Brent Mason Setup

bcbeak · June 9th, 2003, 10:47 AM

I'm thinking of modifying one of my Teles to a three pickup setup with a middle pup blend ala Brent Mason.

Has anyone tried this? Please give me your feedback.
Are you satisfied with the tone .. and was it close to that of Mr. Mason? What pickups did you use? I think that his guitar has: Gibson mini bucker, Strat Hot Stack, S/D Vintage Tele .. but please correct me if wrong. Also, any
suggestions on how to do the routing?

Also, does anyone know where can I find the schematics for the blend pot setup.

JohnK24 · June 9th, 2003, 11:20 AM

for the blender pot.

I believe Brent is using the Hot Stack bridge pup since he switched from the 5/2 Nashville Studio pup.

That's a killer guitar...love his playing.

Yeah, suggestions on routing dimensions would be nice. I'm thinking about doing the "Nashville" conversion to my MIM Tele Standard.

Good luck,

JK

Darrell · June 9th, 2003, 12:22 PM

I took a regular MIM (which I traded a strat for).

Had my tech rout it for mid pup using a standard strat routing template. He cut the pickguard as well and install at used Hot Stack that I got off ebay. (used a nice drill press) He hooked the blender up as well. I had a SD Broadcaster in the bridge.

I end up running the mid pu as a single coil for a while. Then ran it as a full stack for a while.

Personally, I am no Brent Mason, but I didn't think I was even reasonably close to getting his sound. The Hot Stack only added "fat" sound to the Broadcaster, with a touch of strat sound.

So after a lot of research in the past year, I learned that the Classic Stack is made of Alnico II. So I traded my Hot stack to a guy who had a Classic Stack. I set it up to run as a single coil (because that is what I heard Brent does)

Wow, huge difference. Now I can increase the treble response on the Broadcaster to get that honky tonk sound on the lower strings, or turn up the mid pu with Alnico II to get the compressy lead thing goin.

Once again, I am no Brent Mason, but I can fool ya for a few licks now.

Butch Snyder · June 9th, 2003, 12:52 PM

Brent's setup is as follows:

1968 alder-body Tele. His bridge is a Joe Glaser American standard chrome-coated brass bridge with six steel saddles and a B-Bender in there. His pickups are:

Bridge - Duncan Vintage Stack
Middle - older model Duncan Hot Strat stack (the red one).
Neck - Gibson mini-humbucker.

The blender pot is actually a volume pot for the middle pickup. This setup is fairly easy to reproduce; though I don't know why anyone really would. Brent only uses the bridge pickup on that guitar and blends the middle pickup with it to take off the edginess of the bridge pickup. If he has a situation that calls for a neck pickup, he'll either go to a Strat or an ES-335. His Tele used to be his one guitar that did it all. It had to; it was all he had.

If you want 3 pickups in your Tele, that's fine. Heck, if you want a humbucker in the neck, that's cool too. I like a Strat neck pickup; so that's what I put in the neck of mine. I have a pair of Duncan Alnico II Pro flats in the neck and bridge of my Nash B-Bender Tele. I'm putting a mini-humbucker ine the neck position of my Thinline.

I mean absolutely no disrespect to any of the other guys here. They're all good suggestions from great guys.

Cheers,

Darrell · June 9th, 2003, 01:01 PM

That's right. I did not go as far to put a bucker in for the western swing chops.

And the Hot Stack works fine for Brent. But to my ears, the Classic worked better for me...probably because I don't have a 5/2.

Darrell · June 9th, 2003, 01:06 PM

You could just buy a 5/2 bridge, and a compressor, and be quite satisfied.

Butch Snyder · June 9th, 2003, 01:21 PM

Yep, you're right...

I talked with Evan Skopp, Seymour Duncan VP, at length, about Brent's setup. It seems that Brent really liked the vintage type Tele pickups and also favored the Alnico II Pro but thought the low strings were too mushy. That's when He, Joe Glaser, and Seymour got together and came out with the Nashville Studio pickup. It's now called the Five-Two model. He used that pickup on his Hotlicks video and up until about 1998. He then switched over to the Vintage Stack due to the hum-cancelling aspect.

Darrell's right, you could install a 5/2 and be done. You could also install a Vintage Stack, JD, Alnico II Pro, Vintage '54, Twang King, Broadcaster, etc. really any vintage type of pickup will do. You have to remember that about 90% of Brent's tone is in his right hand. The other 10% is in his gear with pickups being a small part...

Cheers,

Darrell · June 9th, 2003, 01:29 PM

The blender pot is a novelty, with some utility at best, for folks like me that have to work a little harder to get his sound. The reason I say that it if you watch him play, he rarely ever touches the blender pot, which means it is not the primary function of his sound.

Brent could make an acoustic honky if he wanted. It has everything to do with your attack. It think SD pu's will get you LITTLE closer...but that's it.

John Furphy · June 9th, 2003, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Butch Snyder

Brent's setup is as follows:

Brent only uses the bridge pickup on that guitar and blends the middle pickup with it to take off the edginess of the bridge pickup. .

Cheers,

I've got a tape of Brent playing on TNN with the New Nashville Cats (with Mark O'Conner) and on the tape he does use the neck mini-humbucker. He does a killing George Benson style solo on the song (I think it's called Bow Tie). His solo is so good the audience claps mid song. THe guitar had a whammy bar on it at the time. This was about 10 years ago so I can't speak for what he's doing now, but I imagine Butch is right, that for all hot solo's he puts on records he's just using the bridge. I wish he'd do another instruction video, since TNN started showing Dallas re-runs you don't see any more good country picking.

Smokin OP · June 9th, 2003, 10:51 PM

Really, I'm not kidding. I just put a Duncan 5/2 in my Tele yesterday & love it. But my wife & my son came in the room while I was playing & neither said I sound like Brent. Of course, they don't know who he is anyway. :D

OP

June 9th, 2003, 10:47 AM	#1 (permalink)
bcbeak Tele-Meister Join Date: May 2003 Location: Newburyport, MA Posts: 195 6 Photos	Brent Mason Setup I'm thinking of modifying one of my Teles to a three pickup setup with a middle pup blend ala Brent Mason. Has anyone tried this? Please give me your feedback. Are you satisfied with the tone .. and was it close to that of Mr. Mason? What pickups did you use? I think that his guitar has: Gibson mini bucker, Strat Hot Stack, S/D Vintage Tele .. but please correct me if wrong. Also, any suggestions on how to do the routing? Also, does anyone know where can I find the schematics for the blend pot setup.

June 9th, 2003, 11:20 AM	#2 (permalink)
JohnK24 Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Saxonburg,PA Posts: 1,387	The Duncan site has the diagram for the blender pot. I believe Brent is using the Hot Stack bridge pup since he switched from the 5/2 Nashville Studio pup. That's a killer guitar...love his playing. Yeah, suggestions on routing dimensions would be nice. I'm thinking about doing the "Nashville" conversion to my MIM Tele Standard. Good luck, JK __________________ Got Twang ?!

June 9th, 2003, 12:22 PM	#3 (permalink)
Darrell Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Houston, Texas Age: 48 Posts: 2,451	I tell ya what I have and know I took a regular MIM (which I traded a strat for). Had my tech rout it for mid pup using a standard strat routing template. He cut the pickguard as well and install at used Hot Stack that I got off ebay. (used a nice drill press) He hooked the blender up as well. I had a SD Broadcaster in the bridge. I end up running the mid pu as a single coil for a while. Then ran it as a full stack for a while. Personally, I am no Brent Mason, but I didn't think I was even reasonably close to getting his sound. The Hot Stack only added "fat" sound to the Broadcaster, with a touch of strat sound. So after a lot of research in the past year, I learned that the Classic Stack is made of Alnico II. So I traded my Hot stack to a guy who had a Classic Stack. I set it up to run as a single coil (because that is what I heard Brent does) Wow, huge difference. Now I can increase the treble response on the Broadcaster to get that honky tonk sound on the lower strings, or turn up the mid pu with Alnico II to get the compressy lead thing goin. Once again, I am no Brent Mason, but I can fool ya for a few licks now.

June 9th, 2003, 12:52 PM	#4 (permalink)
Butch Snyder Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Lebanon, OH Posts: 624	Brent's setup is as follows: 1968 alder-body Tele. His bridge is a Joe Glaser American standard chrome-coated brass bridge with six steel saddles and a B-Bender in there. His pickups are: Bridge - Duncan Vintage Stack Middle - older model Duncan Hot Strat stack (the red one). Neck - Gibson mini-humbucker. The blender pot is actually a volume pot for the middle pickup. This setup is fairly easy to reproduce; though I don't know why anyone really would. Brent only uses the bridge pickup on that guitar and blends the middle pickup with it to take off the edginess of the bridge pickup. If he has a situation that calls for a neck pickup, he'll either go to a Strat or an ES-335. His Tele used to be his one guitar that did it all. It had to; it was all he had. If you want 3 pickups in your Tele, that's fine. Heck, if you want a humbucker in the neck, that's cool too. I like a Strat neck pickup; so that's what I put in the neck of mine. I have a pair of Duncan Alnico II Pro flats in the neck and bridge of my Nash B-Bender Tele. I'm putting a mini-humbucker ine the neck position of my Thinline. I mean absolutely no disrespect to any of the other guys here. They're all good suggestions from great guys. Cheers, __________________ Cheers, Butch Snyder

June 9th, 2003, 01:01 PM	#5 (permalink)
Darrell Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Houston, Texas Age: 48 Posts: 2,451	Yeap That's right. I did not go as far to put a bucker in for the western swing chops. And the Hot Stack works fine for Brent. But to my ears, the Classic worked better for me...probably because I don't have a 5/2.

June 9th, 2003, 01:06 PM	#6 (permalink)
Darrell Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Houston, Texas Age: 48 Posts: 2,451	I am pretty sure... You could just buy a 5/2 bridge, and a compressor, and be quite satisfied.

June 9th, 2003, 01:21 PM	#7 (permalink)
Butch Snyder Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Lebanon, OH Posts: 624	Yep, you're right... I talked with Evan Skopp, Seymour Duncan VP, at length, about Brent's setup. It seems that Brent really liked the vintage type Tele pickups and also favored the Alnico II Pro but thought the low strings were too mushy. That's when He, Joe Glaser, and Seymour got together and came out with the Nashville Studio pickup. It's now called the Five-Two model. He used that pickup on his Hotlicks video and up until about 1998. He then switched over to the Vintage Stack due to the hum-cancelling aspect. Darrell's right, you could install a 5/2 and be done. You could also install a Vintage Stack, JD, Alnico II Pro, Vintage '54, Twang King, Broadcaster, etc. really any vintage type of pickup will do. You have to remember that about 90% of Brent's tone is in his right hand. The other 10% is in his gear with pickups being a small part... Cheers, __________________ Cheers, Butch Snyder

June 9th, 2003, 01:29 PM	#8 (permalink)
Darrell Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Houston, Texas Age: 48 Posts: 2,451	The blender pot The blender pot is a novelty, with some utility at best, for folks like me that have to work a little harder to get his sound. The reason I say that it if you watch him play, he rarely ever touches the blender pot, which means it is not the primary function of his sound. Brent could make an acoustic honky if he wanted. It has everything to do with your attack. It think SD pu's will get you LITTLE closer...but that's it.

June 9th, 2003, 10:51 PM	#10 (permalink)
Smokin OP Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Leesburg, GA Posts: 331	I Know How to Not Sound Like Brent Really, I'm not kidding. I just put a Duncan 5/2 in my Tele yesterday & love it. But my wife & my son came in the room while I was playing & neither said I sound like Brent. Of course, they don't know who he is anyway. :D OP __________________ It's so country, it couldn't go pop with a mouthful of firecrackers.