Hear me out now: Tele tones on a strat.(please read the post)

[Vallu]

I've had this idea of a way to achieve a tele sound with a strat jumping around in my brain for a while and i'm not really sure if it's retarded or not. I haven't heard anyone speak of this, so i thought i'd share it and get your thoughts on it. So hear me out:

What I've understood is, there are two main reasons for the tele bridge pickup twang: The Pickup itself and the strong magnetic field around the pickup. These two things together make a tele sound like a tele. That's why you can't get a tele sound by just adding a tele bridge pickup on your strat. So what I thought was this: would my strat get closer to the tele, if in addition of adding the bridge pickup, I stuffed the bridge pickups cavity with a magnetic material (somekind of metal)?

Now, let's not turn this thread into a "If you need a tele sound, get a tele". Yes, i understand that. This is all hypothetical, interesting and mainly for fun. I probably wouldn't do it even if it was possible. I'm just wondering if is.

 

[Geek USA]

IMO, as a tele player, the most important factor in getting that signature tele twang is... TECHNIQUE.

 

[BrunoGF]

The "tele tone" isn't only about the pickups. If you bend on a strat you will (slightly) move the tremolo and "de-tune" the other strings, just a little bit. If you do this on a tele this effect doesn't happen.

 

[Vallu]

Do i really need to clarify here? Lets say the settings on the amp are the same. I play an open E chord on a strat and then a tele. Only the bridge pickup is used. It sounds different, because the guitars were designed differently. A Large portion of this difference comes from the bridge pickup, could i get closer to the tele tone with the strat by doing what i suggested in the original post?

 

[Geek USA]

No, because the base plate and how it interacts with the pickup's magnetic field isn't what makes a tele twang.

 

[big mike]

No, because the base plate and how it interacts with the pickup's magnetic field isn't what makes a tele twang.

This.

You need the more 'wood' behind the bridge and body, the baseplate and bigger coil, the mass and surrounding area of the bridge have SOME effect as well as the saddles.

Can you get close? Probably close enough for some, not for others.

 

[Vallu]

Ok, thanks. Has anyone tried it?

 

[Vallu]

Oh wait, Howbout then filling the trem. cavity with wood/something more resonant? Would it matter?

 

[AParrotLooksAt4O]

The "tele tone" isn't only about the pickups. If you bend on a strat you will (slightly) move the tremolo and "de-tune" the other strings, just a little bit. If you do this on a tele this effect doesn't happen.

Not if you deck the bridge.

 

[weshunter]

This doesn't seem practical to me. wouldn't you just be better off getting a hardtail strat and putting a tele bridge on it?

 

[Harmolodics]

Base plate on a strat bridge is very popular. I believe what the op means is the interaction of the pickups magnetic field with the plate and bridge material. I do believe this is a large part of the tele sound. This why I avoid stainless tele bridges. You could put a tele bridge and pickup combo in a strat shape (hardtail) and it would sound pretty close IMO.

 

[Member 1963]

I've used strat p/u's in teles, tele p/u's in strat, had teles with non ferrous bridges, teles with strat hardtail bridges, you name it. IMO the #1 reason a tele has that sound is the fact it's a hardtail instead of trem and THAT particular hardtail, IE: lots of metal and whetever else it does that causes it. It's not the only reason, but IMO it's the one that will keep a strat from ever sounding real close to a tele.

 

[jamdogg]

 

[Geek USA]

Teles with shaved down bridges still sound like teles.

 

[chervokas]

I dunno, I have a Strat routed for Tele pickups...it has a bridge plate, it has Tele controls, etc, but otherwise it's a Strat -- Strat body, Strat neck, etc... -- and it's still way more Strat than Tele sonically.

If it had a non-floating bridge, a traditional Tele bridge with three saddles, less body wood cut away for contours and trem system, and a fatter neck...I bet it would sound a lot more like a Tele

 

[62Tele]

You ever heard Pete Anderson's tele tone on Dwight Yokam's album "This Time" (songs like "Thousand Miles from Nowhere" and "Fast as You")? That tele is a hardtail strat. I think a lot of folks would hear Albert Lee on a strat set to the bridge pickup and thinks it's a tele too. So technique is a huge component.

When I ran my repair shop, guys asked me to make their strats sound like teles all the time. A couple of things stood out - the more you get rid of the trem, the closer you'll get. Best is a hardtail strat, then a blocked out trem (ie big piece of hardwood locking the trem in place), followed by adding a trem lock device, then a tightened down 6 screw trem etc. For the reverse reasons, it's hard to make a tele with three pickups sound entirely like a strat. Using a bridge pickup that is a little microphonic and has a baseplate helps too. Having a ferrous bridgeplate alters the magnetic field a bit and adds to the twang. You can get it close, and in the right hands it can get pretty convincing.

But in the end, I think the two body styles differ enough that the wood just resonates differently. Something about the mass around bass side of the upper bout and maybe the way they hang off the strap would be my first guess. Factor in typical body contours on a strat, and the way a strat's mass is "spread out" so to speak, and it stands to reason that the resonance patterns have to be a little different. Absolutely no science to back this up, just my gut feeling.

 

[Sweetfinger]

A long time ago I cut a ferrous plate and mounted it, along with an actual Tele pickup into a Strat pickguard. It didn't sound as much like a Tele as it "should" have. The lesson I learned was that it is the sum of all the little things- bridge, saddles, wood, etc. Basically, just installing a Duncan Twangbanger gets you about as close as you're going to get without a lot of fuss and muss.

 

[walterw]

a tele bridge pickup is in a different location than a strat bridge pickup, too. it's further away from the bridge, and at more of an angle.

 

[tjmicsak]

You can say that again!

 

[cherrick]

Steuart Smith: Strat -> Tele tones
. Biggest dog in the junkyard.