Members Brian May Posted December 25, 2010 Members Posted December 25, 2010 Been listening to some Richie Blackmore and Eric Johnson and am craving single coil Strat sounds...both my 2 Strats are HSS (one has a full size JB and the other a single coil sized JB Jnr) the one with the JB Jnr is gonna get its Texas Special single coil back in the bridge soon as I'm realising I have enough humbucker guitars anyway and only my Tele currently has a bridge single coil. I have a love hate relationship with bridge single coils...love their snap and bite but sometimes feel they're too thin sounding...but Eric Johnson seems to sound pretty awesome and fat with his lead tones from the bridge (does he roll the bridge tone back?) seems to be nice n sparkling on his cleans then fat n dirty the next moment. And playing riffs like Man On The Silver Mountain has me wanting that biting twangy tone that Richie gets on that. And again...strangely I find Blackmores lead tones aren't at all thin either. Hmmm. How does he go from glassy to dark n creamy fat??
Members DonP Posted December 25, 2010 Members Posted December 25, 2010 If I want a humbucker tone, I go for something other than a strat. So yes, I agree.
Members jtr654 Posted December 25, 2010 Members Posted December 25, 2010 Both boost their signal Blackmore turns his guitar down to get clean and Johnson switches amp setups.
Members Brian May Posted December 25, 2010 Author Members Posted December 25, 2010 I did have 4 Strats last year but needed to sell 2 to help fund a Brian May Red Special replica I bought...one of those was SSS and I had the Fender/Clapton 25db mid boost - thats what I think i'll add to the SSS Strat to sorta give me a best of both worlds guitar or at least as much as you can get from one guitar.
Members cratz2 Posted December 25, 2010 Members Posted December 25, 2010 I think one of the big things folks forget, at least when listening to studio albums, is the actual recording technique can radically vary. Esp the DIY type guitarists. It's not always a fully cranked Marshall half stack. Maybe it's a little amp, turned away from the mic, then post-production doctoring going on. Not saying that's true of Blackmore or Johnson... And of course, working the controls on the guitar go a LONG LONG way to help taking off the top end and making the guitar sound fuller. What might sound dark or muddy in the living room might have been exactly what happened in the studio. Subtle compression and EQ can do SO much that most guitarists can't. Just thinking out loud there. But yeah man... gots to have an S/S/S strat. I can't imagine life without one.
Members Lonnie99 Posted December 25, 2010 Members Posted December 25, 2010 Johnson uses so much stuff that I think he could use my daughter's Walmart ukelele and make it sound great.
Members EdMan57 Posted December 25, 2010 Members Posted December 25, 2010 I believe that Blackmore runs Duncan Quarter Pounder's in his Strats.They are wound rather hot with larger magnets,giving them almost a P-90 type of tone and vibe. Ed
Members billybilly Posted December 25, 2010 Members Posted December 25, 2010 I am pretty traditional when it comes to strats and only believe in SSS's. I am though, putting a phatty from bryan in the bridge and it's wound to about 12k. Looking forward to that one.
Members brandass Posted December 25, 2010 Members Posted December 25, 2010 I'm a true-blue SSS fan as well, when it comes to strats; HSS makes me shudder with revulsion. BUT I do like a hotter SC in the bridge.
Members Brian May Posted December 25, 2010 Author Members Posted December 25, 2010 I am actually like that with my Tele - I know many have humbuckers in there - either a single coil sized humbucker like a hotrails in the bridge and a full size bucker in the neck position. Mine I promised myself would be SS and forever so. I bought it because to me a Tele is all about twangy Tele tones..so why put in a humbucker?? With Strats I'm obviously more compromising..however I've seen the light again and am going back to SSS on one of my two Strats now. I got LP,SG,PRS Custom 22, JS1000 and 1 Strat all with bridge humbuckers...so I wont be losing much reverting one Strat back to SSS.
Members SnowViking Posted December 26, 2010 Members Posted December 26, 2010 Been listening to some Richie Blackmore and Eric Johnson and am craving single coil Strat sounds...both my 2 Strats are HSS (one has a full size JB and the other a single coil sized JB Jnr) the one with the JB Jnr is gonna get its Texas Special single coil back in the bridge soon as I'm realising I have enough humbucker guitars anyway and only my Tele currently has a bridge single coil. I have a love hate relationship with bridge single coils...love their snap and bite but sometimes feel they're too thin sounding...but Eric Johnson seems to sound pretty awesome and fat with his lead tones from the bridge (does he roll the bridge tone back?) seems to be nice n sparkling on his cleans then fat n dirty the next moment. And playing riffs like Man On The Silver Mountain has me wanting that biting twangy tone that Richie gets on that. And again...strangely I find Blackmores lead tones aren't at all thin either. Hmmm. How does he go from glassy to dark n creamy fat?? I think he might also finger pick a lot of his intros
Members SnowViking Posted December 26, 2010 Members Posted December 26, 2010 Yup difficult to get Blackmore tones from twin coils. Can the bridge p/u be split on the HSS?He did all sorts to his strats, like overwound p/u and a scalloped fretboard. Plus a treble booster.
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