Flubby bottom end on Tele. Ideas?

[rhinocaster]

Hey guys, I have a home built Telecaster that is sub 7 pounds and has Rio Grande vintage style Tele pickups. The neck pickup is below the pickguard and both pickups are wired to the output jack. No volume or tone controls. The guitar has a great tone through my Kendrick Texas Crude amp until I get to the A and low E strings. The sound becomes loose and flubby. I've noticed that the guitar sounds a bit flubby acoustically, and I'm looking for ideas from anyone that might have a way to tighten up the low end without losing the crisp Tele mids and highs that I have now. Any thoughts are appreciated! Thanks!

[Soapbarstrat]

If you have a brass bridge saddle for those strings, you might want to try a steel or aluminum saddle (there's also other materials, such as "nickel-Silver", that can be had in round stock and made into saddles)

[rhinocaster]

If you have a brass bridge saddle for those strings, you might want to try a steel or aluminum saddle (there's also other materials, such as "nickel-Silver", that can be had in round stock and made into saddles)

I'll check into that. Thanks!

[Gradinger]

Wrap a few more windings of string around the tuner posts on the low E and A. This will improve the break angle over the nut and increase clarity on the low strings.

[lukeness]

Hey guys, I have a home built Telecaster that is sub 7 pounds and has Rio Grande vintage style Tele pickups. The neck pickup is below the pickguard and both pickups are wired to the output jack. No volume or tone controls. The guitar has a great tone through my Kendrick Texas Crude amp until I get to the A and low E strings. The sound becomes loose and flubby. I've noticed that the guitar sounds a bit flubby acoustically, and I'm looking for ideas from anyone that might have a way to tighten up the low end without losing the crisp Tele mids and highs that I have now. Any thoughts are appreciated! Thanks!

The neck pickup is below the pickguard? Meaning... it looks like an Esquire? If that's the case, hows the output on the pickup?

[rhinocaster]

The neck pickup is below the pickguard? Meaning... it looks like an Esquire? If that's the case, hows the output on the pickup?

Yes, it looks like an Esquire. The output of the neck pickup is quite low, but still contributes to the tone of the instrument. Even when the pickup was above the pickguard, the guitar still had a flubby bottom end. The neck pickups should now dominate the tone of the instrument and give me a fairly crisp low end. At least I think it should!?:confused:

[rhinocaster]

I've come across the Glendale website, and they offer saddles that have brass for the E/B and G/D strings, and then either aluminum or steel for the low E/A strings. Has anyone tried this combo? Looks promising!

[Timbre Wolf]

I've come across the Glendale website, and they offer saddles that have brass for the E/B and G/D strings, and then either aluminum or steel for the low E/A strings. Has anyone tried this combo? Looks promising! I use Glendale's Cutting Edge Intone saddles, and originally had all brass. Subbing to an aluminum E/A helped improve the snap of those two strings, and evened out their tone to better match the rest of the strings. I'd recommend this change, as a definite improvement.

I'd also look to the amp, tubes, and speaker(s). A cathode-biased amp will generally not have as much definition in the low end as an adjustable or fixed-bias one. And some preamp and power tubes have softer low-end punch (RFT ECC83 and Tung-Sol 5881, for example) and some more (Mullard long-plate 12AX7 and RCA black-plate 6L6GC, for example). Speaker choice is a whole other multi-page thread, but you get the idea.

You said you can hear the deficiency when unplugged, I realize, and so I'd add that you could look into the setup, and the nut slot. Also know that the bridge plate influences your Tele performance. Glendale also makes superb bridge plates.

Good luck!

- Thom

- T

[donnyjaguar]

This problem could be caused by any number of things. You'd better do some expreimentation before throwing money (and wasted time) at this.

Start by trying each pickup on its own. Then experiment with the phase. Try pushing the pickups farther away from the strings to see if the magnetic pull is causing issues. Try coupling more mass to the headstock or body and see what that does. Check to see that the neck is rigid and tight. Check the tuners are tight. HAve a look at neck relief too.

In short, its hard to troubleshoot this kind of thing over the 'net. :)

[rhinocaster]

Thanks a bunch guys. I have been looking at many different ideas for this problem, and all of the information helps. I have no interest in spending money for things that won't help, and I'm just looking to make sure that I cover as many bases as possible before moving on to more expensive possible solutions. Thanks again!!

[levelfrets]

I would think that the pickups were designed and tested to be hooked up to a 250K pot. Having no resistance on the pickups may be your problem.

[skylabfilmpop]

Rios tnd to be overwound yu could try lower output pickups. Also try raising the treble side of the pickups, peter florance has some insite to this on his voodoo pickups site.

[rhinocaster]

Thanks to everyone that has taken the time to respond with thoughts. I will say that I've spent a long time with this guitar, with different pickups (and pickup heights) over the years, and different wiring ideas. It has been an ongoing project for a long time. Many of the ideas are something that I've already tried, and they have worked to a greater or lesser degree. It's been interesting to watch how each change has influenced the tone of the guitar. The one constant has been the loose bottom end. The one thing that I don't like about the bridge is that the low E/A string saddle has one "leg" on the edge of a bridge plate mounting screw. I've always been suspect of that. I'm not sure I'm getting the contact that I need from the saddle to the guitar. My new '63 NOS Telecaster has the string height screws kicked forward, and they are in no danger of running into the mounting screws. I think that may help, along with a different saddle material for those two strings. Again, it's great to hear everyones thoughts. I really appreciate the suggestions. :AOK