Tag: fender

Categories
DIY guitar

Two-Band “PTB” Tone Control:
Useful, Easy, Cheap & AWESOME!

The PTB Circuit was one of many G&L innovations.

After the frantic soldering fest that was The Pagey Project, I figured it might be time for a nice, simple DIY wiring project. At the suggestion of tonefiend reader JH, I played with variations on the 2-band tone control that appeared in some G&L guitars. And I am over the moon with the results!

This circuit, sometimes called “PTB” (for “passive treble and bass”) combines a standard treble-bleed tone knob with a bass-cut control. The latter has a huge effect on the way distortion pedals and amps respond to the pickups, especially with humbuckers. Cutting some bass makes the pickups sound cleaner, airier, and more dynamic (i.e., less compressed). To my ear, the bass pot is not so much a tone control as a clarity knob.

Check out this brief demo video:

Continue reading “Two-Band “PTB” Tone Control:
Useful, Easy, Cheap & AWESOME!”
Categories
DIY guitar Pickups

The Ultimate Mongrel Strat? (with Obsessive/Compulsive Tone Control!)

Not for everybody: The sickest mongrel strat yet.
Not for everybody: The sickest mongrel strat yet.

Okay, I lied.

In the previous installment of our ongoing mongrel strat series, I experimented with a version of Gibson’s oddball Vari-Tone circuit. I said it was too fussy and complex, and that I wanted to experiment with a simplified version.

So naturally, I built a “parts” Strat with a Vari-Tone twice as complicated as the original — a configuration I’ve dubbed the “Obsessive/Compulsive Tone Control.” I also deployed some of my favorite quirks and wiring tricks from previous strat experiments, plus a few new hardware discoveries. Result: a weird-ass guitar that only a geek could love a cool, one-of-a-kind instrument.

Check out the demo. Post-mortem after.

Continue reading “The Ultimate Mongrel Strat? (with Obsessive/Compulsive Tone Control!)”
Categories
Bass guitar Music

The Bass VI Boss

Dang — I wish I had a white turtleneck and a Mosrite electric resophonic!

After some of the long-running contests around here, it was nice having a quickie for a change. San Diego-based steel guitarist Doug Meyer was the first of several readers to correctly identify the four iconic Bass VI riffs in the post on ancient strings. He wins a Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster, a cool clean boost pedal that sound fabulous on 6-string bass, not to mention standard-tuned guitars.

The tunes were, in order of appearance:

1. Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman”
2. Glen Campbell’s “Galveston”
3. Elmer Bernstein’s “Theme from The Magnificent Seven”
4. Steve Earle’s “Guitar Town”

Glen Campbell not only sang those two classic Jimmy Webb songs, but played the beautiful 6-string bass parts. As most ’60s pop fans know, Campbell was a leading L.A. session player before becoming a star — he played with Elvis, the Everly Brothers, the Monkees, and on many Beach Boys sessions, including Pet Sounds (that’s him playing electric 12-string on “Sloop John B.”) [CORRECTION IN COMMENTS.]

About the ’90s reissue Bass VI that inspired my original post: I’ve always liked it, and I’ve used it on a zillion sessions, but I never thought it sounded as good as an original. Now I realize that it sounds just like an original — all it needed was the right strings! 🙂

Categories
DIY guitar Pickups

The Mongrel Strat Project!

I've got a box of strat pickups and I'm not afraid to use it!

Okay, this should be an interesting experiment!

I’ve scored a box stuffed with wildy varied Seymour Duncan replacement pickups for Strat™ guitars, plus a couple of the company’s just-announced BYOP Liberator Pickguards. (These are prewired pickguard assemblies, minus the actual pickups — “BYOP” stands for “Bring Your Own Pickups.”) That means I can pop in whatever pickup I want to try without even firing up the soldering iron.

No, I’m not going to make comparison recordings of different replacement pickup sets (though that would be a worthwhile project). Instead, I’m going to experiment with unusual/unlikely pickup combinations, searching for something cool and unique.

Will I strike pickup-pairing pay dirt? I guess we’ll find out together!

I’ll also be taking a look at some of the alternate three-pickup wiring schemes we’ve been talking about over in The Secret Room, such as the bridge-pickup on/off switch and the middle-pickup fader option.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear about your experiences in choosing pickups for Strat-style guitars — especially any successes you’ve had in combining pickups that weren’t necessarily intended to go together. If you have a story to share, cough it up in comments!

I have a hunch we’ll uncover some cool new things. Stay tuned.