Tele sound from a strat?

[grolschie]

Update:

1). Tried attaching a 1.1mm thick steel plate to the bottom of the
bridge pickup. Not much difference. Attached it to middle pickup.
Sounded quite a bit harder, a little more like a tele. However, body of
guitar is microphonic when selecting that pickup. Tapping the body, the
sound comes through the amp.

2). Bought a Rio Grande Stelly (8.6k ohms). Much closer to what I am
after. Powerful pup, but not quite as grunty as I would expect. Volume
balances nicely with the other stock USA Fender pups. Am yet to crank
it though. Seems bright, but without ice-pick. Has the hard tele edge,
as opposed to the rounded bell-like strat sound. Combines nicely with
the neck or middle pup.

Thanks to all who replied to my earlier post. :-)
grol

From: grolschie
Date: Tues, Jul 4 2006 12:26 pm
Groups: alt.guitar
Apologies in advance for posting from GG. My ISP pulled its usenet
server. :-(
Anyways, I'm looking to get a tele sound from the bridge pickup of my
strat. Custom strat with 80's Std USA Fender pups and the bridge pickup
doesn't cut it. I I like the punch of the tele bridge so was thinking
of getting a DiMarzio Red Velvet. Then I realised that the Red Velvet
only sounds like a tele pup because of the metal plate under it. So I
http://www.stewmac.com/wiring101/covers_compacitance.html
It explains that attaching a metal plate to the bottom of your pickup
will make it sound more like a tele. Has anyone tried this? What about
a metal pick guard also?
Noise can be an issue for me when not on middle positions, so looking
for options in this area also.
Thanks in advance. :-)
Cheers,
grol

[boardjunkie]

Post by grolschie
1). Tried attaching a 1.1mm thick steel plate to the bottom of the
bridge pickup. Not much difference. Attached it to middle pickup.
Sounded quite a bit harder, a little more like a tele. However, body of
guitar is microphonic when selecting that pickup. Tapping the body, the
sound comes through the amp.

That's because the plate can rattle against the polepieces. Attach it
well then pot the p-up.

[grolschie]

Post by boardjunkie

Post by grolschie
1). Tried attaching a 1.1mm thick steel plate to the bottom of the
bridge pickup. Not much difference. Attached it to middle pickup.
Sounded quite a bit harder, a little more like a tele. However, body of
guitar is microphonic when selecting that pickup. Tapping the body, the
sound comes through the amp.

That's because the plate can rattle against the polepieces. Attach it
well then pot the p-up.

I drilled holes through it for the pickup mounting screws to go though.
It's pretty tightly on there. The tapping can be heard at very low
volume. Perhaps waxing it would help then. Maybe I should also try
attaching it to the Stelly. Could be the ticket! :-)

grol

[Burnham Treezdown]

Post by grolschie

Post by boardjunkie

Post by grolschie
1). Tried attaching a 1.1mm thick steel plate to the bottom of the
bridge pickup. Not much difference. Attached it to middle pickup.
Sounded quite a bit harder, a little more like a tele. However, body of
guitar is microphonic when selecting that pickup. Tapping the body, the
sound comes through the amp.

That's because the plate can rattle against the polepieces. Attach it
well then pot the p-up.

I drilled holes through it for the pickup mounting screws to go though.
It's pretty tightly on there. The tapping can be heard at very low
volume. Perhaps waxing it would help then. Maybe I should also try
attaching it to the Stelly. Could be the ticket! :-)

If it's only attached by screws it's free to vibrate along its length even if it
feels tight. It's essentially a microphone diaphragm. It need to be waxed in
place.

[grolschie]

Post by Burnham Treezdown
If it's only attached by screws it's free to vibrate along its length even if it
feels tight. It's essentially a microphone diaphragm. It need to be waxed in
place.

Aha. That makes sense. Waxing sounds a little tricky/messy. But I might
give it a go sometime. Might just attach the plate to the Stelly
without wax in the meantime just to hear what it sounds like (ignoring
microphonics of course). :-)

grol.

[Burnham Treezdown]

Post by grolschie

Post by Burnham Treezdown
If it's only attached by screws it's free to vibrate along its length even if it
feels tight. It's essentially a microphone diaphragm. It need to be waxed in
place.

Aha. That makes sense. Waxing sounds a little tricky/messy. But I might
give it a go sometime. Might just attach the plate to the Stelly
without wax in the meantime just to hear what it sounds like (ignoring
microphonics of course). :-)

I don't know the true physics of the bottom plate's effect (and among the
experts, opinions vary) but it seems to me the entire plate should make hard
contact with the bobbin and/or magnets, but be immobilized against vibrating on
its own. Any wax or adhesive in between would neutralize whatever it does. Many
years ago I tried adding a plate (probably aluminum but maybe steel) to some
no-name Strat pickup (Hondo?) after hearing that's what Teles had but never
having seen one. I used some kind of glue, mashed the plate down hard to squeeze
out the excess and stuck it in the bridge hole. Couldn't tell any real
difference but then mine didn't extend to the screw holes. Maybe having the
screws threaded through the plate is what does the trick.

I had a Twangbanger for a while, couldn't tell that it did anything, and the
sound, being an Alnico II, was a bit mellow for my taste. Instead of Tele twang
I just had a wimpy Strat.

[grolschie]

Post by Burnham Treezdown
I don't know the true physics of the bottom plate's effect (and among the
experts, opinions vary) but it seems to me the entire plate should make hard
contact with the bobbin and/or magnets, but be immobilized against vibrating on
its own. Any wax or adhesive in between would neutralize whatever it does. Many
years ago I tried adding a plate (probably aluminum but maybe steel) to some
no-name Strat pickup (Hondo?) after hearing that's what Teles had but never
having seen one. I used some kind of glue, mashed the plate down hard to squeeze
out the excess and stuck it in the bridge hole. Couldn't tell any real
difference but then mine didn't extend to the screw holes. Maybe having the
screws threaded through the plate is what does the trick.

I think it's gotta be a ferrous metal like steel for it to work.

Post by Burnham Treezdown
I had a Twangbanger for a while, couldn't tell that it did anything, and the
sound, being an Alnico II, was a bit mellow for my taste. Instead of Tele twang
I just had a wimpy Strat.

Yeah the Twangbanger gets bad reviews. The Stelly sounds very
tele-like. I reckon adding a plate to the Stelly would seal the deal.
Because the Stelly is a Tele pickup with massively fat poles. All it's
missing is the plate. It's sounds tele-like enough for me, but I may
still experiment. It's got a great sound with distortion. Finally a
usable strat bridge pickup. Highly recommended. :-)

grol

[Burnham Treezdown]

Post by grolschie
Yeah the Twangbanger gets bad reviews. The Stelly sounds very
tele-like. I reckon adding a plate to the Stelly would seal the deal.
Because the Stelly is a Tele pickup with massively fat poles. All it's
missing is the plate. It's sounds tele-like enough for me, but I may
still experiment. It's got a great sound with distortion. Finally a
usable strat bridge pickup. Highly recommended. :-)

If you can only have one guitar it's probably easier to get a Strat sound from a
Tele than vice-versa. Just drop in that middle pickup. Bu then there's the
limited controls & the comfort factor.

I've got a Bill Lawrence 280-290L set on my 52RI Tele. Love 'em. Becky said the
280 neck pups are the same for both Teles & Strats, just different sizes, but to
me they don't sound the same, the Tele being more clear & "woody". How much of
this is because of the difference between ash/maple and alder/rosewood, or
because of direct-to-wood vs pickguard mounting, I can't say, but the Tele
definitely has something I could never get out of my 3 Strats.

I've been tossing around the idea of mounting another Tele neck pup in the Tele
middle but I haven't been able to find a pickguard like that; they all have
Strat middles. Warmoth says they can't do it.

[RichCI]

Post by grolschie
1). Tried attaching a 1.1mm thick steel plate to the bottom of the
bridge pickup. Not much difference. Attached it to middle pickup.
Sounded quite a bit harder, a little more like a tele. However, body of
guitar is microphonic when selecting that pickup. Tapping the body, the
sound comes through the amp.
2). Bought a Rio Grande Stelly (8.6k ohms). Much closer to what I am
after. Powerful pup, but not quite as grunty as I would expect. Volume
balances nicely with the other stock USA Fender pups. Am yet to crank
it though. Seems bright, but without ice-pick. Has the hard tele edge,
as opposed to the rounded bell-like strat sound. Combines nicely with
the neck or middle pup.
Thanks to all who replied to my earlier post. :-)
grol

Unless you're having fun experimenting, anothe pickup that is supposed
to give a Tele sound is the Seymour Duncan APST-1 twang banger. I've
never checked one out but it might be worth investigating.

Post by grolschie

From: grolschie
Date: Tues, Jul 4 2006 12:26 pm
Groups: alt.guitar
Apologies in advance for posting from GG. My ISP pulled its usenet
server. :-(
Anyways, I'm looking to get a tele sound from the bridge pickup of my
strat. Custom strat with 80's Std USA Fender pups and the bridge pickup
doesn't cut it. I I like the punch of the tele bridge so was thinking
of getting a DiMarzio Red Velvet. Then I realised that the Red Velvet
only sounds like a tele pup because of the metal plate under it. So I
http://www.stewmac.com/wiring101/covers_compacitance.html
It explains that attaching a metal plate to the bottom of your pickup
will make it sound more like a tele. Has anyone tried this? What about
a metal pick guard also?
Noise can be an issue for me when not on middle positions, so looking
for options in this area also.
Thanks in advance. :-)
Cheers,
grol

[Derek]

I too have a Stelly in the bridge of my Strat (past 5 years), along
with Muy Grande pups in the middle and neck. Sweetest sounding strat I
have ever owned. One of the guys I play with occassionally, has Fralin
Blues Specials (i think that is what they are called) in his, and he
likes the sound of mine better. I think they really did a great job of
getting that sound out of a Strat. Enjoy!

[grolschie]

Post by RichCI
Unless you're having fun experimenting, anothe pickup that is supposed
to give a Tele sound is the Seymour Duncan APST-1 twang banger. I've
never checked one out but it might be worth investigating.

Reviews of the Twang Banger are less than favourable. Red Velvet is
another that is inbetween, but not as powerful as the Stelly.

The Stelly is a great pickup and I think it's as close as you get with
an aftermarket pickup. It sounds best with heaps of gain.

Just curious about experimenting. :-)

grol