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Post by Infinite Ego on Mar 3, 2013 15:24:00 GMT -5
You know how some amps get their character from the preamp distortion while others get their character from power amp distortion I've had this hypothesis that there are two kinds of electric guitars:
some get their character from the neck while others derive their mojo from the bridge.
PRS and Gibson guitars have always struck me as objects that have it all going on in the neck (material, method of attachment to body, angle, headstock angle....the bridge is anchored rigidly and minimally (I noticed on my PRS that the anchor studs are very, very thin as if minimizing the bridge-to-body interaction
Fender guitars seem to have all the vibe in the bridges: the special clank and spank of a tele seems to reside in that weird, big, flat, thin bridge plate and barrel saddles and the strat with the springs, block, and six individual saddles
Try a Strat with a fixed bridge and it just doesn't feel our sound the way you'd expect a Strat to feel or sound. Tele with another other kind of bridge and something is missing.
Odd hybrids: the large G&L floating bridges are much larger and chunkier than a standard Strat and I've always felt that a Legacy with a vibrato seems to blend the quak of a Strat and the clank of a tele -- due to the bridge.
What do you think?
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Post by chrissh on Mar 3, 2013 16:49:35 GMT -5
Good observation.
It does seem Fender bridges impart more character, maybe because of the thinner metal and fuller contact with the body, either the thin steel tele plate covering that whole part of the body and pickup, or a full strat vibrato route with its six pivot screws and anchored springs through the back. Vibrating metal. Their saddles are unique too. A tune-o-matic is massively anchored at just a few points.
And shorter, flatter Gibson and PRS necks are more responsive in my experience, easier for me to nuance intonation and control bends. I just can't usually get a percussive twangy snap from a set neck though. That seems to generally be a bolt neck perk.
I prefer hybrids too.
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Post by Infinite Ego on Mar 3, 2013 18:12:21 GMT -5
I agree: PRS et al. are easy to nuance but you just cannot get twang out of them. Even their single coil guitars are devoid of a real Strat-Tele quack or twangy snappy stuff. They all sound like olive oil, cracked peppercorn, and White Zinfandel  |
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Post by brucestevens on Mar 3, 2013 21:09:02 GMT -5
I have more or less a Jazzmaster variation, which is the ultimate bridge guitar.
Bruce
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Post by Infinite Ego on Mar 4, 2013 7:34:46 GMT -5
yeah, the JM is the ultimate bridge guitar
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Post by chrissh on Mar 4, 2013 20:37:23 GMT -5
evoo, pepper, zinfandel... durian for dessert?
Bruce, is there any way to get more travel from the jazzmaster vibrato?
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Post by aliensporebomb on Mar 4, 2013 20:58:28 GMT -5
That strat I own was noticeably more alive than the one I'd put the SuperVee on so I swapped them and then put the SuperVee on the black strat with the GK pickup. It twangs but can do the round resonant thing whereas the orange strat had two modes; twang and what I call shredded wheat tone - not real integrated - had some tinfoil aspects which was ok for some things but that black one was something else. The gk pickup was the icing on the cake. It only weighed 7 pounds too. The black one had a loud acoustic tone but got louder with the SuperVee on it.
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mirth
New Member
Posts: 931
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Post by mirth on Mar 4, 2013 21:36:28 GMT -5
I would agree with your assessment, and I never really thought about that before. I'd definitely say I'm a Bridge guitar fan over a Neck guitar fan in that regard. The neck guitars always seem so nice, but they have no personality or less personality than a bridge guitar. They're not quite ferraris more like nascar or something, haha.
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Post by aliensporebomb on Mar 5, 2013 23:33:37 GMT -5
I wonder if a guitar can be both a bridge guitar and a neck guitar? What on earth would that sound like?
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Post by Infinite Ego on Mar 6, 2013 7:26:11 GMT -5
It would sound bad actually, a lot of guitars get mixed up like this .... like the hardtail strat |
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Post by davidmgt on Mar 23, 2013 22:04:18 GMT -5
I definitely agree about how the G&L bridge wreaks havoc on the archetypes. My legacy continues to be my favorite bolt-on guitar because of its odd blend of boldness and spankiness.
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Post by Infinite Ego on Mar 23, 2013 22:53:00 GMT -5
I've been playing my Legacy a lot lately and then plugged in my Comanche and, well, let's just say I continue to be amazed ....
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Post by hexabuzz on Mar 24, 2013 19:56:57 GMT -5
I've been playing my Legacy a lot lately and then plugged in my Comanche and, well, let's just say I continue to be amazed .... Amazed in what respect, if I may ask? |
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Post by Infinite Ego on Mar 24, 2013 20:33:52 GMT -5
I've been playing my Legacy a lot lately and then plugged in my Comanche and, well, let's just say I continue to be amazed .... Amazed in what respect, if I may ask? It's the velvet hammer Those pickups are amazing. Hot but not the typical over-wound sound. In fact, Comanche pups don't have a lot of wire. Wide sound, rich, full, piano-like bottom end, bright top end without harshness. I think if a person could only have one guitar they could do a lot worse than a Comanche |
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Post by aliensporebomb on Mar 25, 2013 11:07:58 GMT -5
The secret: lower output pickups sound better even for high gain stuff. Why? I don't know - but I have a theory:
The closest I can think of is that hot, overwound pickups are like a loud talking guy barking into a microphone causing any of the dynamics and nuance to be lost when put thru the recording circuits. It kind of compresses and rounds off the song but the nuance or grain in the sound gets lost.
Lesser wound pickups seem to have more dynamics and more "good tonal character" because they can speak at a reasonable distance from the mic and you can hear the nuances and grain more. You can compress or tonally round off those pickups but it doesn't have the same "nuance ruining" effect of a super loud pickup. Does this make sense?
I agree on that Comanche. I still kick myself for letting that one that had the unique finish and special neck at that used store. I was in that store two years later and they were STILL talking about that guitar.
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