Any way to make a Tele darker?

[ZosoRush]

I love both of my Teles (MIA and MIM), but man my american made one is overly bright.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to tame it a little?(Besides the tone knob)

 

[Abram4235]

What material are the bridge saddles made from? I would maybe switch that out with a darker sounding saddle for starters.

 

[Rotten]

Simple. Pickups. Alnico II or overwound.

 

[JeffHaddad]

What material are the bridge saddles made from? I would maybe switch that out with a darker sounding saddle for starters.

Try brass saddles if the guitar has steel.

 

[bealtown]

Try turning the Treble knob counter-clockwise. Works like a charm every time! Also, try it on the amp as well, or even on both.

 

[suparsonic]

Simple. Pickups. Alnico II or overwound.

Or both.

 

[Starshine]

Paint it black.

 

[blind radish]

Equalizer pedal

 

[GaryMcT]

Tone knob.

 

[Billy Moss]

Try turning the Treble knob counter-clockwise. Works like a charm every time! Also, try it on the amp as well, or even on both.

Don't forget the tone controls on the amp. It doesn't cost anything to turn them.

 

[Billy Moss]

Paint it black.

The Rolling Stones even wrote a song about this. True story.

 

[oildrops]

Besides tone knob? Volume knob + tone knob rolled off seems to work for me, along with a cutting treble in increasing mids and bass on the amp.

 

[Starshine]

The Rolling Stones even wrote a song about this. True story.

I hear a Tele and I think it is too bright
No icepick anymore I want it to sound right
I see people equalize but can't dial out the highs
Swap out their single coils, get rid of Alnico Vs

sorry

 

[twoheadedboy]

(Besides the tone knob)

Why is that not the solution?

 

[Billy Moss]

I hear a Tele and I think it is too bright
No icepick anymore I want it to sound right
I see people equalize but can't dial out the highs
Swap out their single coils, get rid of Alnico Vs

sorry

I understand. The Tele is a bright guitar to begin with. If tone controls don't work then new pups and warmer sounding strings may be the answer.

 

[stratter]

Are you playing it through a Marshall or an amp with a treble boost?? I'd just turn the treble knob down. Stuff that sounds overly bright sits really well in a mix somehow though.

 

[JLee]

You could try a lower value volume pot. Maybe 150k

 

[Axis29]

100% nickel strings.

If that ain't enough, go with flatwounds!

I really did like Thomastik Infeld Jazz Swing flat wound nickel strings on my Tele!

 

[stickyFingerz]

Maybe consider another guitar?

My favorite (and only) guitar was a tele, I hardly play it now that I got an ES-390 with P90s. Apples to oranges, sure, but it changed my perception of how a guitar 'should' sound (or rather my guitar).

Personally I think that instead of trying to rape the tele trying to change it to something that it isn't, I'd be better off just letting it go and looking elsewhere.

 

[jvin248]

.

Try several different capacitors in parallel to the hot lead on the pickup to ground. That will shift the resonant frequency around and by getting larger caps you'll push it down until you are happy with it.

A lower kohm volum pot will do a lot toward moving the resonant frequency too, as noted in the previous suggestion for 150kohms, which you can get by putting a fixed resistor across the outer two lugs of the volume pot.

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