It's always been my opion that a start that sounds good unpluged sounds even better pluged in. I've just finished my new strat build. And it sounds fine everwhere excep the E,B, and G strings up around the twelve fret area. There isn't any buzz its just real then both pluged in and unpluged.Every place else on the neck sound very resonnet. any ideas as to cause. First time i've ran into this.
thin sound new strat build
- Thread starter TRG
- Start date
yes... I agree with you. I feel it is important to get a guitar sounding good unplugged - I believe that is key to a great guitar.
I am certainly just a hobbyist builder and player - but If you are just experience weak sounding notes ONLY around the 12th fret high E,B &G - might suggest the need for a fret dressing or leveling in that area???
HOWEVER..... First, I would evaluate your action at the 12th fret, you may need a tad more relief in the neck or need to raise the saddle height for these strings. If all of that seems proper... try bending notes on these strings in that area - Are they choking out? If so, you probably have a tall (proud) fret somewhere 13 on up. You may be able to improve (minimize) this with setup (noted above) - if that doesnt work take it to a good tech
Good luck
Kurt
I am certainly just a hobbyist builder and player - but If you are just experience weak sounding notes ONLY around the 12th fret high E,B &G - might suggest the need for a fret dressing or leveling in that area???
HOWEVER..... First, I would evaluate your action at the 12th fret, you may need a tad more relief in the neck or need to raise the saddle height for these strings. If all of that seems proper... try bending notes on these strings in that area - Are they choking out? If so, you probably have a tall (proud) fret somewhere 13 on up. You may be able to improve (minimize) this with setup (noted above) - if that doesnt work take it to a good tech
Good luck
Kurt
Super Turbo Deluxe Custom
Epic Member
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I've to disagree. It matters little what an electric guitar sounds like when unplugged. Acoustic guitar principals do not translate evenly into electric guitar. In mine and others' experience, an acoustically sound electric instrument doesn't translate into a good electric sound. Neckwood, age and gauge of strings, magnetic pull of pickups, scale length, and bridge type can all effect that sound of the unplugged electric.
I would suggest doing a thorough set up on the guitar.
try looking up the standard setting specs on the fender sight, as a starting point.
For Super Turbo: if your guitar isn't set up correctly, aside from pick up adjustments, and electronics issues, but including intonation, saddle height, etc.
those issues will be apparent unplugged.
try looking up the standard setting specs on the fender sight, as a starting point.
For Super Turbo: if your guitar isn't set up correctly, aside from pick up adjustments, and electronics issues, but including intonation, saddle height, etc.
those issues will be apparent unplugged.
bob7point7
Senior Member
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How high are your pickups? Are the magnets starting to pull too much on the high strings when you get to the upper frets?
erogenousjones17
Hero Member
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I think it's important that a guitar sound good both plugged and un; not necessarily because the acoustic sound correlates directly with the amplified sound (there are certain aspects of that sound that, as STDC said, do not), but simply because I spend a fair bit of time playing my electrics unplugged.
erogenousjones17
Hero Member
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tfarny said:
I don't think anyone's making that claim. :dontknow: But just because it's an electric guitar doesn't mean it should sound like crap plugged in.
tfarny said:
That's not the point. No acoustic is nearly as quiet as an unplugged electric. When most of the time you have to play is late at night, having an electric guitar that sounds nice even when unplugged is a good thing. Even my hollow body Ibanez is too loud to play late at night - people are sleeping.
FWIW I think my Warmoth Strat sounds great unplugged. So did the guy who did the final set up for me, and everyone else who's played it unplugged.
I think the set up was the deal. Worked on it some more last night. Raised the saddels a little. Dialed in the intonation and it has progesivly gotten better. This is the first strat I've built. Ive done threeTele's and found them much easier to set up from scratch. All of my strats were pretty well set up when i bought them. thanks for the advice. I play unplugged late at night early in the morning. And my starts and tele's sound a certain way and this guitar wasn't even coming close. Much better today.
Disco Scottie
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ErogenousJones said:
I'm totally with you on this. I play unplugged probably 90% of the time, so having a nice tone and resonance from the guitar is important to me. I'm no expert to say it makes a huge difference when plugged in, but I'm sure it would only help.
TRG said:
Good to hear that you got it straightened out...
I too play quite a bit unplugged at night (after the kids bedtime) and find it much more enjoyable when my guitars sound balanced. Not too mention - I find that I focus better on certain techniques (bends and legato) when playing unplugged.
As far as the debate goes about unplugged sound vs plugged - lets just say that I have never had a guitar that sounded/played well when plugged in and was totally dissatisfied when playing the same guitar unplugged, and I have had some stinkers - if so, I am certain that I would let it go. Thats just my experience, for me they go hand in hand and for some they do not. But for me, it is important for a guitar to sound a certain "balanced" way when playing unplugged (maybe this equates or contributes to the general "vibe" some players get from an instrument???)
Your maileage may vary...
