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I know this site is full of metal players. My question is what tricks do you Tele pickers have to help a strat player improve his TWANG?

J-HALEY wrote:I know this site is full of metal players. My question is what tricks do you Tele pickers have to help a strat player improve his TWANG?

I thought a change of brighter pickups would give it more "twang".
But, then again, I'm not much of a gearhead.

If your instrument is halfway close, your fingers do all the talking.

I get tons of twang on my strat but it's unintentional. (doh)

And I played a quality Fender Tele from 73 and I like the sound, but hate the neck.

ssdd.

(Most all your sound is in your head and your hands.)

Don't . . .

Try a fairly clean setting on a Fender amp, for a start, forget using a Marshall, Mesa, Orange or Egnator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UMVslwn1Vs

Strat > M108 EQ > Tweed toned tube amp.

Same: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6QOhUHi6U0

Amps: Peavey Classic 30, Fender Blues Jr. , Vox AC15 or similar affordable little tube amp will get the job done.

Egnater Tweaker series actually do fantastic Fender tone. Here is my T15H set up for Fender tone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl0rVQxGchM

Gear wise -Another vote for a Fender .... no FX except for reverb
Jeff one thing about country stuff that sounds more twangy than rock is the bends .... been trying to get a Jerry Garcia thing ..... he has a lot twang ... esp the early stuff .... dude played pedal steel after all ....
I am trying to learn how to play the PRE-Bend's ..... the bend release while grabbing other notes ....
yeah man I think those guys in the country bands that back up the singers are some excellent musicians .... think i would rather hear them than the singers ....

Thanks guys! I know I can't make a strat sound like a Tele. What I have been doing is using the middle pickup with my clean channel in combination with my BB Preamp that helps me get a pretty good country sound. Really what I want to ask is about eq of the amp to help with that country sound? How do you country pickers set your amp eq?

go to youtube and type in worlds greatest flat picker and you will find a young man that i think his name is silo or something like that.
He is from england and i think he is only 18. This kid plays a tele and shows all kinds of neat tricks for what your wanting. He is by far one of the greatest pickers i have ever seen. It will blow your mind.

Deadguitars wrote:Gear wise -Another vote for a Fender .... no FX except for reverb

no FX besides 'verb???? gotta have a compressor. i think the open back cab (a la FENDER) is a big part of the equation too. when i'm a twanging (on one of my teles or my strat) it's usually thru my Fender Deluxe w it's straightahead treble and bass controls... no graphic or parametric eq's to deal w like on those boogies! i usally run bass between 3 and 5 and the treble is anywhere between 2 and 6 all depending on the room and the band's instrumentation.

...and weirdly enough, just this morning i bought a new never installed Wilkinson tele neck pickup for $15!

gonna go in a project gtr.....a Squier tele body w an old '65 FENDER Villager 12 string neck.

def a topic I'm excited to spout off about as if I know something (I don't)

love the fender clean tone... but it's not to say it can't be done w/o it.

that said: lotta really good country players play straight in, but the dan armstrong orange squeezer really nails down that compressed spanky tone with sparkly highs. can't recommend it enough. country tone in a box and does a lot more too. and hey: mark knopfler supposedly used one as well as skunk baxter.

also "that classic country tone" typically involves slap delay
from james burton(elvis) to chet and less to hellecasters... whole lotta slap back.

afa make a strat sound like a tele... check out steve morese or eric johnson below. neither uses a tele and morse is using a marshal and peavey here(demo below). He is spot on about the tecnique having more to do with it than anything IMO and both are about as good as it gets for tone also IMO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuXPBoTz2Oc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEAAOY2J5Wo


afa changing pickups... I think you could get a lot closer with a $2 spdt switch...
the main thing dif with a tele is the neck and bridge on at once. on a strat, you can get this combo by wiring in a switch prior to the 5 way selector from the bridge pu hot wire... one way goes to 5 way, other goes direct to #3 lug on vol pot, bridge hot goes to the middle.
this way you can flip the switch to turn on the bridge pu in the 4 and 5 positions and this can really get you some good tele tones
the phase will be a bit dif but you'll get to the church on time.
literally cut one wire, replace one wire and add a third and your there.

afa eq: def don't scoop the mids?

Need to clean my glasses. Could have swore I read something about flat pecker . . .



Seriously mayes66 . . . thanks for posting.
Audio / visual aids are a big help against a learning curve.

J-HALEY wrote:I know this site is full of metal players. My question is what tricks do you Tele pickers have to help a strat player improve his TWANG?

It's easy. Just dial in clean compressed spanky tone and then play like these guys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcjLvWCOgb0

A good Tele does have a unique voice that captures that Bakersfield sound but a Strat works for country if you got the fingers.