Members Devinstation Posted January 1, 2006 Members Share Posted January 1, 2006 I currently own a Fender MIM Strat, which is good for ska but I can't get the right sound I want out of it. I need to be able to go from the upbeat ska staccato strumming to punk-like distortion with the simple touch of a foot pedal. So I was thinking of something with a hot humbucker in the bridge possibly? I was looking at maybe the Fender Cyclone but, I am open to any other ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted January 1, 2006 Members Share Posted January 1, 2006 Something with P90's. Run your clean with the guitar's volume down a little and the tone wide open. Then for the dirtier stuff,bring the guitar's volume up a bit and back off on the tone control a little to fatten things up a little. (and use whatever overdrive you are using,of course) Tele works good for this too. Strat works ok too if you have a tone control on the bridge pickup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sunset_gun Posted January 1, 2006 Members Share Posted January 1, 2006 If you can't get it with a Strat, try a Tele. The bridge has the clarity and balls (under gain) I think you are looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members metallica_00 Posted January 2, 2006 Members Share Posted January 2, 2006 You could install a stacked humbucker in the bridge position of your current guitar. Something like a Duncan Hotrails has a lot of output and would get you that fat distortion. And a +1 on getting the bridge wired to a tone control if you stick with the strat, it helps a ton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted January 2, 2006 Members Share Posted January 2, 2006 Telecaster comes to mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members curseoftruth Posted January 2, 2006 Members Share Posted January 2, 2006 For Ska? I would agree on P90s, they have brilliant cleans, very bright on the bridge and can go to wonderful distortion, as heavy as you want with the click of a pedal. Problem with the Tele is that they don't hold the distortion well nor are they really meant to -- not knocking teles at all, I love teles! I have a tele! Just they are thin when they go into overdrive mode. For inexpensive, there are two that come to mind, I don't own either one but both have gotten great reviews: Squier Tele Custom II (a tele with P90s!) $299 at MF Hamer Gold Archtop with P90s. $299 at Music123 If you want cheaper, try the JJ Pistols model from SX, available at Rondo:SX SJM-62 $139http://www.rondomusic.net/sjm62.html Several I can recommend if you want to go higher up the food chain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bucketboy Posted January 2, 2006 Members Share Posted January 2, 2006 Lets see what other ska bands use...Reel Big Fish uses Les Pauls (Standard/Custom) and Fender Thinlines (72' Thinline Customs). Less Than Jake uses Les Pauls. Jefferies Fan Club...Les Pauls...The Rx Bandits...yeah...they also use Les Pauls... Depends on your taste on the "Ska" sound. In this case, the guitarists overwhelmingly use the neck pickup of their humbucking guitars to get that sound. P-90s would work great for it as The Forces of Evil use guitars with 'em. I prefer neck humbuckers for ska. Its up to you on what you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dinrodef Posted January 2, 2006 Members Share Posted January 2, 2006 Yes - the advice about p-90s is really good If you already like Fenders... Check out jazzmasters. I don't think there's a better punk/ska guitar than a jazzmaster cuz you can quickly go from a perfect clean sound to a perfect distorted sound just by stomping on a dirt box. Also, you can throw dark surf sounding elements that a lot of the early 80s punk bands would do (like on the repo-man soundtrack)... The jazzmaster also sounds especially great with punk/ska amps... like the orange ad30 Look into matching your new guitar with 6l6s or el84s power sections... El-34s are a little too crisp on the clean channel for ska (my opinion) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Devinstation Posted January 2, 2006 Author Members Share Posted January 2, 2006 Ive seen RBF live ... Aaron Barret uses a Les Paul Double Cutaway and Scott Uses a Seventies model tele with a tele pickup at the bridge and a humbucker at the neck, that is probably the one your talking about. But I didnt know they used the neck pickups, I need to try that, so Im thinking maybe the tele custom with the Hum at the neck and the Tele at the bridge ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J Bone Posted January 2, 2006 Members Share Posted January 2, 2006 Tele all the way. The neck is great for clean and you can replace the bridge to get some good distortion sounds. Teles are very capable of having a thick overdrive sound, its all how you set it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fuzztone Posted January 2, 2006 Members Share Posted January 2, 2006 Ears wot ya need mon: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members radioclash Posted January 2, 2006 Members Share Posted January 2, 2006 Telecaster all the way. Ask Lynval Golding, Rob Hingley, and a lot of the original Studio One guys.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bucketboy Posted January 2, 2006 Members Share Posted January 2, 2006 Originally posted by Devinstation Ive seen RBF live ... Aaron Barret uses a Les Paul Double Cutaway and Scott Uses a Seventies model tele with a tele pickup at the bridge and a humbucker at the neck, that is probably the one your talking about. But I didnt know they used the neck pickups, I need to try that, so Im thinking maybe the tele custom with the Hum at the neck and the Tele at the bridge ... Yeah I've seen them live as well a bunch of times. Aaron tends to use his neck pickup almost exclusively, same with Scott. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wtfg89 Posted January 2, 2006 Members Share Posted January 2, 2006 Have you seen those GFS tube pickups? I would look into those as one would think it would have some twangy raw distortion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GuildGuitarist Posted January 2, 2006 Members Share Posted January 2, 2006 My set up was a '72 tele through a tweed bassman RI, usually with a BTMB Fuzzmaster or a ProCO Rat. It cut through as a rythym instrument, almost percussive at times. Which is exactly what I wanted because guitar's not usually at the forefront of ska bands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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