I want growl outta my CV, what pup and where?

[hugo]

Ok,

Instead of asking 27 questions, I'll come to the point. I have a CV and would like to make that guitar growl, you know like EMG or P90 and was wondering if that's the pup I need or can someone suggest one that would achieve that ballsy sound??

[Telenator]

Classic Vibe and Growl are kinda different ends of the spectrum.

Have you thought about a different guitar?

Something humbuckers?

[hugo]

Hey Telenator,

I want to mod the CV and was looking to put a humbucker in the neck since it's routed for one already, correct??? Thanks for helping out.

[Telenator]

I guess what I'm trying to say is, you'd probably be better off selling the CV and just buying the right guitar to begin with.

You can get new pickups that will have more "growl" but that doesn't necessarily mean you'll like the sound.

If you walk into a music store and play 30 guitars or more til you find one that just does eveything right for you, then that's the one you should own.

Modding guitars can be fun but it can also be a misleading, downward slope where a person continues to mod their guitar right to the point where they just sell it because they don't like it anymore.

I'm a "recovered modder" who tends to feel that if you have a guitar and it doesn't sound right, then you bought the wrong guitar. In my experience modding is real crap shoot with varying degrees of success and failure. I have found my time is better spent practicing or scratch building new guitars. But then, I'm all like, old and stuff so what do I know?

And if you must mod, then yes, a humbucker will have more growl.

[Chrismo]

Originally Posted by hugo

Ok,

Instead of asking 27 questions, I'll come to the point. I have a CV and would like to make that guitar growl, you know like EMG or P90 and was wondering if that's the pup I need or can someone suggest one that would achieve that ballsy sound??

EMG makes a pickup set designed for teles. Not sure if that will be the tone you're aiming for or not; I've heard they are very bright.

I've heard that the Harmonic Designs Super 90 has quite a growl on it, it's sort of a p90 blended with a tele sound. The Dirty Harry from Rio Grande might work as well, though I've never heard much about it. Similar concept.

It all really depends on how much money you're looking to put into it. As previously stated, you might want to aim for another guitar with humbuckers, but if you dig the guitar you've got you certainly can make it work for you.

GFS makes some great pickups at low prices (plus cheap pickguards if you need a new neck-pickup opening). Maybe something like a Fat Mini in the neck to keep a twangy sort of tone in the neck, with more "balls" (designed to have a bit of a punch like a p90). In the bridge maybe a Lil' Puncher or Fat Body 10K Overwound bridge.

[chris klein]

Try a google search for Tele sized P90. There are plenty of them out there.

Chris Klein

[newtwanger]

OK, one of my Teles has "growl" in spades, but it'll cost you because Teles mother tongue is twang not growl.

Ingredients:

1 EMG RT in the bridge position.
1 EMG 85 Humbucker in the neck.
1 EMG SPC controller to crank up the growl.
Wired to your standard 3 way switch,
position 1 with SPC off gives you Tele Twang.
position 1 with SPC on gives you overdriven Stratified Twang.
position 3 with SPC off gives you Hard Rock clean.
position 3 with SPC on gives you Hard Rock a la AC/DC & Sabbath.
position 2 is basically the same as 3 since the 'bucker mostly drowns out the bridge.

Plays better than an SG, allows you to pretend you're John 5 for a while.

[tele salivas]

GFS Mini Humbucker in the neck, I play real clean most of the time, but just to see what the mini could do I was srewing around with it with the guitar tone set around 3-4 , vol at 9 (on the guitar)....on the TWIN reverb I had all tone contols up to 10, vol 's at 3 and the sucker was growling without any distortion pedals, I went back to my usual bridge position everything on guitar at 8-9 and was back to bright Don Rich twang, I love the mini, very versatile, looks cool too(I have a Black Fender std., telecaster but it looks just like mudbean's Hot Rod now)

[musicmatty]

{"If you walk into a music store and play 30 guitars or more til you find one that just does eveything right for you, then that's the one you should own." Quote fromTelenator}


I couldn't disagree more. Good luck on trying to find such a guitar that isn't custom made to ones personal taste. I would venture to say, that most of us buy the guitar on it's looks and how if feels in our hands and how well it plays. As for the sound, their are endless pups available to give a new voice to your guitar along with saddles of your choice.

[e-merlin]

Hugo, have you tried a DiMarzio PRE-B1. It's got less twang and more growl than a "normal" Tele pickup, but it's still Tele sounding.

What amp are you using? It might be more the amp than the guitar. I know one reason I use Peavey amps is that a Fender just won't do it.

[GhostRider]

Where is hugo anyway? He hasn't posted in a few days...

[basher]

CV tele + OCD + AC30 model on my Valvetronix growls pretty well.

[Parma_TeleMon]

Try a DiMarzio Tone Zone T - all the growl, none of the noise. I use the old Gibson-style treble bypass and the TZT cleans up well enough for surf with just a roll off of the volume knob.