numberthirty wrote: Sun Jun 29, 2025 1:52 am Man...

You guys had best call somebody.

(This clip is about thirteen years old...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0VZzNXiXO8

But.... but.... and I could be totally wrong about this, but duder's second point, about high action and tone (possibly even "tone") seems (at least in part) wrong, in that if the fretboard/frets don't allow a string to fully resonate, you get audible fret buzz and the guitar doesn't work properly. Either a string can resonate without touching any frets (above the fretted fret, so to speak) or it can't. I might have missed something, but the distance between the freely resonating string and any frets or fretboard doesn't affect the tone, does it? EDIT: or the only way it does is through fret buzz/"sitar-ing".

This is interesting. I was playing a couple of single pickup guitars at a shop recently, looking to see if I would like the bridge pickup on a single pickup guitar. I noticed they sounded a little different than expected, but it was hard to really say because there are so many factors at play. I had a little inkling that something may be different or significant here.

I'd still want both pickups for flexibility, but I like the idea of simplicity.

I don’t think I can handle guitar store youtube today, but I actually roll with the high action thing, with reservations.

If you read old interviews with Rory Gallagher or whoever, the market around gear was much different, so a lot of times they’ll talk about their one “booster” pedal and go deeper into their guitar setups, which they could be particular about, and I learned about raising the action from him or somebody like Tom Petersson from Cheap Trick.

Bends sound cleaner and it raises the tension on lighter strings, too, which lends itself to an interesting effect.

seby wrote: Sat Jun 28, 2025 11:55 pm

TylerDeadPine wrote: Sat Jun 28, 2025 10:29 pm

Yaledelay wrote: Sat Jun 28, 2025 4:57 pm

Yes this was my idea too. But I have no knowledge of "How magnets work"

No one does, it’s a good question

This is definitely the canonical explanation out there in guitar-nerd-dome. Single pickups have free strings, unaffected by other magnets.

I just meant magnets. How do they work?

TylerDeadPine wrote: Sun Jun 29, 2025 11:47 pm

seby wrote: Sat Jun 28, 2025 11:55 pm

TylerDeadPine wrote: Sat Jun 28, 2025 10:29 pm

No one does, it’s a good question

This is definitely the canonical explanation out there in guitar-nerd-dome. Single pickups have free strings, unaffected by other magnets.

I just meant magnets. How do they work?

Oh! Witchcraft most likely

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Sun Jun 29, 2025 12:13 pm I don’t think I can handle guitar store youtube today, but I actually roll with the high action thing, with reservations.

If you read old interviews with Rory Gallagher or whoever, the market around gear was much different, so a lot of times they’ll talk about their one “booster” pedal and go deeper into their guitar setups, which they could be particular about, and I learned about raising the action from him or somebody like Tom Petersson from Cheap Trick.

Bends sound cleaner and it raises the tension on lighter strings, too, which lends itself to an interesting effect.

Yeah, all that makes more way sense to me than video guy's "proximity of the fretboard" thing.

It's weird. For years I presumed I had really high action on my guitars, because a) large fingers, heavy strings, and a tendency to hammer the fuck out of the strings and b) a shop setup would almost inevitably have me cranking the action to compensate for my appalling technique producing string buzz where nimble-fingered tech found none, but actually measuring it on all my guitars and it's way more "acceptable" than I'd have thought.

This is also only vaguely scientific, but I'm thinking about those vintage Fender Esquires that have a setting on the selector that cuts all of the other circuitry out, just a direct path from pickup to jack. Could it be a shorter wire run without a stop at a pup selector is different sounding?

losthighway wrote: Mon Jun 30, 2025 11:41 am a setting on the selector that cuts all of the other circuitry out, just a direct path from pickup to jack.

This is incorrect, as the volume control is always in the circuit, which does affect the output signal. The Esquire settings are:

1 - Volume control only, no tone.
2 - Volume and tone control like normal.
3 - Volume control and fixed tone setting at dark setting (like the tone control was completely rolled off).

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Mon Jun 30, 2025 12:50 pm

losthighway wrote: Mon Jun 30, 2025 11:41 am a setting on the selector that cuts all of the other circuitry out, just a direct path from pickup to jack.

This is incorrect, as the volume control is always in the circuit, which does affect the output signal. The Esquire settings are:

1 - Volume control only, no tone.
2 - Volume and tone control like normal.
3 - Volume control and fixed tone setting at dark setting (like the tone control was completely rolled off).

This is why we call you Dr! I never had the riches for a vintage Esquire and was talking out of my ass a bit.

Is setting 3 something akin to the "jazz" side of the Jazzmaster circuit?

losthighway wrote: Mon Jun 30, 2025 1:03 pm Is setting 3 something akin to the "jazz" side of the Jazzmaster circuit?

No not really. On a Jazzmaster, the switch on the upper bout switches from normal controls (down) to a specific "Rhythm" circuit (up). The Rhythm circuit is the neck pickup only, and uses its own volume and tone controls on the upper bout, bypassing the standard ones.