Members elsupermanny14 Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 I'm curious if having that much open space in the body alters the sound in any way from a guitar with say a normal SSS routed body? Does it alter the resonance of the guitar maybe? If you were to run a single bridge humbucker in a swimming pool routed guitar would (and how) would it sound different from a guitar that is routed for only one humbucker? I have no knowledge on this issue. If you guys could shed some light that would be great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Schtang Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Carbohydrates Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 In ANY way? Well, yeah, every splinter you remove will have some minute effect, I'm sure. In a way you'll ever notice? Nah, go nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members theManfromAlabam Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 I have to say no...I have Fender's with and without swimming pool routing, I hear no difference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members docjeffrey Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 Only an asshole would be able to tell the difference. If you listen really closely to the upper mids of a strat with a swimming pool--right around 3 khz--you'll be able to hear a slight drop of about 1db. The Q value is very narrow. If you install stainless steel frets, it will compensate for some of the annoying loss of upper mids. If you really want to fix it, install the stainless steel frets, get a graph tech nut, a Callaham Titanium inertia block for your trem, Titanium bridge saddles, an Evidence Audio guitar lead, and a set of Tomastik Infeld Power Brights. Of course all of this is going to cause the molecules of the wood inside the swimming pool rout to excite and realign themselves to a perfect north/south orientation (caused by the pickup magnets--duh!). You can measure the alignment using a simple electron microscope. Once the molecules have realigned, you are going to want to remove the stainless steel frets and the Calaham Titanium inertia block; otherwise you'll get a big bump in the 3 khz range. Also, deep six the graph tech nut and saddles and replace with natural bone (walrus tusk works best, but good luck finding it). Best trem block for a swimming pool rout http://www.longislandguitarparts.com/Tremolo_Parts-KTS_Titanium_Tremolo_Block_Vintage_Style_Tremolo.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sxyryan Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 I'm curious if having that much open space in the body alters the sound in any way from a guitar with say a normal SSS routed body? Does it alter the resonance of the guitar maybe? If you were to run a single bridge humbucker in a swimming pool routed guitar would (and how) would it sound different from a guitar that is routed for only one humbucker? I have no knowledge on this issue. If you guys could shed some light that would be great! I took this: cut the middle part out so I could turn it into this: I did notice a slight difference in unplugged tone. Not in plugged in, other than I got a cool new pup to mess with. It is a swimming pool rout now, btw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 I believe some of the vintage strats with pool routing are quite sought after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tiltsta Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 I have a swimming pool routed strat and a conventional route one with the same pickups. I can't hear any difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan Trevisol Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 Only an asshole would be able to tell the difference. Because of the splinters? :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members aliensporebomb Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 Depends on if you're using chlorinated or ocean water. It makes the guitarhave a more blublublub oceanic tone.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stormin1155 Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 It absolutely does affect the tone. Strats with a swimming pool route are preferred for surf music. The additional chamber gives more "splash" to the tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members herrteufel Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 If I'm not mistaken, I vaguely remember reading once that SRV had a strat with a swimming pool route and just a pickup in the bridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members herrteufel Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 correction: a single pickup in the neck position Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boonestunes Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 swimming pool route = WET tone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mikeSF Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 swimming pool route = WET tone yuk, yuk, NOW you've gone off the deep end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BG76 Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 Only if you're Eric Johnson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jimwratt Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 I took this: cut the middle part out so I could turn it into this: I did notice a slight difference in unplugged tone. Not in plugged in, other than I got a cool new pup to mess with. It is a swimming pool rout now, btw wait wait wait wait wait You mean to tell me that you took win and turned it into more win. That's amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sxyryan Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 wait wait wait wait wait You mean to tell me that you took win and turned it into more win. That's amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thisgoesto11 Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 Ed Roman and Don Grosh say that it has a impact on tone. Although they disagree over which is best. Grosh prefers the swimming pool, and I'm not going to argue with Don Grosh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ratkent Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 I have a 96 Lone Star Strat that I bought new after playing every strat I could lay my hands on in Houston, Dallas and Austin over a two week period. It really felt and sounded the best acoustically and it still is one of my favorite guitars even though I'm more of a Les Paul guy. It's a swimming pool route but I didn't know it until years later when I swapped some pickups on it. I have no idea if the route makes any difference but I do know it's a special guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BG76 Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 It mattered when Fender made the new American series (and discontinued the American Standard series) back in 2000 or so. I remember the brochure had that as one of the new improved features. I think because of that people started thinking it does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elsupermanny14 Posted January 14, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 If you listen really closely to the upper mids of a strat with a swimming pool--right around 3 khz--you'll be able to hear a slight drop of about 1db. The Q value is very narrow. If you install stainless steel frets, it will compensate for some of the annoying loss of upper mids. If you really want to fix it, install the stainless steel frets, get a graph tech nut, a Callaham Titanium inertia block for your trem, Titanium bridge saddles, an Evidence Audio guitar lead, and a set of Tomastik Infeld Power Brights. Best trem block for a swimming pool routhttp://www.longislandguitarparts.com/Tremolo_Parts-KTS_Titanium_Tremolo_Block_Vintage_Style_Tremolo.html Wow that's a lot of expensive parts! I think the Tremolo alone was like $250! I'm building a spare parts guitar. I think the only thing that may make onto the guitar from the list is the graphtech nut lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wayne Vinson Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 I'm curious if having that much open space in the body alters the sound in any way from a guitar with say a normal SSS routed body? Does it alter the resonance of the guitar maybe? If you were to run a single bridge humbucker in a swimming pool routed guitar would (and how) would it sound different from a guitar that is routed for only one humbucker?I have no knowledge on this issue. If you guys could shed some light that would be great! I don't know. I don't think I've ever really liked the sound of any swimming pool strats, but I have no way of knowing if it was the route, or other issues with the guitar, that caused me to dislike them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members uOpt Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 I took this: cut the middle part out so I could turn it into this: I did notice a slight difference in unplugged tone. Not in plugged in, other than I got a cool new pup to mess with. It is a swimming pool rout now, btw That way you definitely get a bigger sound difference out of the magnet fields of the pickups messing with each other than any difference from the cavity. (not that I say it's bad, but the effect is definitely bigger) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tim gueguen Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 Allan Holdsworth thought it did at one point. His short lived Ibanez sig models had a "tone chamber" under the pickguard that was effectively the same as what became known as the swimming pool rout. I suspect the Charvels he was using before that may have been the same way. In any case it was most likely inspired by the Strat he played in the '70s, which had a lot of wood missing under the pickguard after he chiseled it out to install neck and bridge humbuckers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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