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Vintage threads from the first ten years

Re: Magnet Stagger

8/5/1999 5:36 PM
Hi	Re: Magnet Stagger Just my opinion (we all know about opinions, right?), but I set my strats with the action ranging from low-medium to very high, and always put the pickups way far away from the strings. They sound great that way. I've been playing strats since the late 'sixties, and the pickups sound a lot better more removed from the strings (bridge closer than the others; I personally put the middle pu WAY far away, cranked way down into the body for a mellower sound than the others). If the output level suffers (and it will), I make it up with the amp. It seems like the older the pickups and therefore "weaker" the output, the better the results from seperating the strings and pickups (!?!); I also get better sound from higher action on rosewood fretboards with strats (though not necessarily with other guitars). Hi

8/5/1999 5:36 PM

Re: Magnet Stagger

Just my opinion (we all know about opinions, right?), but I set my strats with the action ranging from low-medium to *very* high, and always put the pickups way far away from the strings. They sound great that way. I've been playing strats since the late 'sixties, and the pickups sound a lot better more removed from the strings (bridge closer than the others; I personally put the middle pu WAY far away, cranked way down into the body for a mellower sound than the others). If the output level suffers (and it will), I make it up with the amp. It seems like the older the pickups and therefore "weaker" the output, the better the results from seperating the strings and pickups (!?!); I also get better sound from higher action on rosewood fretboards with strats (though not necessarily with other guitars).

Hi

8/7/1999 3:19 AM
Steve A.	Hi: Going back to the 60's, with stock guitars plugged into stock amps, I was always one to crank up the pickups as high as they would go just to get a little bit more overdrive (or just plain "Drive"!) from my setup. But with the Lindy Fralin pickups I put in my Fernandez strat, I couldn't really hear how nice sounding they were until I set them down low (as you suggest). The difference was like night and day. Set up high they were good, but not great. Set down low they are almost magical. But I should add that I am plugging them into my hotrodded amps that have a hot front end... not gobs of overdrive, just a very hot and responsive input. Steve Ahola P.S. I never played strats at all for almost 25 years- they were too "wimpy" sounding for me and would never stay in tune... (Give me a LP any day of the week, thank you!) But over the past 10 years I've become "strat-ified" and that is what I usually play these days— you just don't get that wide range of tones and the total finger control over your sounds from any other guitar... IMHO, of course. (I can see why EC and JB hung up their LP's and started playing strats!)

8/7/1999 3:19 AM

Steve A.

Hi:

Going back to the 60's, with stock guitars plugged into stock amps, I was always one to crank up the pickups as high as they would go just to get a little bit more overdrive (or just plain "Drive"!) from my setup.

But with the Lindy Fralin pickups I put in my Fernandez strat, I couldn't really hear how nice sounding they were until I set them down low (as you suggest). The difference was like night and day. Set up high they were good, but not great. Set down low they are almost magical. But I should add that I am plugging them into my hotrodded amps that have a hot front end... not gobs of overdrive, just a very hot and responsive input.

Steve Ahola

P.S. I never played strats at all for almost 25 years- they were too "wimpy" sounding for me and would never stay in tune... (Give me a LP any day of the week, thank you!)

But over the past 10 years I've become "strat-ified" and that is what I usually play these days— you just don't get that wide range of tones and the total finger control over your sounds from any other guitar... IMHO, of course. (I can see why EC and JB hung up their LP's and started playing strats!)

8/8/1999 3:47 AM
Hi	I play a very wide range of guitars, but any of my strats get played more than all the others put together. Another interesting thin is that the lower the output (ie, older the pickups) not only the farther away from the strings I put them, but the smaller strings I use! For a nice new set I will definitely want 10s, whereas in a strat between 15 and 20 years old I find that high action, low pickups and 9s give great tone. I don't know what to think about it all sometimes, but I find solace in Hendrix, you know? He got THE tone for strats, and he used high action, the pickups set really low, and 9 to 38s on his guitars. Angled the pickups toward the bass end of the strings, too, instead of the treble side, probably 'cause the smallest magnets would be under the bass end for him, and the tall single-coil design picks up the treble best? Hi

8/8/1999 3:47 AM

I play a very wide range of guitars, but any of my strats get played more than all the others put together. Another interesting thin is that the lower the output (ie, older the pickups) not only the farther away from the strings I put them, but the smaller strings I use! For a nice new set I will definitely want 10s, whereas in a strat between 15 and 20 years old I find that high action, low pickups and 9s give great tone. I don't know what to think about it all sometimes, but I find solace in Hendrix, you know? He got THE tone for strats, and he used high action, the pickups set really low, and 9 to 38s on his guitars. Angled the pickups toward the bass end of the strings, too, instead of the treble side, probably 'cause the smallest magnets would be under the bass end for him, and the tall single-coil design picks up the treble best?

Hi

7/31/1999 5:10 AM
Steve A.	Re: Noiseless Pickups Doc: So what is the word on the Z-shaped pickups from G&L? It seems like that would be one solution for an authentic Fender sound that was humcancelling... (Didn't Fender use a similar design but inside a rectangular humbucker-sized case for their 12 strings? And the Egmond guitars from Holland, too.) Steve Ahola

7/31/1999 3:24 PM
Farrow	Z-pickups Steve, the idea behind the Fender / G&L "z" pickup has been around since the late '50s. Fender used the same concept on the P-bass. AFAIK, the Electric XII used the same pickup design as the Mustang Bass, which is an offshoot of the P-Bass pickup. Two coils in series in phase. BTW the "Z3" guitar sounds pretty good, but the "in-between" sounds are lacking a bit. Farrow http://surf.to/pharaohamps

7/31/1999 3:24 PM

Farrow

Z-pickups

Steve, the idea behind the Fender / G&L "z" pickup has been around since the late '50s. Fender used the same concept on the P-bass. AFAIK, the Electric XII used the same pickup design as the Mustang Bass, which is an offshoot of the P-Bass pickup. Two coils in series in phase.

BTW the "Z3" guitar sounds pretty good, but the "in-between" sounds are lacking a bit.

Farrow

http://surf.to/pharaohamps

8/1/1999 3:15 PM
Lee	The "amps" link on your page didn't work for me today.

8/1/1999 3:53 PM
Farrow	Dead Links! -- Sorry! As I don't yet have a digital camera, photos on the website have to be done the old-fashioned way! I'm waiting to get a bunch of pix back, among them pictures of the "King Tut" my 6W recording amp with our exclusive "Tone Pyramid" controls. Also, the "Users" and "repairs" pages are awaiting photos. Thanks for checkin' out the site anyway! Farrow http://surf.to/pharaohamps

8/1/1999 3:53 PM

Farrow

Dead Links! -- Sorry!

As I don't yet have a digital camera, photos on the website have to be done the old-fashioned way! I'm waiting to get a bunch of pix back, among them pictures of the "King Tut" my 6W recording amp with our exclusive "Tone Pyramid" controls. Also, the "Users" and "repairs" pages are awaiting photos. Thanks for checkin' out the site anyway!

Farrow

http://surf.to/pharaohamps

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