Thin sounding strat... What to do?

[Chriss945]

So I had a gig tonight, which I used the strat for the first set of. I tweaked the pickups up a bit, and I went in to the low gain input on the amp, partly because it was quite a quiet gig. So without using a compressor and keeping the treble down, I managed to get a fatter sound. It was actually a very good sound, my only issue is that it has a .022 cap, and I normally use .050's so I couldn't get the same roll off I'd normally like. Apart from my solo pedal being set very wrong, it was a good tone. A bit more experimenting to come, but I think it's getting there.

It's funny, this strat used to be my number one guitar, and I loved it! Now I just can't get into it as much as my tele, because I use the tele for everything and it's easy to play!

 

[brookdalebill]

You could get a Gretsch with TV Jones pickups.
That's my solution.

 

[gitapik]

Set up your pedals to sound how you like with the Tele.

Then use the MXR Micro Amp only when you are using the Strat.

Cool. Would that work with my LP?

 

[telemnemonics]

So I had a gig tonight, which I used the strat for the first set of. I tweaked the pickups up a bit, and I went in to the low gain input on the amp, partly because it was quite a quiet gig. So without using a compressor and keeping the treble down, I managed to get a fatter sound. It was actually a very good sound, my only issue is that it has a .022 cap, and I normally use .050's so I couldn't get the same roll off I'd normally like. Apart from my solo pedal being set very wrong, it was a good tone. A bit more experimenting to come, but I think it's getting there.

It's funny, this strat used to be my number one guitar, and I loved it! Now I just can't get into it as much as my tele, because I use the tele for everything and it's easy to play!

Cool that pickup adjustment helped.

When I still liked Strats, back around '92 IIRC I used a BK Butler Tube Driver to give the Strat a little more body without making it sound like a different guitar, or resorting to hot pickups.
The Tube Driver is pricey and big, but it's a major part of EJs sound and is not duplicated in any 9v SS device, just a thought.
Butler is making them again/ still, and they are pretty easy to sell used if you get one and find it not to your liking.

 

[Chriss945]

Cool that pickup adjustment helped.



When I still liked Strats, back around '92 IIRC I used a BK Butler Tube Driver to give the Strat a little more body without making it sound like a different guitar, or resorting to hot pickups.

The Tube Driver is pricey and big, but it's a major part of EJs sound and is not duplicated in any 9v SS device, just a thought.

Butler is making them again/ still, and they are pretty easy to sell used if you get one and find it not to your liking.

I have been on the lookout for one in the past, as I've always been a fan of BK Butlers stuff! Maybe I'll start looking again!

 

[Chriss945]

This is the guitar in question, for anyone interested.



This is how high I settled with the pickups, theres definitely a lot more girth to be had in these pickups, I'm going to keep experimenting!

 

[Chriss945]

 

[telemnemonics]

This is the guitar in question, for anyone interested.

View attachment 296443

This is how high I settled with the pickups, theres definitely a lot more girth to be had in these pickups, I'm going to keep experimenting!

That looks similar to how I set Strat pups, but I probably angle the neck pup even more to reduce the bass output of the pickup, which allows me to turn up the bass on the amp a bit more, which oddly enough adds some beef to the high end AFAIK.
I still don't turn up the bass on the amp very far, but if the bass side of the pickups is too high I have to cut the bass at the amp even more to prevent mush.

(There is a point where the bridge pup is too close to the high E and makes that string shrill and louder than the others, as well as possible warbling on the low strings, but only if the bass side of the pups is too high.)

You can experiment on just the neck pup by raising the bass side too high, cutting the bass at the amp way down 'till there's no flub, and then listening to the high end on the bridge pup. It should sound worse, but just to get a feeling for the balancing options.

Then just turn up the bass on the amp and see if it adds some subtle girth to the high end.
If more bass on the amp helps the high end, you can lower the bass side of the pups quite a bit to work with the higher bass setting on the amp.
A subtle balancing act.


I probably spent more time dialing in amps and pickup height with Marshalls, and a Fender amp has it's own tone stack and bass issues, but it might help.

 

[Chriss945]

Took my treble bleed out today. Fattened the guitar up a lot. A lot a lot. Turns out this guitar was running a 1000pf cap and a 10k resistor in parallel. Interestingly the sound wasn't particularly shrill when taking the volume down. When I had a 1000pf in the tele, that came out almost as fast as it was to turn the volume pot all the way down.

Another gig tonight without the treble bleed. Will see how I go!

 

[Davo17]

Took my treble bleed out today. Fattened the guitar up a lot. A lot a lot. Turns out this guitar was running a 1000pf cap and a 10k resistor in parallel. Interestingly the sound wasn't particularly shrill when taking the volume down. When I had a 1000pf in the tele, that came out almost as fast as it was to turn the volume pot all the way down.

Another gig tonight without the treble bleed. Will see how I go!

Sounds like its turning out ok, another cheap thing to try would be using the boost to set your amp input volume and set your guitars volume to 7 or 8. You can also try using eq (even from your od pedal set to a clean boost) and see how that sounds. Also cables of various lengths. And of course the tone controls.

 

[alnicopu]

Is this true (rhetorically, he asks)? I've tried to get back into strats, after selling mine a few years back. Recently I've been playing a telecaster deluxe and other telecaster variants and just can't seem to find the sweet spot on a strat since. I WANT to love them, but just can't seem to make it happen...

Funny. As this is exactly what I thought of my teles. Hot pickups, vintage pickups, noiseless pickups, ceramics. Raise them up, whatever. It was always more of a thin sounding one trick pony. I have a beater, 300.00 highway 1 Strat with alnico 3's that pretty much covers it all. The only thin lifeless Strat I have ever owned was a hardtail or one with way low adjusted pickups. And I always wanted to LOVE a tele.

For a thicker sound just move your picking hand up closer to the neck. Thinner, pick near the bridge. It makes a heck of a lot more difference than doing that on a tele to me. Most of the tone is in the player. I play sax also and it's the same way. Play with your airway pinched up and it sounds like a toy (or Kenny G.) Open up your throat, tilt your head down a bit and your Clarence Clements (minus the 300.00 steel mouthpiece.).

 

[Ian T]

If your sound is plinky than it sounds to me your action is too low. If your strings are choking you won't get a good sound out of a strat.

There are thousands of great players across the globe who plug a strat straight into a tube amp and get awesome tone. There is a reason the guitar is so popular. You don't need pedals to make it sound good.

Maybe the strat just isn't for you. If you like humbuckers than play a Gibson or PRS. It's kind of silly to pick that guitar if you don't like it's basic character and then waste effort in a failed attempt to make it sound like something it's not.

 

[Chriss945]

If your sound is plinky than it sounds to me your action is too low. If your strings are choking you won't get a good sound out of a strat.



There are thousands of great players across the globe who plug a strat straight into a tube amp and get awesome tone. There is a reason the guitar is so popular. You don't need pedals to make it sound good.



Maybe the strat just isn't for you. If you like humbuckers than play a Gibson or PRS. It's kind of silly to pick that guitar if you don't like it's basic character and then waste effort in a failed attempt to make it sound like something it's not.

Action definitely not too low, I like high action! I don't like humbuckers at all, I have one in the neck of my tele but I mostly use it split!

I have had this strat for the longest out of all my guitars, and I've never had any tone issues with it at all, until the gig in question. However I have come to the conclusion that it must have been that room, maybe the electrics in that room, but the amp had no drive to it, no power behind it! Every gig I have done since, has been great. And last night, I couldn't fault that strat. For the entire 4 hours, it sounded incredible, and I was even complimented by a bass player on my tone. A bass player!

The plinky sound must have been an anomaly. I was concerned however because I've never had this issue before with this strat!

 

[Chicago Slim]

Three things I used to do, before I switched to split-able humbuckers:

1. I know you already did this - move the Tone control to the bridge pickup.

2. Swap the lead for the Neck and Middle pickup, at the switch. That way I could do Bridge & Neck, or Neck & Middle pickups, together.

3. Replace Middy sounding Celestion speaker, with an Eminence, for better bottom end.


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[Pepi]

Only Strat I like is the Super Strat. HSS

 

[Zepfan]

Back in the 70's, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton said that the Strat was the hardest guitar to dial in the sweet spot. I never could get the bridge pup or neck pup right on mine til I put HB's in.

 

[teleplayr]

You might consider getting a graphic EQ pedal to add to your board. Set it to whatever sound you like for the Strat and turn it off when you switch back to your Tele.

It would be a lot cheaper than going through the gamut of swapping pickups out.

 

[tele12]

Cool. Would that work with my LP?

Should work great.

From the manufacturer:

"Perfect for switching between guitars with unmatched output"

(link removed)

 

[Rublalup]

I'm a recently tele converted. And I can tell you that you can't compare teles to strats... They're just different kind of beasts . You can sure make your strat more beefy... I did:

Change bridge and block
Put singlecoil sized Humbuckers

And even when my tele got stock somglecoils it sounds fuller, punchier and beefier (not hat the strat sounds bad... Sounds great by the way)

But you gotta take a strat for what it is. If you start comparing to a tele they're gonna be on different tone spectrums

IME