. I just can't get any decent sound files and I'm curious if it could serve as a substitute for a "real" humbucker. If not I might just wire one of the strats SSH.
    OK, if you are sure go ahead!! I just pointed the risks of out-phase and humming problems, but I see you're aware
    I posted it before: There's no wizardry in assembling a strat, it's almost like assembling IKEA furniture plus a little soldering. The trickiest part is the setup. But I really love doing all that stuff myself. If I bought a preassembled strat I'd most likely want to change pickups, pickguard, etc., so I'd have to deassembe and reassemble it anyway. On a partsocaster I can choose the parts I want to have right from the beginning; a preassembled strat has got most likely the wrong colour, the wrong pickups, etc.
    Alright, I might try it when I have the money, even though i will probably have to ask for some help with the hardware setup, cables, connections and so... Anyway I'd love to be as proficient and bold as you are, man... I'm really jealous
  7. Originally posted by anstratdubh1979:Nope. There are not Christmas dates. I think the REDWIRE video was for REDWIRE and not meant so much as a U2 song or U2 rendering of a Greg Lake song.

    Well, you say that, but think Lovetown as a major example (albeit 18 years on) and Vertigo as another - they were playing all the way up to the 19th of December that time around. I don't think I was ever seriously expecting them to play it live, but if would be interesting if they did...either way, it's just nice to see some material out now.



    On an unrelated note, any tips on getting feedback? I mean, Beautiful Day - how does Edge get that big whine before kicking into the chords for the chorus? And he does something similar on Vertigo, but I've never been able to work out how one a) gets feedback and b) controls it in that way.
  8. Originally posted by WojBhoy:On an unrelated note, any tips on getting feedback? I mean, Beautiful Day - how does Edge get that big whine before kicking into the chords for the chorus? And he does something similar on Vertigo, but I've never been able to work out how one a) gets feedback and b) controls it in that way.
    He's Mr. The Edge, man. Anything else to say?
  9. Bing! Thank you.

    Your question leads us to another possible reason for someone taking the covers off his pickups.

    Feedback generally comes from an electric guitar that's held close to it's own amp. The more volume and distortion you use the more feedback you get.

    But there are two different kinds of feedback. One is the unwanted microphonic feedback which sounds awfully squeaky and comes either from hollow- body guitars or from unwaxed or badly waxed pickups and / or pickup covers. By removing these covers you could reduce microphonic feedback. Since Jimmy Page was well known for volume and distortion this could make perfect sense for him. If you get unwanted microphonic feedback because of your guitars hollow- body you'll have no other choice than to either accept it or to reduce gain and volume.

    The other kind of feedback is the harmonic feedback which is desired in a lot of settings. You just take a solid- body electric guitar, play a note, turn up amp volume and distortion and move the axe close to the amp. By carefully turning the guitar's volume knob up or down you can keep some control.

    Don't try this at home... your neighbors will be thankful.

    Alex
  10. Originally posted by Alex:The other kind of feedback is the harmonic feedback which is desired in a lot of settings. You just take a solid- body electric guitar, play a note, turn up amp volume and distortion and move the axe close to the amp. By carefully turning the guitar's volume knob up or down you can keep some control.
    Why does it work ONLY with solid-body guitars and not with hollow ones?
  11. Because an acoustic guitar is more likely to have its body vibrating than its strings. I haven't tried semi- hollows (ES335) yet.

    About feedback:

    http://www.audiomasterclass.com/arc.cfm?a=does-your-electric-guitar-suffer-from-feedback-should-your-pickups-be-potted

    http://www.guitarsite.com/newsletters/011001/7.shtml

    http://www.answerbag.com/articles/How-to-Use-Electric-Guitar-Feedback/239ffd36-59d4-ba84-8ff3-d0bf6fe38f8b

    http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~shane/rockguitarworld/lessons/feedback.html

    Peace and Love

    Alex
  12. Sergio mate, I know Edge is a hero and all that, but I didn't mean "control it LIKE Edge", I just meant as in control feedback at all lol
    Originally posted by Alex:Bing! Thank you.

    Your question leads us to another possible reason for someone taking the covers off his pickups.

    Feedback generally comes from an electric guitar that's held close to it's own amp. The more volume and distortion you use the more feedback you get.

    But there are two different kinds of feedback. One is the unwanted microphonic feedback which sounds awfully squeaky and comes either from hollow- body guitars or from unwaxed or badly waxed pickups and / or pickup covers. By removing these covers you could reduce microphonic feedback. Since Jimmy Page was well known for volume and distortion this could make perfect sense for him. If you get unwanted microphonic feedback because of your guitars hollow- body you'll have no other choice than to either accept it or to reduce gain and volume.

    The other kind of feedback is the harmonic feedback which is desired in a lot of settings. You just take a solid- body electric guitar, play a note, turn up amp volume and distortion and move the axe close to the amp. By carefully turning the guitar's volume knob up or down you can keep some control.

    Don't try this at home... your neighbors will be thankful.

    Alex

    Aha, cheers man! Wasn't expecting an answer quite that in-depth and quickly, but very much appreciated. I sure won't be trying it at home at the moment though, I can imagine my flatemates and friends in the flats around me would probably set up a lynch mob and come to my door complete with pitchforks, burning torches and the hangman's noose...

    ...the only time I've ever got microphonic feedback has been when I've been running my semi-acoustic through the amp, and I'm guessing because it's similar in some ways to a hollow body, just without a genuine pickup lol? I remember reading somewhere about the Beatles being one of the first to utilise feedback in their music - anyone know anything about that? I can't confess to being anything like an officionado on Lennon, McCartney et al, but I know they were partly responsible for getting Epiphone Casinos the popularity they have nowadays, and what with Casinos being hollowbodies, is there anything to be read into that?
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.