will sanding neck cause change in tone? and more..

[jonah-tan]

as per above, i recently sanded down the neck of my strat. the tone seems to have changed since then. not as bright and strat sounding. very dark and mushy and stuff now.. clarity's been loss substantially.. i changed my saddles prior as well but they were gotoh, i think, fender replacement saddles. got them from beez.

also, my volume knob seems to have loss it's ability to swell smoothly. it's soft until like 8.5, 9 then it suddenly explodes! why ah?

i need help!! i hate it when i can't get the tone i want with favourite guitar. so distracting during rehearsal and the volume pot's really bothering me. damn..

 

[obzervr]

Hi Bro,

My suggestion is to get you volume pot and perhaps the circuitry checked and serviced/replaced cos a faulty circuitry is most likely to be the culprit in giving you that dead mushy sound due to inconsistent signal flow from your pickups thru your guitar circuitry to the amp.

I make neck swops on my personal guitars quiet often and most often (with similar pickups mounted), it is the wood combination and type of nut/saddles that changes much of the tone. I may be wrong here, it could be that my amps and ears are not sensitive enough to detect the difference.

 

[edder]

sanding the neck and changing saddles won't result in those things that you've listed. go send it for a checkup with Beez.

 

[jonah-tan]

mmhmm.. thanks so much guys!! will go do fix the faulty volume knob. see what happens and then if problem still persists then probably get the original fender saddles. see how lo..

thanks again!

 

[jonah-tan]

damn guys.. i went to beez to get my volume pot replaced but somehow over there my volume pot sounded smooth as cream. and there was no muddiness or the aforementioned darkness of tone. second time it has happened already in fact, my guitar sounding different at beez's and at my house. suspecting something, i went home to check things out again before replacing the volume pot. turns out the problem was my planet waves cable. when i used a different cable, the guitar sounded just as how i remembered it! AND the volume pot was smooth as anything, no uneven swell anymore! wow. i never realised cables could affect tone so much.

i guess all that talk about boutique cables are justified after all. wow. it might sound nooby but i don't care. haha. was sorta of an epiphany to me. haha. cables affect tone!

 

[THOA]

I hate Planet Waves cable. They affect your tone alot and not in a good way. But I know there are many who like them so this is strictly preference.

But yes, cables ARE part of the tone equation. Now you know...

 

[jonah-tan]

ya man. now i know. haha. i am finally considering investing in good cables. it used to be 'whatever's available' kind of attitude last time. haha.

what cables do you use? recommend any?

 

[THOA]

I started with Proel. It has a pretty decent low frequencies but sucks out a lot of the hi frequencies. Now I'm using Ibanez Series 96 cable and patch cables. After the first cable I bought, I never thought twice about them.

I believe Beez can also custom a cable for you. He's using Canare cable with Amphenol plug (Good stuff. I use it for my mic cable to guitar pedal adaptor).

 

[jonah-tan]

awesome stuff. thanks for the help man!

about how much are the ibanez cables?

 

[THOA]

Sorry, dude, but I honestly can't remember. Been a while since I purchased it cos I have yet to replace it, which is a good thing. :lol:

Might wanna call Swee Lee to ask.

 

[khaos11]

hi all,

along the same topic of necks... i was wondering...

i have an edwards LP98, and the neck is "slightly" chunky for my liking, (short and stubby fingers... heehe) so i was wondering whether "thinning" my neck will cause instabilities in the neck causing them to crack, wrap or worst still.... break. I've an Ibanez RG which i really favour, and probably most used to.

if it is possible to "thin" my neck.... how much of my neck CAN i thin it, till it starts to lose it stability.

why i taught of this was cause i noticed jimmy page and slash both have slightly thinner neck on their own personal sets to ur conventional les pauls.

Which shops specializes on this... and roughly how much would it cost. if its too costly, i'd rather just skip the whole idea of that and TRY to adapt.

oh yea, to add to the process, how do they finish the necks with a matt satin finish. (similar to those RG necks) what do they use? nitro? i sure wouldn't want those glossy "smooth" finish(shiny type)... cuz somehow, my thumb tend to stick when its in the heat of battle

cheers
khaos

 

[guitarsan]

...i never realised cables could affect tone so much.

Yep, cables are just as important. I remember an advertising caption in a guitar magazine that says "You got a decent amp and a decent guitar, don't put CRAP in between". Make sense.

 

[jonah-tan]

"You got a decent amp and a decent guitar, don't put CRAP in between". Make sense.

words of wisdom = WOW. haha

since i'm now in the market for new cables, would anyone care to enlighten me about the best value for money ones to purchase? affordable with clean unfiltered sound.

are george l's for patch cables the shit or not really worth the dough?

i've been noticing quite a few people playing the 'curly' cables, those like coiled springs. do they make you sound fatter and fuller and cause your distortion to be more 'fuzzy'?

 

[bidrubberclock]

yes cables do affect,n for fender why dont you try california cables brand,coz i think it's fitted enough for all kind of fender,canare also good and more flexible...

 

[madnessman]

words of wisdom = WOW. haha

since i'm now in the market for new cables, would anyone care to enlighten me about the best value for money ones to purchase? affordable with clean unfiltered sound.

are george l's for patch cables the shit or not really worth the dough?

i've been noticing quite a few people playing the 'curly' cables, those like coiled springs. do they make you sound fatter and fuller and cause your distortion to be more 'fuzzy'?

pick a pair up from beez. they are good cables and cost around 20 bucks. and it's beez so if anything goes wrong you could probably just bring it back to him.

 

[theunknown]

i use the ibanez cable, cost ~55 at swee lee. bought during sweelee sale so yeah. hahah
patch cables? canare with flatheads from beez. yeah anything goes wrong just go back to him very reasonable guy.

 

[ShredCow]

I think its cool to explore the different effects on tone every component has. There is more good to bothering about this than sheer indifference imo.

Cables are one thing - google up lava cables. They have a good rundown of the various cables and their properties.

Picks are another thing. Thin vs thick, different materials, different cut/size/shapes.

String guage is another thing. Thinner tends to crunch better, thicker then to sound uh thicker, etc

Direct mounted pickups or pickup rings or pickguard-mounted pickups?

Nut material?

There are plenty of things to explore. And I think its all good.

But the most important thing methinks - are you in-tune and will you keep in-tune? A good setup, excellent intonation, enough practice with bends, a good ear - means ALOT.

Speaking of sanding the neck, if you're going to sand thru the finish and everything else, please make sure you got something to protect the neck from moisture and stuff. You don't want the neck to shift everytime the humidity goes up/down. Keeping in tune! heh.