Need Advice

[th0rr]

or rather setting suggestions?

For about 15yrs I have owned a Strat, in one configuration or another, maple fingerboard, stock pickups, after market pickups, etc... About 4 different total. My current flavor is a American Series, rosewood fingerboard, Kinmans in neck an middle and an Air Norton in the bridge, I swapped out the Kinman in the bridge.

I can just never seem to bond with any of them. No scratch that. I love the way they feel and play, I just cannot seem to dial in a tone I am happy with. I love hearing others play through them, Eric Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Robin Trower, and others to just name a few. They sound so fat an have that single coil mojo going on. But when I get one in my hands, bleh.

I just cannot seem to dial them in, with any amps I have previously owned, never mind my Mark V. Marshall, Fender, Modeling, whatever. It always seems too thin to me.

I can dial in any sound I want with any of my humbucker equip'd guitars with no issue.

Oh, for those of you who followed my Les Paul sounding harsh through my Mark V thread I found the issue of the harsh sound with those medium gain humbuckers, I needed to tone down the gain/treble/presence. Now it sounds just fine. RTFM eh?

I am about at the point of selling my Strat for good and just settling for the fact that I am a humbucker kinda guy. I wanna luv my Strat but my ears are just not playing ball.

Any tone setting suggestions from anybody? Please? Do I need to lower gain and up mids? Do I up the mids and back off on bass? HELP!!!

 

[lesterpaul]

for me, I rarely play bridge pup only...its neck pup most of the time, or combo of neck mid or mid-bridge...and I really clean up the tone -I want my strat to sound like a strat-I do have a blend knob,from Kinnman, that allows you to blend the neck pup with others..
Hughie Thomasson (RIP) of the Outlaws has one of the biggest tones in the world-its all done via the bridge/middle pickup position and clean tone-big tone :shock:

 

[Carpdawg]

Try switching your Air Norton to the Neck position and get a Dimarzio Tone Zone Single Coil for the bridge. That's what I'm using in one of my strats and I think it sounds great thru my Mark V.

 

[dodger916]

Have you tried adjusting pickup height? I found some success by lower the height. For me, running the guitar volume and tone at 10 doesn't work. I get a nice smooth, vocal rhythm tone with volume at 7 to 7.5, and rarely go above 9 for solos. It sounds strained to me and loses definition.

 

[th0rr]

for me, I rarely play bridge pup only...its neck pup most of the time, or combo of neck mid or mid-bridge...and I really clean up the tone -I want my strat to sound like a strat-I do have a blend knob,from Kinnman, that allows you to blend the neck pup with others..
Hughie Thomasson (RIP) of the Outlaws has one of the biggest tones in the world-its all done via the bridge/middle pickup position and clean tone-big tone :shock:

I also rarely play the bridge pickup, I just swapped out the bridge for an Air Norton for the times I do. For me a Strat is all about the neck pickup and inbetween sounds.

 

[th0rr]

Have you tried adjusting pickup height? I found some success by lower the height. For me, running the guitar volume and tone at 10 doesn't work. I get a nice smooth, vocal rhythm tone with volume at 7 to 7.5, and rarely go above 9 for solos. It sounds strained to me and loses definition.

Yeah, I have tried lowering the pickup height and it seems to have helped somewhat. I just cannot seem to get a thick sound. Zero dynamics, doublestop bends sound weak. Used a compressor and that helped somewhat but I should be able to go straight into an amp and get a good sound.

 

[th0rr]

Try switching your Air Norton to the Neck position and get a Dimarzio Tone Zone Single Coil for the bridge. That's what I'm using in one of my strats and I think it sounds great thru my Mark V.

But I am looking for that "single coil" sound. I have plenty of humbucker equip guitars, well 3 anyways. But if this doesn't work out I may take your suggestion since it is a great playing guitar. Don't really want to sell it. This isn't an issue with the MarkV, it is an issue with me. I am beginning to suspect I am just not a single coil playing guy. :?

 

[mrcomputer]

Have you tried EMG's?

I'm running a strat clone HSS with the Lukather pre-wired set. Sounds great with my triaxis - I mostly play neck-mid or mid-bridge for rhythm and backing licks, full-on HB for the screaming solos. Very versatle tone-wise and I find the vol and tone controls more evenly tempered than any of the other guitars. I just have to change a battery once a year.

jbw

 

[lesterpaul]

Air Norton in bridge, Kinman in middle and neck..I loved the Kinmans in those positions...have you thought about pot value in relation to those pups?It seems its the neck and mid you are most unhappy with,correct?

 

[th0rr]

Air Norton in bridge, Kinman in middle and neck..I loved the Kinmans in those positions...have you thought about pot value in relation to those pups?It seems its the neck and mid you are most unhappy with,correct?

That would be correct sir! But I don't think it has anything to do with the Kinmans. I have had this issue with any Strat I have owned in the past. With any amp I have owned in the past.

 

[lesterpaul]

Air Norton in bridge, Kinman in middle and neck..I loved the Kinmans in those positions...have you thought about pot value in relation to those pups?It seems its the neck and mid you are most unhappy with,correct?

That would be correct sir! But I don't think it has anything to do with the Kinmans. I have had this issue with any Strat I have owned in the past. With any amp I have owned in the past.

hmmm...it would be good to know if you have 250k pots for those Kinmans(pretty sure it does..)I really got a great woody tone out of my Kin's-yknow, chan. 1/variac/any wattage....dial the gain down/turn up master/neck pup ought to sound big and fat-turn off the eq and try to dial her in...my neck pup is way down there,height wise...It is flush with body,i bet...how is the overall action?easy to play?I actually play 11's and tuned down half step for that voodoo tone..action higher than what i use on LP's
keep us posted and good luck