Dulling the Stratocaster Ice Pick:

Inspector #20

Inspector #20

Ambassador of Tone
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Ok, folks...

I just re-installed my original 1987 pickguard onto my Squire with the Dimarzio's stacked single coils I had installed in the 1980's/1990's. Now I recall why I switched them out.

The bridge is so shrill it's like and ice pick. It's a 1995 DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Solo measuring around 10k.

I considered a Tone Man harness for the Squire, but since it is dead-quiet even at full gain from my Marshall DSL40C, and that I would like to keep that part of it original, I thought, why not change the frequency of the bridge pickup and add tone bias???

I read once that guys would often solder a 1nf capacitor across the bridge pickups input to take the edge off the tone, but I haven't yet seen a schematic.

I also know I can bridge the switch and enable tone control for the bridge.

So my question is, how to install the 1nf correctly....just solder it between the bridge pickup hot lead and the switch???

Thanks for your help on this one...IMG_20170302_47304.jpg IMG_20170124_43443.jpg IMG_20170124_54183.jpg
 
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Hot to cold on the pickup wires is the way - no need to break any connections. Another way to achieve the same effect is a nice long guitar cord.
 
DonP said:
Hot to cold on the pickup wires is the way - no need to break any connections. Another way to achieve the same effect is a nice long guitar cord.
Click to expand...

Cord length doesn't seem to effect it. I have tried up to 50 feet. Same tone as 10 feet...

I'm looking for a way to use a capacitor on the bridge pickup full time to kill the highs an then enable to tone control for the bridge as a fine tuner...but where to install the capacitor???
 
The typical guitar cable has a capacitance of 70 - 100 pF per metre, so your 50 foot cable (call it 15 metres) has a capacitance in the ball park of 1nF, so it would have the same effect as the capacitor you are talking about. As to where to put the cap - anywhere you can get at the pickup lead. Just wire it between ground and hot and it will do the job. It sounds like you need more than 1nF to do what you want. Bring a couple of wires out from under the pickguard so you can attach various values and find the one that works best.
 
EDIT: Don must have posted as I was typing ^^^ ya, what he said.

I believe from the pickup lead before volume and to ground ; it will always shunt the frequencies to ground BUT as the tone control is rolled off it may affect it since the R in the R/C filter is changing. I believe the higher the cap value the higher the lowest frequency bled to ground will be.

Similar as a treble bleed or bright cap allows the higher frequency to pass around the volume signal bleeding to ground and stay IN the signal path.

Those more versed should chime in as I am not sure and have not confirmed this by doing it. I have done the bright cap thing on an amp, but not this particular thing.
I keep meaning to at least tap my strat bridge to the tone control but have been playing other guitars lately.
 
There have been so many advances in pickups since those old Dimarzios were made, why fuss with them?
Here's an 11 holer, a great up grade from the Dimarzios you're struggling with... (if it fits the Squier).
http://www.stewmac.com/Pickups_and_...r_Pickups/Golden_Age_Hotwired_Pickguards.html

There are so many great options for what p'ups to mount in a Strat, you should just pick a set and put
them in and rock. I'd put a humbucker in the bridge position of that guitar. Problem solved...
But of course, I'm not you.

And it's your guitar. Whenever there's a thread where guys are debating which mods to install in order to make
a pickup sound like something other than what it is, I'll usually suggest putting an EQ pedal in your f/x loop
which gives you complete control over your tone with no surgery.

I've bought the Golden Age pickups for my Squier P-Bass, and that baby sounds great, so no regrets there. I shielded the
body cavity with Nashua tape from the hardware store, and the bass is dead quiet.

I also bought a Golden Age overwound pickup to replace the 490T I had installed in my Epiphone Wilshire's bridge position
and am very happy with the sound of that. And it's a great match with the 490R in the Epiphone's neck position. So I will
recommend the Golden Age p'ups and StewMac's wiring kits, as well as the pre-wired Strat pick guards they sell.
 
Col Mustard said:
There have been so many advances in pickups since those old Dimarzios were made, why fuss with them?
Here's an 11 holer, a great up grade from the Dimarzios you're struggling with... (if it fits the Squier).
http://www.stewmac.com/Pickups_and_...r_Pickups/Golden_Age_Hotwired_Pickguards.html

There are so many great options for what p'ups to mount in a Strat, you should just pick a set and put
them in and rock. I'd put a humbucker in the bridge position of that guitar. Problem solved...
But of course, I'm not you.

And it's your guitar. Whenever there's a thread where guys are debating which mods to install in order to make
a pickup sound like something other than what it is, I'll usually suggest putting an EQ pedal in your f/x loop
which gives you complete control over your tone with no surgery.

I've bought the Golden Age pickups for my Squier P-Bass, and that baby sounds great, so no regrets there. I shielded the
body cavity with Nashua tape from the hardware store, and the bass is dead quiet.

I also bought a Golden Age overwound pickup to replace the 490T I had installed in my Epiphone Wilshire's bridge position
and am very happy with the sound of that. And it's a great match with the 490R in the Epiphone's neck position. So I will
recommend the Golden Age p'ups and StewMac's wiring kits, as well as the pre-wired Strat pick guards they sell.
Click to expand...

Well, aside from the fact I can't see spending money on a guitar to play two Rory Gallagher songs...LOL, I really like the tone from the DiMarzio's, Colonel.

I've had humbuckers in it many times over the years...Carvin C22's, M22's, Gibson, Bare Knuckles, etc., but the bandleader wants all Fenders backing him, so i converted it back to the old pickups.

The black pickguard was on my shelf, brand new Fender 11 hole in the package. I decided to use it to set my Stratocaster apart from the others on the stage...looks cool I think for $0.00.

The virtual vintage solo in the bridge is a little edgy, but i have to say that any guitar you can sit with in front of a cranked tube Marshall without feedback gets my vote. These ancient DiMarzio's are dead-quiet to, so I see no reason to spend more money on pickups when these are working.

Tone Man (Gary Standefer) sent me a schematic to attenuate the bridge pickup with a capacitor and jump neck tone to work on the bridge pickup as well.

Ive had lots of custom single coils in this Squire in 29 years, Lollars and Duncans too and all were "thin" in the bridge.

Apparently a lot of people use capacitors on the bridge single coils to reduce the highs....I didn't know that, because I never use Fenders....
 
DonP said:
Hot to cold on the pickup wires is the way - no need to break any connections. Another way to achieve the same effect is a nice long guitar cord.
Click to expand...

So you are saying one end of capacitor tied into bridge pickup + and the other end of capacitor wire to ground???
 
That 200k will do it too, although it will tend to dull the sound as well as take the edge off. I would experiment with resistors and capacitors (around 4.7nF) in that position to see what you prefer.
 
The resistor is nothing short of pure magic. It trimmed the brightness and brought a fuller, "middle pickup" tone to the bridge....and then, adding the tone control gives even more adjustability.
 
DonP said:
That 200k will do it too, although it will tend to dull the sound as well as take the edge off. I would experiment with resistors and capacitors (around 4.7nF) in that position to see what you prefer.
Click to expand...

That virtual vintage solo in the bridge has a tone of edge!
 
By now I am beginning to get curious about how this saga is going to end, Robert :LOL:

I am beginning to think this way:

1 - You are probably the dude who hates electric instruments' noise the most I've ever seen.

2 - You don't like the tone of most of the humbuckers you tried, as far as I've read.

3 - You tried to mod your strat AND your SG to suit a certain search for a tone that you've come to figure out and like, but came up not liking the results as much as you thought you would.

If I were in your shoes, I'd keep the strat all as it is, just like you left it in the late 80s, AND spare two or three other guitars with distinctive characters... Let's say an SG with 57+s, and a Superstrat with some quiet yet loud set of HSH pups... Or a strat with noiseless pups of some sort (I couldn't help in that matter, I know little or nothing about superstrats or noiseless pickups, I am oldfashined and love the srtat's 'quack and hiss').

Modding just doesn't seem to be working, brother.
 
Sérgio said:
By now I am beginning to get curious about how this saga is going to end, Robert :LOL:

I am beginning to think this way:

1 - You are probably the dude who hates electric instruments' noise the most I've ever seen.

2 - You don't like the tone of most of the humbuckers you tried, as far as I've read.

3 - You tried to mod your strat AND your SG to suit a certain search for a tone that you've come to figure out and like, but came up not liking the results as much as you thought you would.

If I were in your shoes, I'd keep the strat all as it is, just like you left it in the late 80s, AND spare two or three other guitars with distinctive characters... Let's say an SG with 57+s, and a Superstrat with some quiet yet loud set of HSH pups... Or a strat with noiseless pups of some sort (I couldn't help in that matter, I know little or nothing about superstrats or noiseless pickups, I am oldfashined and love the srtat's 'quack and hiss').

Modding just doesn't seem to be working, brother.
Click to expand...


Hey Sergio!!! Good to hear from you!!!

I just switched the Squire back to the old Dimarzio's I had in it from the 1980's/1990's. My bandlaeader wants all Fender single coils, so I made the switch to fit in, but added a black pickguard to stand out. I used a 220k ohm resistor to take the edge off the virtual Vintage Solo in the bridge and enabled the neck tone control to work on the bridge simultaneously. The result is a single coil tone with ZERO NOISE!!!!

And I am happy to report the SG is now PERFECT!

The Tone Man harness (K40Y Russian tone caps .033uf bridge and .015uf neck) all the copper shielding (9 foot roll!!!) and the GFS PAF Clones (7.93k bridge and 7.88k neck) really gave me that warm sound I enjoyed from my vintage 1968 Gibson SG. The adjust-ability of the Tone Man harness is simply amazing.

It's as if I found a sonic missing link...and the quiet signal I strive for is there. When I first plugged it in, I thought it was broken!!!

Things are going really good now.

OH!!!!

See the piece of black tape on my SG cavity cover??? Last week at practice, I found something....One of my cords (I never use except live because it's so long) has an unusually long tip, that doesn't touch the cover, but get's close enough that it buzzes...The tape killed it...


SG Pickup Routs.jpg SG Cavity.jpg Small Cavity Tone Man Harness.jpg
1987 Tuxedo Squire.jpg
 
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