How to get good tone from an unmodded Stratocaster
Some guitar players are all about modifying the Strat. But what about keeping the guitar totally unmodified?
Getting good tone out of an unmodified Stratocaster is easy once you understand traditional Strat tone.
A traditional Strat is the Fender Standard model. Not the American Standard. The Standard, as in the one made in Mexico. It has the mostly-old-school design with the exception the neck is a modern "C" shape with 9.5-inch fingerboard radius, modern medium jumbo frets, truss rod adjustment at the pegboard and not the heel, and the selector blade has 5 positions instead of the original 3. The guitar is a plain 21-fret with SSS pickup layout and no tone control wired to the rear (bridge) pickup by design because that was Leo Fender's original wiring setup.
Rule #1 and the only rule you need to know about traditional Strat wiring
Everyone hates the fact that traditional Strat wiring has no tone control wired to the rear (as in the bridge) pickup, so you have to work around it.
Because the rear pickup has no tone control wired to it, that means the vast majority of distortion pedals don't work well with the Strat. Only a very select few can actually deal with those super-trebly Strat pickups properly while still delivering proper sounding distortion.
Namely, the DigiTech Grunge and the Big Muff Pi.
The "secret" of the Grunge pedal is the HIGH knob. You can turn that down and use that to cut off the super-trebly sound while still getting great distorted tones.
The Big Muff Pi (or nano version for a smaller package) is fuzz. Strats love fuzz. Big time. Fuzz establishes a ceiling that sounds great for solos. It may not crunch all that well (that's what Grunge is for), but for solo tone, it works wonderfully.
Two other pedals I would add in would be a MXR Dyna Comp and a BOSS DD-7.
"I have little money and I need this sound for cheap"
The Grunge is cheap already. Get that. For everything else, go all Behringer. Behringer Super Fuzz, Behringer CS400 Compressor/Sustainer, Behringer DD400 Digital Delay.
If you want an alternative all-in-one that has everything plus more, use what I use, the DigiTech RP360. The version of it with an expression pedal attached for wah and so on is the RP360XP.
Whether you use separate pedals or an all-in-one, you need the Grunge distortion, good fuzz, good compression, good delay.
What order of effects should the chain be?
- Compressor
- Grunge
- Fuzz
- Delay
"Do I absolutely need fuzz for my solo tone?"
No. You can get a similar sound by switching to the front side (as in neck side) pickup and turning the tone knob down using just Grunge...
...but I would suggest at least trying a fuzz effect. Believe me, it really has a good sound to it. Eric Johnson is a heavy fuzz user, so it's not just for hippie rock. Far from it.
"Do I absolutely need a compressor?"
For an unmodded Strat, yes. The pickups are low-output by design, and to punch up the response without installing new pickups, a compressor is the answer.
Whether it's the MXR Dyna Comp or a cheap Behringer, yes you need one. In fact, you probably even need one even if you decide to switch pickups later.
"Do I absolutely need delay?"
For any Strat or any electric guitar for that matter, yes. Yes, yes, yes and yes again.
Reverb sucks. Well, it sucks for everything except surf music. But chances are you don't play surf.
Delay is the electric guitar player's indispensable tool. Use it, love it. Whether you choose analog or digital delay, get it.
Final tip: WORK with it
If keeping your Strat unmodified, expect to encounter some "tone challenges" of sorts. That's just the way it is with Strats. Don't expect the guitar to sound perfect even if you get all the stuff mentioned above.
Work with your tone. Shape it and experiment. You'll find your sound, but it may take a little effort.
Remember, Strats are not "automatic" guitars and never have been. But when you do finally get that sound out of it, it's truly a magical moment.
Do maple fretboards sound different compared to rosewood?
Are there tonal differences between the two? Let's find out.
Take the Fender Deluxe Players Strat, which does have an all-maple neck option.
My first guitar, the '89 Squier II Stratocaster, does have that traditional one-piece all-maple neck.
In all honesty, I've always preferred electrics with one-piece maple necks. To me, they just feel correct. Yes, it's totally true that I have owned guitars with rosewood fingerboards, which includes my Jazzmaster, but I've always liked the maple best.
At some point, possibly this year, I will be picking up another all-maple-neck electric.
Do all-maple necks sound different on an electric compared to rosewood?
No, and they never have. Why? Because the neck is not where the pickups are.
It's my honest belief that the reason some players think these two fingerboard materials sound different from each other is because of the visual and not the physical.
I'll explain.
Rosewood fingerboards have open grain while maple fingerboards do not. The maple board is sealed because as I've said here before several times, if it weren't, the wood would quickly discolor, turn green and look like total crap in short order.
I have seen some guitar players drastically change their playing styles after switching from a guitar with a rosewood fingerboard to one with maple. The guitars could be brand new, identical to each other and have everything be exactly the same save for that the fingeboard material is different, and the player significantly changes the way he plays on switch from one fingerboard wood to the other.
Why does the player's style change so drastically from one fingerboard material to the other? It's the visual. The maple board is not only lighter in color but also shinier because it's sealed. For many players, that visual will send a message to the brain to play differently. The neck is grabbed more tightly or loosely. Picking becomes harder or softer. Notes are bent more or less.
Take away the visual however, and the player's style does not change.
If you don't believe me, go with a friend to the guitar store, pick up 3 Strats with 1 maple and 2 rosewood and perform a blind test. I guarantee all 3 guitars will sound the same, provided they all have the same electronics.
Why 3 guitars? Because it makes the player think more about it. If you only use 2, that's not enough of a sample.
In the end, go with what you think looks best
Fingerboard material alone does not dictate what an electric guitar will sound like. You're not going to get a "lighter" or "darker" or "cooler" or "warmer" sound based on the fingerboard wood.
Choose a neck that feels right in the hand and looks good to your eye.
Maple fingerboards work on any electric, even for "metal" guitars like this Jackson Pro Soloist SL2M.
The Soloist, a guitar obviously built for rock soloist players, does the job with maple just as well as it would with rosewood.
Similarly, a Strat with a rosewood board would get just as much "jangle" or "chime" as it would with a maple board.
There is no tonal difference between the two fingerboard materials.
Cheap guitar of the week #45 - Squier Bullet HSS in Aztec Gold
This is probably the last time you will ever see this guitar sold new for the price it's selling for.
Right now (as in February 2016), you can get this guitar for $129.99 USD. It's not listed at $149.99 yet because this is one of the last pre-price-hike Squiers of 2016.
This is, of course, a Bullet model, meaning the lowest-priced full size electric guitar from Squier. Any electric lower in price goes into kid-size territory, such as the Squier Mini.
Aztec Gold is a color I'm genuinely surprised made an appearance on the Bullet Strat. It used to be only available on high-end Fender models (Jazzmaster, specifically). Then it was only available on the upper-end Squier 60th Anniversary Classic Vibe Stratocaster. Finally, the color trickled its way down to the base model, the Bullet Strat.
If you know cheap Squier axes, you know the Bullet. I owned one myself at one point. It's a decent bang-around guitar.
Should you buy it? If you want a gold Strat for $129.99, yes, because it's the last of its kind at that price in that color. In a few weeks, this guitar may be still for sale, but not at the $129.99 price tag, and the gold color option may be gone for good.
In other words, if you like the gold, get it.
Should you buy a guitar during hard economic times?
Is this a good idea or not? Let's find out.
Generally speaking, if you're buying a guitar, such an expensive one like the recently released Fender American Elite Stratocaster, you're either buying it for yourself or for someone else.
"Someone else" doesn't mean gifting the guitar. It means buying a guitar as an investment piece, which as I've said before several times is one of the dumbest things you could ever do. Don't buy guitars as investment pieces. Just. Don't. Do. It.
Moving on...
3 hard fast rules when it comes to buying expensive electrics
Rule #1: Never finance; always pay in full up front
An expensive electric guitar is a luxury item. And for any luxury item to be worth something, it has to hurt to buy it. If you're going to slam down $1,500 USD or more, you just do it. Don't even think about financing it.
If you have to think about the money you're about to spend before you buy, you don't want it. If you really wanted it badly enough, you would have bought it already.
"But I don't have the money..."
Then don't buy it until you have the money. And when you do, spend it all. Yes, it's going to hurt. That's the whole point.
Rule #2: If you buy new from the guitar store, you'll never get the complete original package
The best example I can give of this is what happens with the cheaper brands such as Squier and Epiphone.
Did you know that every single new Squier Stratocaster and Epiphone Les Paul comes provided with tools (usually a truss rod key and string saddle key if needed)? If you bought yours from a store, I guarantee you never got those things because you bought it off the rack.
Did you know that electrics over a grand are treated the exact same way? The guitar store doesn't give a crap if you get all the original tools and paperwork or not. All they care about is making the sale. You never get all the stuff the guitar is supposed to come with.
The only way to truly get it all is to buy it online and have the guitar shipped directly to your house.
"But what if I insist on seeing the unopened box in the guitar store?"
That guarantees nothing. You think guitar stores don't know how to reseal a package so it looks like it has never been opened?
Again, if you want the complete, unmolested package, you must buy it online. It's the only way.
Rule #3: THERE IS ONLY ONE RIGHT TIME TO BUY A GUITAR
Yeah, I unleashed the all-caps fury for this one, because it's the most important thing to keep in mind.
When is the right time to buy a guitar?
Answer: When you have the money.
Yes, the answer is that simple.
If you have the money, buy the thing. Today. Right now. Don't think about it. Just do it.
My only advice is that when you buy the guitar, buy for YOU and not as an investment piece. If you buy for investment reasons, I guarantee you will lose. Don't be a loser. Be totally selfish and buy for yourself. That's the winning way of doing it.
"What about the bad things I hear about the economy?"
Ultimately, economic climate has absolutely nothing to do with your guitar buying decisions, nor should it influence them. No matter where you are in the world, an economic crash can happen at any time. Will you get any warning of this? No. When it happens, you will never see it coming no matter which economic "experts" you listen to.
Modern society runs on money. If it didn't, the world would have have switched to 100% solar energy for primary means of power and all vehicles would run on nothing but natural gas and biodiesel exclusively. But obviously, that didn't happen. Why? Because there's no profit in it. The world does things in ways where someone always profits and that's just the way it is.
Believe me, nobody is truly ready for an economic crash. And the best way to think about it is to not think about it.
Right now, at least in the US, the economy still works. I can still buy guitars online or from a store if I want. Chances are you can do the same.
As long as we can all actually buy guitars, that's a privilege we can all enjoy. It's when we don't have the privilege that things get bad real fast.
In other words, buy now while you actually can, because if a crash does happen, then you won't be able to buy any guitars at all at any price.
Cheap guitar of the week #44 - Jackson JS32 Kelly in Ferrari Red
This is the best looking Kelly I've ever seen. And it's loaded and cheap.
The JS32 Kelly is Jackson's take on a Gibson Explorer shape, albeit much more angular and a much different player compared to the Explorer.
This is the first time I've ever seen a Kelly in red, and oh yes, it looks awesome.
The only unfortunate part it that would appear this guitar is only available with a FR vibrato system on it. If you want that vibrato, you're fine, but if you want a "hardtail" version, that being the JS32T Kelly, you can't get red but you can get an awesome viola burst, so there's that.
The JS32T would actually be my preference, however I admit that it doesn't command as much of a presence as the JS32 in Ferrari Red does. There's just something about that red that really suits the guitar well. In fact, it could arguably be said that Ferrari Red is the best color Jackson ever put on that guitar.
Quick specs: Basswood body, satin finished bolt-on maple "speed neck" in 25.5-inch scale with 12-to-16 inch compound fingerboard radius, 24 jumbo frets, Floyd-Rose R3 system, pearloid sharkfin inlays, two "Jackson High Output Humbucking" pickups, master volume/master tone knurled knobs, 3-position toggle, sealed tuners, white binding on neck and headstock.
After reading those specs, you're probably thinking, "Wow, that's a lot of good hardware for the money." You're right, it is. While you would pay a ton of money for all that stuff on a Fender-branded guitar, you get it for far less on the Jackson-branded guitar.
Why the far cheaper price for the Jackson? Because it's Jackson and not Fender. Still a fantastic guitar, however.
If the Kelly style agrees with you, get one in JS32 with Floyd-Rose or JS32T hardtail. The guitar is loaded with goodies.