Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: gwEm on December 11, 2013, 12:16:47 PM
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The magnet swap thread has started me thinking about ways tone can be changed for free or very cheap. I thought it could be a good thing to discuss. I've put a vague mental limit of £15 pounds. I think all of these we've discussed already on the forum:
* Different type of strings, or even just a new set
* Try out some different picks
* Pickup magnet swap
* 'modern' / '50s' wiring
* Playing with pickup and pole piece heights
* Different pots and caps for the controls - quality brand or different values
* Wiring pickup in-between position in/out of phase
* Coil tap / series / parallel wiring for humbucker
* Telecaster 4 way switch
* Wax potting pickups
* Nice preamp input valve for your amp
* Parallel / serial speaker wiring
* Bolt-on neck "crack"
* A good 1/4" jack lead
* Steel saddles
* Steel trem block - affordable ones can be found
I'm sure there are some more ideas out there people have, maybe even some bargain pedals?
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Love the idea! Here is what I got from the top of my head:
*DIY Pedals - especially the Zvex Super Hard on, which is super easy and effective
*You mentioned split wiring, but I need to, as always, add that PRS style splits are great and make that wiring more usable
*General setup - be it getting rid of fret buzz or raising the action to allow the guitar to breathe more, can make a difference
*Mixing up the pedal chain
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* Try different bottle necks.
* Try the fingers instead of picks... Or random objects (like striking the strings with a pen, or other stupid stuff).
* If you use a digital multi-effects pedal, retry every possibilities or check for custom presets.
To easilly change your wiring configuration, you can use connectors instead of always soldering/unsoldering everything.
For DIY pedals, go "Design-It-Yourself". You can use test boards for experiment (or use LT Spice to simulate).
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For DIY pedals, go "Design-It-Yourself". You can use test boards for experiment (or use LT Spice to simulate).
Oh yes, I just need some transistors (ok maybe I have some somewhere, but only silicon at best and I also want some germanium) and a bit of reading up on the basic idea of how fuzz pedals work and I am gonna stick a lot of things together. Already got the board and a lot of components ready =)
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Locking bridge and tailpiece studs?
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For DIY, there are many schematics on General Guitar Gadgets (http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/ (http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/)).
If you have a test board, you can also try to change some components values (or even circuit parts) before soldering. For easy experiment, replacing some resistors with trimmers could yet allow to reach a more personallized tone (like the perfect fuzz for your material and style).
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slightly over your price limit - fit an earvana nut
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For DIY, there are many schematics on General Guitar Gadgets (http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/ (http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/)).
If you have a test board, you can also try to change some components values (or even circuit parts) before soldering. For easy experiment, replacing some resistors with trimmers could yet allow to reach a more personallized tone (like the perfect fuzz for your material and style).
Yeah, got a testboard (the ones where you can just stick stuff in) and will use either trimmers or pots with alligator clamps. Can use the dual / precision pot technique for fine tuning the values. That should allow quick and easy work too.
When it comes to DIY pedal schematics there is one site which kicks all others asses for my money. http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.de/ (http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.de/) Giant database and all aranged for stripboards. Easiest to do of all the things I have seen around. If you only got the schematic it is an extra challenge to transfer them to the board, but here you got the complete layout. Ace site for my money, highly recommended. Heck they even got a Juansolo circuit on there =)
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Aluminium tailpiece (but probably not for <£15)
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Aluminium tailpiece (but probably not for <£15)
Look under your bed + plug in a soldering iron & grab a screwdriver = 10 new custom guitars for Philly! :)
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Aluminium tailpiece (but probably not for <£15)
yes - nice upgrade but £30+
also locking studs too
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I got my daphon sd1 clone for (IIRC) ~£13, does that count? It sounds pretty good :lol:
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* A decent rag for cleaning off strings post playing (free?)
* String trees for Fender type guitars that buzz behind the nut and don't already have them fitted
* A sheet of shielding tape for inside the controls cavity (unless extra hum is part of your tone quest)
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Aluminium tailpiece (but probably not for <£15)
Look under your bed + plug in a soldering iron & grab a screwdriver = 10 new custom guitars for Philly! :)
Only about 8 now...... but fair point, nonetheless.
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There's quite a few effects you can make yourself for under £15. The SHO has been mentioned. There are a lot of fuzzez and distortions too.
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Here's a wacky - but definitely cheap! - idea I read about on a forum somewhere:
If your guitar has an ABR-1 style tune-o-matic bridge with threaded posts screwed directly into the wood, get some long stainless steel machine screws (#6-32 imperial, or M4 for metric) and make some longer posts which screw much deeper into the body. It improves stability of course, but is also alleged to add sustain and brightness. I haven't tried it yet (naturally!) but it's a very interesting idea - and totally reversible if you're not too ham-fisted.
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I've often thought some of those TOM posts didn't go in very far and were a bit wobbly. Nice idea Philly.
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Yeah, the standard posts are only about an inch long and on an LP, with a steep-ish neck angle, they barely go through the maple top. Whereas a longer post would go right through the maple and into the mahogany.
From what I read it's probably not worth making them too long, it gets increasingly hard to screw them in and they might snap. The ideal seems to be about 1.5", with 0.5" of that above the surface, and the key is supposedly to screw the post in until it touches the bottom of the hole (although I doubt the holes are all drilled to a uniform depth!)
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My thoughts:
I've fitted an ABM aluminium bridge to my ESP and it made a really amazing impact; there was definitely a wow effect there. It might be only 3-4% tonal difference, but with every single attack??? For me definitely worth the 70-something Euros.
My thoughts on your other points:
These three are the ones I think are the best cheap thrills:
* Different type of strings, or even just a new set
* Wiring pickup in-between position in/out of phase
* Coil tap / series / parallel wiring for humbucker
I had a nice coil tap on a guitar for a long time and like the in-between sounds a lot. Unfortunately, most Push-pull pots are really fiddly.
I also had a guitar where the middle switch position of the 3-way switch was out-of-phase. That was the most flexible way I felt to have such a feature and I enjoyed it a lot.
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Yeah, the standard posts are only about an inch long and on an LP, with a steep-ish neck angle, they barely go through the maple top. Whereas a longer post would go right through the maple and into the mahogany.
From what I read it's probably not worth making them too long, it gets increasingly hard to screw them in and they might snap. The ideal seems to be about 1.5", with 0.5" of that above the surface, and the key is supposedly to screw the post in until it touches the bottom of the hole (although I doubt the holes are all drilled to a uniform depth!)
Have you every looked at the ABM bridges? Their website is a bit weak, but their stuff is really good. I have one of their stop tail pieces.
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Yeah, ABM stuff is good. I have a couple of their wraparound bridges for Juniors.
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* Try different plectrums
* New guitar lead (make your own)
* Swap pickups around that you already have - they sound different in another guitar
* Wiring mods (lots of mileage to be had)
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Hit the string harder... or softer... in different places
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Hit the strings with the rounded corners of the pick, rather than the pointy bit.
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Still interested to try an aluminium tailpiece after reading about em here, what difference are they meant to make again?
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the ali tailpiece has a really nice effect on the top end - less muted and more defined
I prefer to hav mine locked down via TonePros split studs too for a bit more resonance (in my experience)
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I've never really gone down this route, but people say different tunings can give a dose of inspiration.
Already got a capo, but a slide could be cool - and there seems to be quite a wide range available.
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also: removing/fitting pickup covers.
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the ali tailpiece has a really nice effect on the top end - less muted and more defined
I prefer to hav mine locked down via TonePros split studs too for a bit more resonance (in my experience)
My enthusiasm for the TonePros studs is wavering a little bit - I sometimes wonder if it's better for the hardware to be held in place by string tension and for everything to "find its own resonance", as it were.
I've used them for ages and never noticed much, if any, difference soundwise (although it's nice that the tailpieces don't fall off). But then I recently put some on a Junior and I'm pretty sure it seemed less resonant in that particular case, even with a new set of strings. Hence my current doubts....
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Set fire to your guitar
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the ali tailpiece has a really nice effect on the top end - less muted and more defined
I prefer to hav mine locked down via TonePros split studs too for a bit more resonance (in my experience)
My enthusiasm for the TonePros studs is wavering a little bit - I sometimes wonder if it's better for the hardware to be held in place by string tension and for everything to "find its own resonance", as it were.
I've used them for ages and never noticed much, if any, difference soundwise (although it's nice that the tailpieces don't fall off). But then I recently put some on a Junior and I'm pretty sure it seemed less resonant in that particular case, even with a new set of strings. Hence my current doubts....
ABM bridges are locking, but they actually recommend to only lock them for strings changes and to leave them unlocked otherwise, for tonal benefits.
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Get half a guitar lesson.
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Or a small bag of weed.
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Or a small bag of weed.
They do small bags?
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Sure they do. PM me if you need a hook up.
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Are they the bags that cost a dime?
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the ali tailpiece has a really nice effect on the top end - less muted and more defined
I prefer to hav mine locked down via TonePros split studs too for a bit more resonance (in my experience)
My enthusiasm for the TonePros studs is wavering a little bit - I sometimes wonder if it's better for the hardware to be held in place by string tension and for everything to "find its own resonance", as it were.
I've used them for ages and never noticed much, if any, difference soundwise (although it's nice that the tailpieces don't fall off). But then I recently put some on a Junior and I'm pretty sure it seemed less resonant in that particular case, even with a new set of strings. Hence my current doubts....
Can you hear it ringing from the box under your bed :P
I know everyone's mileage will differ, but I'm still taken with it (and certainly the ali tailpiece is worth looking at)
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Can you hear it ringing from the box under your bed :P
It's one of the few that's out in the open.... :lol:
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I can recommend getting a lend of some cheap guitars off a mate.
I've been given a shot of a Squire Auto-Sonic and an Ibanez Jet King.
Great fun :D