Have tuners... ever changed your tone?

[CandidPicker]

So I have 4 fndr guitars... these account for 2, the others do not sound tinny. They all have maple boards. They are also all played through the same amps, same pedals and same ‘single coil’ setting on EQ pedal. Those are my single coil guitars.

I prefer the sound of a single coil (as compared to a humbucker) so I like the thinness you describe. I don’t like tinny though. To my ears, there’s a difference between a Strat sound and tinny.

Yeah, I’m not that kind of bored either. I get all the freshness I need by experimenting in natural healthcare. It’s a constant stream of freshness because of new ingredients and supplements. I just want these guitars to get to the point that I can play them more often because the Strat body shape is getting to me... and the Strat is my go to guitar for practice.

Casi,

I need to ask, are the tinny sounding guitars all USA-made, or perhaps do they have different body woods (ash/alder/poplar)? Some imports from foreign countries, including Korea or Indonesia which have light poplar body woods are by definition going to sound thinner, just because of the composition, not because of the pickups, pickup height, neck, finish, tuners, nut, bridge, etc.

If this is the case, you can stop searching for the reason why some of your guitars sound tinny. They will, only because the body wood will help define how the tone will be.

One additional thought is to consider the electronics (caps and resistors) attached to your pots. Although I'm not personally well-versed in what values will improve your tone, perhaps someone with better knowledge can steer you in then correct direction as to what cap/resistor values will improve your tone.

Rather than try to mod any physical parts (tuners, bridge, etc) which would affect guitar value more drastically, I'd ask myself if modding the cap or resistor values would improve the tone. All you might need are some original wiring diagrams for your guitars and some applied knowledge of what values will do for your tone.

 

[Casi1]

Casi,

I need to ask, are the tinny sounding guitars all USA-made, or perhaps do they have different body woods (ash/alder/poplar)? Some imports from foreign countries, including Korea or Indonesia which have light poplar body woods are by definition going to sound thinner, just because of the composition, not because of the pickups, pickup height, neck, finish, tuners, nut, bridge, etc.

If this is the case, you can stop searching for the reason why some of your guitars sound tinny. They will, only because the body wood will help define how the tone will be.

One additional thought is to consider the electronics (caps and resistors) attached to your pots. Although I'm not personally well-versed in what values will improve your tone, perhaps someone with better knowledge can steer you in then correct direction as to what cap/resistor values will improve your tone.

Rather than try to mod any physical parts (tuners, bridge, etc) which would affect guitar value more drastically, I'd ask myself if modding the cap or resistor values would improve the tone. All you might need are some original wiring diagrams for your guitars and some applied knowledge of what values will do for your tone.

The 2 tinny sounding guitars were made in Fullerton, CA. Both bodies are Ash and the necks are maple.

Good point about the electronics. The luthier who did the modifications used the same electronics (same values) in both so maybe the electronics need to be revised again. I do not know what values he chose but I would bet that they are different from the 2 other stock strats... which don’t sound tinny.

 

[Casi1]

I’m a diehard LP guy but I recently got a bug up my butt for a Strat. I ended up getting one of the new American Ultras, mostly because Eddie’s gave me a ginormous friend discount on it. I have to say it’s pretty comfy and easy to play. While I absolutely love my 594, I just couldn’t get on board with the Silver Sky. I also kind of wanted to properly represent the American big 3... Gibson, Fender, and PRS. I’m still a carved top humbucker fan overall, but now I know why people love their strats

I know what you mean. There’s something raw and gritty about a Strat that I love.

But there’s nothing that says we can’t like Gibson, Fender and PRS. If I could only have one guitar, it would most likely be a PRS... but then I’d go crazy trying to determine which one PRS to choose!

 

[Herr Squid]

The 2 tinny sounding guitars were made in Fullerton, CA. Both bodies are Ash and the necks are maple.

Good point about the electronics. The luthier who did the modifications used the same electronics (same values) in both so maybe the electronics need to be revised again. I do not know what values he chose but I would bet that they are different from the 2 other stock strats... which don’t sound tinny.

If you play those "tinny" sounding guitars unplugged, how do they sound compared to the ones that don't sound that way to you? My gut feeling is that it's either the (combination of) wood in those guitars that you're objecting to, or it's something about the electronics that are installed (and I'm not just talking about the difference between single coil and humbucking pickups). So listen to the good ones and the not good ones unplugged, and compare 'n' contrast them. If the "tinny" ones don't sound bad that unplugged, then plug them in.

Roll down the tone controls and see if there's a sweet spot where they sound better to you (if it's a strat that doesn't have a tone control on the bridge pickup, then I'm so, so sorry for you). If that helps, it might be the tone pot that's the culprit. IIRC, a lower-value tone pot will roll off more treble and may sound better to you. I own an SC594 that I hated the bridge pickup on, and when I tested it against a DC594 that I loved, I found the SC had a resistance about 60 KOhm higher than the SC. So I soldered in a 2 MOhm resistor to lower the overall resistance on the tone pot and was happier with the sound. Your tech could probably do that, or maybe replace the pot with a lower value outright.

Oh, now that I've typed all that (I blame tonight's wine) I found the post I talked about this in: https://forums.prsguitars.com/threads/anyone-measure-their-tone-pots.41436

Now I am armed with numbers! Check to make sure you don't have 500KOhm pots in those Fullerton guitars. Those will probably sound really nasty. You probably want 250KOhm pots for single coil pickups.

 

[Casi1]

If you play those "tinny" sounding guitars unplugged, how do they sound compared to the ones that don't sound that way to you? My gut feeling is that it's either the (combination of) wood in those guitars that you're objecting to, or it's something about the electronics that are installed (and I'm not just talking about the difference between single coil and humbucking pickups). So listen to the good ones and the not good ones unplugged, and compare 'n' contrast them. If the "tinny" ones don't sound bad that unplugged, then plug them in.

Roll down the tone controls and see if there's a sweet spot where they sound better to you (if it's a strat that doesn't have a tone control on the bridge pickup, then I'm so, so sorry for you). If that helps, it might be the tone pot that's the culprit. IIRC, a lower-value tone pot will roll off more treble and may sound better to you. I own an SC594 that I hated the bridge pickup on, and when I tested it against a DC594 that I loved, I found the SC had a resistance about 60 KOhm higher than the SC. So I soldered in a 2 MOhm resistor to lower the overall resistance on the tone pot and was happier with the sound. Your tech could probably do that, or maybe replace the pot with a lower value outright.

Oh, now that I've typed all that (I blame tonight's wine) I found the post I talked about this in: https://forums.prsguitars.com/threads/anyone-measure-their-tone-pots.41436

Now I am armed with numbers! Check to make sure you don't have 500KOhm pots in those Fullerton guitars. Those will probably sound really nasty. You probably want 250KOhm pots for single coil pickups.

I’m almost sure it’s the electronics now... because I’ve always loved the sound of those guitars unplugged (that’s my first test on all guitars). All of my guitars sound great unplugged. These two actually sound better than my other two when unplugged.

Tone pots are wired to neck and bridge. Also 7 sound mod installed. I do vaguely recall the tech telling me the pots were 250k but I don’t have any of the specifics documented. I know I had them change out capacitors because originally both guitars were ice picky bright.

I’m going to go look up the stock electronics for the other two strats...

 

[gush]

You gonna get their attention by yelling out, “hey, joe”?

Yes, but is uncle Joe moving kinda slow???