Ever since the Fender company was taken over by employees from CBS around 1983/84 the standard American Stratocaster has been based, in sound and its bodyshape, on the original idease of Leo Fenders early 1950s Stratocaster. This statement is more or less true but you have to take it with a pinch of salt: Fender does make small changes to the design from time to time to suit the taste of modern players and to keep up with current trends.

If one could play an older Statocaster from the early 1950s and compare it to a more modern companion one would be surprised how close they are in sound. The modern Strat may sometimes be a bit hotter in output, but the overal sound is quite close to the originals. Not only American Strats are close to the older 1950s guitars, a lot of copies also remain close in sound to the original as well. Maybe this observation is based on the desire of the Fender company to give people, who play a copy of the American Stratocaster, the idea they play the real thing.

The feel of the older Strats is harder to duplicate in newer Stratocasters, but the Fender company do their utmost to build replicas of 1950s and early 1960s Strats to cater for this need as well.

Reading the above one might wonder:”Do all Strats sound the same since most of them are based on the original, 1950s design?” There is one period where the Stratocaster started to sound very different and this period started from late 1971 until the early 1980s. Stratocasters of 1970 and early 1971 still have the sound, feel and look of the 1960s Strats, the ones after that period started to change in sound, feel and look.

As you are reading this article you may be well aware of all the changes that took place from around 1971. I will not go into detail about some of those changes but will add a few remarks about them and explain what it means:

                            Quality Control:

It was slipping because more and more guitars were ordered, as a result there is a lot of variety in bodyweight, finish, type of wood being used and overal workmanship. They were simply sent out to fullfill the orders, whereas in the past some of those guitars may have been called back for some extra work before being sent off, hence so much variety in feel, look and sound.

                Body Weight:

Often the 1970s Strat is perceived as heavy. Not all of them are heavy, this may be due to various woods being used. Not all of them are made out of Alder, there are also Ash ones and other woodtypes.
Why did Fender use different woodtypes? Maybe they wanted to use up all the left-over parts, which was a common workpractice during the years Leo was running the company.
Different body weigth may not make a guitar any worse or better, it will make them sound different. A heavier body weight may add more body to the sound of the guitar.

                Finish:

The finish did get thicker and thicker, especially on the later 70s guitars. An interersting obsevation is that finish was applied while they still needed to fine tune the sanding of the body. Maybe this means that some of those bodies were not sanded down as smooth as they could be, and all those little rough edges wear off easily over the years. Maybe an explanation why some of those guitars have that typical wear and tear on the finish?

             Pick-Ups:

From the ones I have heard it seems that the output of the pick-ups is lower and smoother compared to any of the 1960s and 1950s ones. More modern Strats, and even the copies as well, certainly have a higher output.
This smoothness of the pick-ups is not wrong, it gives them a unique sound. The typical Strat sound is there, but it seem to have a slightly different tonecolour.
            
A lot of the facts I have mentioned here can be found in the pages of Tom Wheeler’s book about the Fender Stratocaster. I made a review of this book in an earlier blogarticle a few years ago.

Happy reading and hope to see you soon again,
Eddie

 

Here are the chordshapes for the intro as used in the original key of the song:

   
                      Bbm        Db           Gb6

              E ——————————————————

              B —-6———-6———-4————————–

             G —-6———-6———–6————————–

             D —-8———-6———–4————————–

             A ——————————————————-

             E  ——————————————————-

The chords are being played with the following picking pattern:

                      Bbm                           Db                                Gb6               

           E  —————————————————————————————————

           B ——————6————————6————————4——————4———-

           G ————-6——–6————-6———-6—————-6——-6———6——-6——

           D ———8———————-6—————————4——————4——————-

           A ——————————————————————————————————-

           E  ——————————————————————————————————-

                        Playing Ideas:

    Play the intro in the key of Am using chords Am  G and F6. Play intro in open position and find various picking patterns.

Enjoy and hope to catch you soon again,

Eddie

Changing the pick-ups in your guitar makes sense when you can hear for yourself what you do not like about the sound of you guitar.

The sound of your electric guitar depends on the kind of amp you use, your guitar, the kind of pick-ups and the woods of the guitar.

Listening to a lot of music does train your ear to how a guitar can sound like. Once you know how a guitar can sound like it may still take some time before your hands can make that guitar sound come to its full potential.
Once you are fully aware that your pick-ups are to blame (and not your hands!) for its weak sound you may want to take matters in your own hand by installing better quality pick-ups to invigorate your electric sound.

 

                   How do you go about changing the sound of your Pick-Ups?

 Try to ask yourself what is missing from them, you are the person who plays the guitar so hopefully you will be able to give an aswer to your own question why this guitar does not live up to its dream.
Once you know what you want the search for the right pick-up is so much easier. Yes there are hunderds and hunderds of pick-ups to choose from, but they all do the same thing: They amplify the sound of a vibrating string, each pick-up will vary in strength but that is it really. You can ignore all the talk about style and what other kind of jargon is used to market those pick-ups to you, all you need to know is what you want, and hopefully this desire is based on your listening-and playing habits.

                     The confusing approach?:

Buy a  complete set of new pick-ups, whatever type and whatever brand, play for a bit and listen and not being sure to how these new, pick-ups differ from your own, original ones: You may not be ready for this, if you can not hear it straight away. Not to worry, maybe you wanted to change too quickly, maybe you should keep on playing with the original pick-ups for some time, maybe they are not all that bad, maybe your guitar playing ability is lacking to make the guitar come to its full potential.

                    Another equally confusing approach could be:

Change pick-up, play for a bit, but still not happy, buy another pick-up and carry on with this approach until you really get fed up with it all and turn back to your own original pick-ups.

                   The Happy Approach?:

Record the sound of the pick-up you WANT to change. Install new pick-up and play. Happy? No sure? Listen back to sound original pick-up, go back to sound of new pick-up to hear how different it is. Maybe sound is not too different? Maybe sound is too much for you? At least you know what it is you like, or do not like. From here you can modify your change. Hopefully you will like what you hear after first play. If you do like the sound maybe you should stay with this pick-up instead of wanting to try diffent pick-ups. If it sounds right at first it will be right, at least for now how you are a  guitarplayer, with the gear you use and the kind of music you play. 

Happy searching and hope to catch you soon again,
Eddie

Playing many solos in your band and do not like the use of distortion pedal to cut through the mix?
Why not try  using a treble booster?
The nature of a treble booster is to add treble to your sound, which will make your single strings cut through in the mix of drums, guitars and bass. Often changing your pick-up to the bridge pick-up may be enough for this idea. In case the pick-up does not have the desired effect you may want to use a treble booster. It will simply make your single strings sound louder.

                      Treble Booster, Which Treble Booster?

You can use a dedicated treble booster (they were popular in the 60s when distortion pedals where virtually non-exhistant) or if you have a Wah (or Auto Wah) you can use this as well: Push the wah all the way down to boost the treble and you are there, simply step on your Wah when you need to be heard! No need to rock the pedal back and forward, simply keeping the pedal in one position is enough for now.

Another way to add treble to your single string sound is using a EQ pedal: Graphic EQ’s may be the best for this kind of approach. Set the EQ up to boost the treble registre, and switch pedal on when you need your sound.

Once you start looking into how to boost your sound you will find a lot more ways instead of simply stepping on a distortion pedal. Distortion pedals have their place but they change your overal sound, and if you do not like this you do need to come up with another way to get that extra bit of boost to your sound.

 

Happy playing and hope to catch you soon again,
Eddie

Changing strings on a Floyd Rose bridge guitar needs a bit of care compared to changing strings on your standard, fixed bridge electric guitars: 

Change one string at a time to avoid having to tune up for a long time. Even when you take this approach you will still need to tune longer than on any standard fixed bridge guitar, or even a Fullcrum tremolo bridge such as the Fender Stratocaster.

To tune up the strings, use your tuning pegs first, make sure you unlock the locking nut. Once all strings are tuned up with the tuners, fasten locking nut and finetune your strings with the fine tuners at the bridge.

Once you have followed this approach you will find your strings will stay in tune.

                                                             Strings:

Most guitar players will cut the excess bit of string left at the tuning peg. If you are using a Floyd Rose bridge it makes sense not to cut this excess bit of string: Break a string (it usually will break at the bridge) you can unwind the string and refasten at the bridge end. It will save you getting new strings for each moment you break one individual string.

Floyd Rose bridges have their own sound and you do not need to be a dive bomber to appreciate their sound and feel: The tremolo arm does have a lot less flutter than any Fullcrum Strat Tremolo system. You will even notice this when using the tremolo arm in a subtle manner.

Enoy and hope to see you soon again,
Eddie

 

Using a pop shield on your microphone is usually used for cutting down unwanted sounds in your vocals. Basically how it works, the pop shield cuts down a bit of treble, this bit of treble can  sometimes create unwanted, irritating sounds in letters such as P or S. When using the pop shield those sounds are less prominent.

A pop shield will also keep your microphone clean when you share your mic with other people.
When using your microphone outside a pop shield will keep the wind out of the mic. Wind can cause some irritating sounds as well when amplified by a mic.

In case you cannot find a pop shield you can also use an old sock. Any type of cloth you can put over the microphone will do the job.

Hope to catch you soon again,
Eddie

Some guitar amps do give you the ability to add an extra, external speaker to its main internal speaker.
Why would you like to try this?

~The hear how a differerent speaker responds to your amp.

~To spread the sound of your amp.

If your amp does not have an external speaker input you could try to connect your amp to another amp to achieve a similar kind of idea. When you are connecting your guitar to both amps set the amps up for a similar kind of tone. You will hear your sound as one amp rather than two different amps. Take out the sound of one amp to hear the differences in your sound, you will be surprised by what you hear.

 

Happy playing and hope to catch you soon again,
Eddie

                           Old Strings:

A string is like an elastic band. At some point the string will have lost it elasticity, by that time the string will no longer feel slippery (typical feel of new strings) and it is time to change your strings. To avoid breaking strings during your playing make a habit of changing your strings regularly, all depending on how often you play and your playingstyle, but changing strings regularly will make sure you keep that fresh feel under your fingers and avoid embarrassing moments of snapping a string while in the middle of playing a song.

                          Sharp Edges on Bridge or Frets:

Sharp edges on either bridge or frets appear as part of wear and tear on your guitar, they can cause a string to break. If you break a string often at the same point check to see if you have any sharp edges on either frets or bridge. You can smoothen out those rough edges with some fine sandpaper or a fine file. If you do not trust yourself with any of this check out your local guitar repairman.

                         Your Own Technique:

You may play too rough for the strings to handle your playing style. Work on your technique to smoothen things out. You do not need to be gentle on your strings, they can handle a lot, but it depends on how you strike the strings. You can sometimes notice differences when you change your tecniquqe. There may be a point where you break strings, because you strike the string harder than how you used to play before. In cases like this try to smoothen out your playing, over time you will learn how hard to attack those strings. If you still keep breaking strings learn to live with how you play: change strings often for them to keep up with your style!!

                        Floating Tremolos such as Floyd Rose Systems:

Heavy use of trems like the Floyd Rose will wear your strings out quicker simply because there is more movement of the strings. Again, as what I mentioned before about your own technique, breaking strings while using any floating tremolo system will depend a lot on your style: It may be possible to use your trem all the time and not breaking any strings at all.      

Changing strings all depends on your style and preferences: Some guitar players do not like the sound and feel of new strings, therefore they may be quite happy not to change them too often. Most of use like to keep them fresh, and to achieve this changing your strings from time to time will help you!

Have a Great Time and hope to catch you soon again,
Eddie

This idea is ideal for those of you you play through an amp and monitor speakers while on stage.
Sometimes it may be good to use the monitor speakers as part of your amp: You have an extra speaker around. This extra speaker may be useful for particular special effects while using your pedals. One of those effects is the idea of “stereo-delay” 

The image of “Stereo Delay” only comes alive when using two amps. Using two amps on stage may not always be practical. What about using the P. A monitor speaker as part of your amp?By using the insert input of the mixer you are able to send your Delay signal through that particular channel of the mixer: Simply patch the delay pedal into the insert input.

Insert inputs work as patching an effect onto one channel. You will need a cable with a stereo- Jack plug on one side going into two mono-Jack plugs. The stereo Jack plug is usually plugged into the mixer, while the two mono-Jack plugs are for your delay pedal: One Jack plug for the input while the other Jack plug goes into the output of your Delay pedal. The stereo- Jack sends the unprocessed signal of the channel into your Delay while the output of the Delay brings the signal back into the channel. A bit like an effects-loop, with the difference that the insert will only work for one dedicated channel.

The delayed guitar signal will only be heard on the monitor speaker, while your guitar amp in unprocessed. Make sure you do not plug the Delay straight into your guitaramp, since this will put delay onto both guitar amp and monitor speaker.

Using the insert input in this manner creates the idea of Stereo-image: Guitar amp is dry while monitor speakers do have the delayed signal. The monitor speaker will probably not be that close to your guitar amp, this makes the stereo idea work even better.

Inserts inputs do not only work  for Delays, they will take any effect. Try it to see which effects work best for you while using the insert input of your mixer. 

Happy experimenting,
Eddie

The tone of an electric guitar usually depends on the body construction, type of wood and the kind of pick-ups being used.
Solid bodied guitars may be the most popular guitars today but there was a time when the hollowed bodied guitar was all the guitarist had.

Hollowed bodied electric guitars came out of the acoustic F-shaped guitars. Guitarists used to put a pick-up on the body to amplify the guitar. 
From the 1950s onwards technicians such as Leo Fender and guitarists like Les Paul started experimenting with guitar construction with the aim to develop a solid bodied guitar. Out of these experiments came the Les Paul guitar, the Telecaster and the Stratocaster. All three guitarmodels are still popular today and use a solid piece of wood as main guitarbody.

The Hollowed bodied guitar may be less popular today, but it is still around in its various shapes. The main difference in sound is: A mellower tone compared to a solid bodied guitar. If you have never used a hollow bodied guitar you will notice the difference in sound and feel: With their bigger body they may feel like a standard acoustic guitar, the tone may be less focused (although this will depend on type of guitar and model)

Personally I feel the Statocaster is still the most versatile electric guitar around today, it can be used in many styles and will never feel out of place, with its tremolo arm and floating bridge you are able to get sounds you can not achieve with a standard, fixed bridge. The Strat can give you bright and dark tones which may be all you need to get you through a set of songs. If you have the choise, a hollowed bodied guitar, next to a Les Paul and a Strat will give you all what there is to offer in guitar tone-and feel.

Hope to catch you soon again,
Eddie