I'm impressed by this post. Now I have seen it, it is blindingly obvious that the springs and the mass of the tremolo block would be energised by the strings, and that some energy can reflect, be absorbed, or resonate. I am disappointed I didn't realise this before.
I think the source for a lot of people talking about ground loops in guitars is the Lindy Fralin site that shows how to wire up a guitar and how to run your ground, it tells you to omit a specific unnecessary wire as an example because it causes a ground loop.
Been watching you for a while but just caught this video. Just saying thanks. Your videos are so well explained in terms I can easily understand . They help me understand my guitar so much better from trouble shooting to set up to playing. Just brilliant. Thanks snd happy holidays!!
Great video! Questions: do vintage (3 screws) vs. modern (6 screws) saddles make a difference in the tone? Does stringthrough vs back loading makes a difference in tone? Keep up the great work.
@@nunmcnun I don't know if everyone could feels the difference ... sometimes it's just a little subtile things, but real good music hear will for sure see the difference
Dylan: "...all those minutiae, we're not gonna go down those rabbit holes." Subscriber: "yeah, but are they scatterwound ?" LOL. I appreciate your keeping it simple as possible.
Damn, I always learn so much good shit from these videos. I'm not bragging that I'm learned enough to fully comprehend how to apply it to my guitars/tone, but it's cool to be more knowledgeable. (I also like how one discrete sip from the red mug made it through the editing process, both in this video and the strat v tele bridge pickup video.)
This was great! The last video only really talked about the bridge pickup, is there anything different about the neck pickup in the tele vs strat? They seem similar in construction, except for the metal cover, but they def sound different!
I made a little wooden block out of maple, from leftover after making a guitar neck. That kind of wraps around a trem block and make it stuck in the trem cavity, it's almost ok to remove the springs. You would still need a spring to hold trem bridge down in place, but this changes tone to a lot more solid one.
Now I understand why my tele neck pickup sounds like the neck pickup on my strat - makes sense now because it's in the same location. The in between setting and bridge pickup on the tele sound different. For instance, I can play the Hendrix stuff on the tele neck position only and make it sound right. Next thing I want is a "fat" tele (P 90's version). Trem issue makes sense - especially if it's floating.
I'm really glad I watched this. After being a Tele guy all my life, I finally bought a Strat, and I really love the tone and the way it plays. I thought I might block the tremolo, and turn it into a hardtail, as I never use the whammy bar. This video made me realize what a mistake that would have been. This video made no mention of the Strat's three pickups vs the Tele's two, and this is huge, at least for me. My two favorite tones on the Strat are when I blend the middle pickiup with either the neck or the bridge. My Tele just can not match those two tones.
Thank you for the video! It's nice someone's talking about these things! Many times we forget the mechanics of the guitar! I just don't think the bridge pickup angle is really the same, at least in the products currently made, and I went searching for measurements and I found that Strat bridge pickups have 50-52mm distance from low E to high E pole piece, while Tele is 55mm, to keep the pole pieces aligned with the strings at a lower angle (strings separation is almost the same between Strat and Tele).
Hey Dylan, love the channel, the in-depth analysis and explanation of the wonderful world of Pickups. Here's something for you to explain, how would I go about making some Lambertones type of single coil. Very low DCR, I believe in the 3k to 4k range. Also, off topic, I heard that by wrapping the lead wire for the first turn on the bobbin, gives you a lumpy foundation for your scatter winding. What do you think about that?? Did I say that I am a big fan? We need the information you got.
I really love the info you provide on this channel, backed up with real hard math and science. On that note, though, to me it makes no sense to proliferate Leo's screw-ups like switching the meaning of tremolo and vibrato. Tremolo - modulation of amplitude, not pitch. Vibrato - modulation of pitch, not vibrato.
Very informative and great for Pro & Amateur Guitarst/Builder enthusiasts!!...👍🏾🎶🎸 Thanks for all you do to bring us some fine “to the point “ videos! I can really attempt my Strat build with more confidence in coming up with a fine result on my project!..so excited now knowing just how to materialize what I’m going for with my guitars!..plus the help of your channel!! (BTW,..I’m a real Telecaster Guitar enthusiast!!) So this build will be my first and only Stratocaster!..👌🏾✨🎶🎸 ☝🏾Keep those videos coming!!..you are very appreciated!..✌🏾🙂
I have seen several of your videos on pots and capacitors. If you could, would you do a video on the most basic of pickup circuits. And let us hear the difference when you add different components. For example if you change this part to this pot this is the difference, if you change this capacitor to this capacitor this is the difference, and if you wire it this way becomes a Telecaster.
You nailed it. You totally nailed it. This is like a diagram I drew up about guitars in highschool since I was a drummer I had already done drum topics. Hahaha. So I chose electric guitar pickups and how the sound works. This is something I argued for years with guitarists and they never listened. Hahah nowadays I play guitar. I do not have any bias due to 30 years drumming. HahHa. I call out BS when I hear, or see it.
Not sure if you've already done one, but I'd love to see a video on the how and why a filtertron pickup is different in construction and sound to a standard PAF style humbucker. Filtertrons are my all time favourite pickup!
finaly someone jump on the right question ! very courageous! and i am agree with you ! i have search a lot of video on tone wood etc... but no one try to explain the real difference! but!! like eric clapton , if you put the strat saddle all back or a dtrat with fix bridge what it sound like? like a tele or somethiing in between? and what the difference between a tele and a les paul? if you put tele mic on a les paul? can you try it as a guitar builder?it will be a fun experience!
The reverse of that is easy to find. There are lots of Teles out there with humbuckers on them. It totally changes the sound. Good or bad, just depends on what you prefer. I love the Tele sound just as Leo conceived it.
Do matching painted headstocks really cost a lot? Fender never seems to do them, but on the contemporary squier line they look AMAZING and so much more high end imho...
The Telecaster is all about the large metal plate under the bridge PUP. The saddles being bronze or steel offer a big difference in tone..too. This is where the super twang and resonance occurs on the Telecaster. A top loading Telecaster is a beast of treble response. The neck PUPS are basically a treble attenuation. And, those 047 capacitors to take a big bight out of that treble response too. Through the body stringing with bronze saddles is generally a nice variation. People make a huge mistake by putting massive 10-15 Ohm PUPS on them. Really hot PUPS on a Telecaster completely changes the tone dynamics and you lose a ton of bright, clean twang & bang. Maybe excepting P-90's. All the great mids and upper mids and treble comes from the plate under that bridge and less than 10K PUPS. If you mount a slightly hotter PUP like a humbucker or single coil in the neck position, the Telecaster has an amazing and simple tonal range. Especially lead tones on the fly. Its easy to roll off treble in a mix live or recorded, especially with chords. And, you will find that playing the hum cancelling middle position is a delight of various tonal ranges with just fooling with the tone pot.
That the Start is an offspring or spin-off of the Tele makes no doubt. Anyone who ever put a Strat into a Tele's flightcase or vice versa will have seen that the Strat body is the same slab as a Tele body, with an upper cutaway, an elbow carve on the front and a belly carve in the back. And the neck has a larger headstock. And while I don't dispute any of the bit about the tremolo having a significant impact, I still think that what makes the biggest difference in the tone is the pickup construction. My proof point being that I have a limited series US-made 1970s genuine hard tail Strat (string-through-body and all), and even without a trem, it definitely sounds everything like a Strat, and nothing like a Tele.
@@DylanTalksTone take a fender pickguard and put it on top of a tele, the angle is more on the tele. I dont have an actual fender anymore other wise I would made a video.
That's my question too -- I can't tell the difference between a hardtail Strat and one with a tremolo bridge sprung flat (a la SRV) but the bar removed, unless I look. As a listener, I can't even tell if the bridge is floating unless and until the player does something to demonstrate it. (Playing, it's pretty easy to notice the bridge is floating.)
According to his other video on this topic, a major reason for the Tele bridge tone difference is the presence of the bridge PU baseplate, and so if you are going for a Tele tone in a Strat, then, using that reasoning, you would also need to add a similar baseplate to that Strat bridge PU, in addition to having a Strat hardtail body, which did not alter the tone, like he says a Strat bridge trem does.
Love your expertise, I am 75 years old. As soon as I can afford. I am a blues player, but now when I can afford it, I am itching to get back into playing again, after I had stopped for a few years. I am a huge fan of Fender style guitars. Question: Should I buy a Fender Squire Tele or Strat for traditional style blues? I also welcome any suggestion from your viewers. Thanks
Guys, this is part 2 in a series of videos. A lot of questions you're asking in the comments are either answered in video 1 or will likely be answered in upcoming videos. A hardtail strat will still sound more like a strat because it still has strat pickups and tele and strat pickups are designed fundamentally differently. The bridge design is a factor in how each sound for sure but it is not the only reason, nor does he ever say it's the only reason.
So to make your strat sound like a tele you just block your bridge? I’ve always noticed more resonance with a hard tail / properly blocked strat compared to a floating bridge. You lose volume with a floating bridges and often volume = tone
you told a _part_ of the reason that Strats and Teles sound different. The trem is a large factor...but what about hard tail Strats? The truth is there is no simple answer. There are so many variables that a harder challenge would be to get two guitars of the same style to sound exactly the same. And thank the gods for that! How boring would it be if these guitars all sounded the same. Even if by some miracle the stars all aligned ant two guitars won the powerball of all lotteries and manages to be _exactly_ the same in all respects. Then there's still the matter of those things at the end of my hands that determine so much tone on their own. The answer is simple, though. Buy more guitars and have fun playing with what you have.
What did you notice about the "ashtray" cover and a non-covered Tele? Does the ashtray or cover affect... and how; tone, sustain, etc.? And thank you for the 'ground loop' info!
DOes anyone here heard of the "Tone Stone" trem block? Wonder if it'd make a difference? I block my trem off with a piece of wood. Also read a tip one time to sand the paint in between the trem block, and the body, and that can make tonal differences.
A great example of a trem block that can totally change the feel amzn.to/2OjY05Z Also here is the video on ground loops. ruclips.net/video/3mjF9-jgNQE/видео.html
but mike from that pedal show change his saddle on the same strat and didn t find sound change at that point that he put back in place the old one!! wdid you see it? what you think?
@@TheAxe4Ever listen at 8.40 change the TONE!!!!! "the motion of the string ....or tremolo ....is going to change the tone from the beginning...how the string is moving is teh very first thing in the tone!!
sound true Okay. Point taken. But he also says later on at 10:10 that it affects the feel of it by changing the block to one with more mass. He also put a link in the comments about some blocks that he says changes the FEEL. I agree that it also changes tone to some degree because I have experienced it myself by changing my trem block to a large brass block. I noticed a feel and tone change. The tone part mostly when playing with a clean tone. I also noticed a very slight tone change by upgrading to better saddles on my bridge. If Mike from That Pedal Show says he didn’t notice a difference, perhaps he should play drums. Okay, that was snarky. I’m certainly not a pro level guitarist by any stretch and even I could tell a difference in feel and tone.
Awesome. 7 minutes in and hellz yeah. #nerdystuff Was looking forward to this one. So electric guitars are subtractive in nature (trem, wood(!), etc), where acoustic guitars are additive in nature...me thinks.
I'm not convinced that your add/subtract application is accurate. They both produce sound waves from vibrating strings. One directly amplifies the sound acoustically, through a sound hole and a large hollow cavity. The other uses the more complex (indirect?) system of electrical amplification. I may be wrong, but it seems that the solid body construction typical of most electrics, being more stable than a hollow box of thin ply, would sustain the strings' vibration longer, and could thus be considered less "subtractive"(?).
? Do various tone woods that resonate differently affect string vibration? Does headstock size and profile affect mass which resonate differently? Lots of talk dals with high vs low mass tremolo blocks (high mass for resonance and low mass for ability to flex greater) - any thoughts?
I'm considering the KGC brass tremolo. What do you think about? I understood that a brass block will increase the sustain and change the tone but my question is...what about the other parts? Plate, saddles, claw, springs, screws plate to block, screws claw to body... could these parts also affect the sound significantly?
This is really interesting. I did just get a set of five vintage springs to put into my new strat, and they were much slinkier and changed the feel of the tremolo, but I wonder if they changed the sound some? Hard to tell but maybe I will do an A/B recording and see.
Thank you for a good explanation based on physics. So blocking the “trem” would make a Strat come closer to a Tele from a string vibration perspective? Of course not considering the differences between Strat and Tele pickups.
Mal-2 KSC no noticeable affect - the maj benefit of blocking is tuning stability. I’ve also tried the Callaham trem block and no noticeable diff over the big block fender trem. Sustain and bass/low mids on strat come from the wood. I’ve played 100’s and owned 37 to find 1 strat and 1 Tele that kill. The key is to find one that sounds loud unplugged. If it’s loud and you can feel it ringing in your hands (aka “has life in it”) when you plug it in it will roar no matter what trem or pickups you roll. I’ve settled on Duncan SSL 1’s and put a Tele base plate over my bridge pup which helps give it bass. Don’t b afraid to roll off tone to dial a strat in just right. Of course everyone’s diff this is just my experience
Oh boy you're not going to like Dylan's take then. He has an entire video about how a "loud" guitar might _feel_ better in your hands, but otherwise all it's doing is losing sustain. By far, the biggest bass boost I can imagine giving a Strat is to install humbuckers, including Hot Rails if you don't want to replace the pick guard. I actually had to install a G&L style bass control to roll it off so I could sound like a Strat again, so my knobs are Volume Treble-for-all Bass-for-all, not Volume Treble-for-neck Treble-for-middle.
Not related to this video, but to a two Humbucker style guitar. How much difference does volume effect the tone when out of phase? Does it cancel the frequencies before or after the volume pots? I’m guessing after because of two volume pots, otherwise it would only need one pot. This leads to the question, how different would the same pickups sound, out of phase with each other when used in a two volume/tone setup and a one volume/tone setup?
I would argue that the floating bridge on a Stratocaster does not contribute in a significant way to the signature timbre of a Stratocaster. And this is based on one single observation. I've played many Strats, and while there is a significant difference in feel between a hard tail (or decked) Strat and a Tremolo Strat, I could never hear a difference in the tone. (And I have a pretty good ear.)
Does blocking the trem block (down only config), when compared to the trem being in a floating configuration, make a noticeable difference in tone? I’ve always left my trem free floating on my Strats as string breakage and the resultant everything is out of tune has never been an issue for me.
And I don’t disagree with your assertion that the trem block imparts a different tonality, but explain to me why a Hardtail Strat still sounds totally different From a Tele. If the sum of the parts: the bridge, the saddles (construction and material), pick up construction, body wood, wiring, and yes, trem or non trem...
put a strat pickguard over a tele guitar. the the tele bridge pickup is angled more. or go to a music store and look at them, use your finger or bank card to measure the angle from the saddle to pole piece
Great video. I changed my 3 saddle Tele bridge for a Babicz FCB and my Tele went from great to outstanding tone wise. It’s more contact to the wood, but there’s something else going on. Please explain it.
If the trem was wobbling with a string pluck, it would dissipate energy through friction and the sustain would be terrible on a Strat .. but it's not. It's not noticeably different than a Tele. The largest difference between the Strat and Tele tone (after the pickups and control circuit) is in the ergonomics and how the ergonomics force a player to pick the strings. A Strat sits more to your right either standing with a strap or sitting with it on your thigh due to bridge location relative to strap pins and thigh cut. Plus the Strat has that volume knob in the way. So people pick their Strat strings between the middle and neck pickup most of the time. A Tele gets picked on top of the bridge pickup or even closer to the saddles because of where players' hands naturally hang while playing and that's the source of Twang. A Strat can Twang if played back there too. Picking position changes tone a lot. Interesting to watch old Hendrix videos; he hiked the Strats up high to avoid the knobs on the top, but he picks from the fretboard to the bridge on all the high strings because there is no volume knob there to get in the way of his picking like mere mortals must deal with. He had a lot of freedom to dig in and get the tones out. He often recorded with a Tele and then played a Strat on stage gigs and he sounded so much the same there are debates about did he or didn't he use which guitar.
I see plenty of people who play over the middle pickup (or where it would be if there isn't one) regardless of the type of guitar in their hands, and they still sound different with a Tele than with a Strat. Some of them even take the middle pickup out when present because they get tired of clipping the pickup on the follow-through. A lot of them are playing in styles that emphasize muting, which may explain wanting to keep the "meat" of the hand over the saddles at all times. I know the Strat's middle pickup is _exactly_ in the spot _I_ want to anchor my little finger when fingerpicking, and I generally end up resting on the end of it (only a problem because I have Hot Rails and had to paint the core to prevent hum when I touch it -- not a problem with a single coil). I'm not trying to argue against it being in the player's hands to make a Strat sound more like a Tele or vise versa. I am saying that many people use the same hand position relative to the bridge on both styles, regardless of the ergonomics, and they still sound different, so that can't be the whole answer.
It should sound a bit different yea. But not too drastic a change I think. Toploaders still don't transfer vibrations away from the strings as much as a strat trem.
No because the tele pickups are fundamentally designed differently from the strat pickups, as mentioned in pt 1. The only difference besides the electronics and hardware are otherwise just the silhouette since they usually employ the same scale length, same woods, same board radius, etc. A hard tail strat still sounds very much like a strat more than it does a tele. I know because I have built one of each. The bridge thing is a factor, not the end all be all reason the guitars sound different.
Before watching my common sense and from watching the tone wood doesn't matter videos.. And owning a ton of guitars over the years. It's how the pickup is made, ans the hardware. Because tone wood only matters in an acoustic. Bridges scale length matter. As does scale length and pickup placement..
Dylan, would you please not drink coffee during your presentations? I lose your point that we should share. Also, it is often a barrier to discussion, like a jug between two people having a discussion. We call it a discussion interruption, little things show a little disrespect to viewers. Otherwise I fing your videos scientifically accurate and you points correct.
Nah... if you find coffee drinking distracting you should look into that. I love just hanging and having fun .... if that's not your thing, there are no apologies here.
No, It 's not a reason. A strat with hardtail not sound like Tele A strat with pickup baseplate not sound like a tele A tele without pickup baseplate do not sound like a strat A strat with hardtail AND pickup baseplate not sound like a Tele Have you tried it out? Lack of seriousness of your statements! I don't know what are the things that make Tele sound different from a Strat. But what you show is not the real reasons.
LOL... the combination of factors of course... but this video deals with guitar construction. we ha e other videos that deal with the other aspects as well.
Your computer acts in the same way- disturbing. I hope you don't get upset but in presentation, all things count. To drink coffee whilst trying to retain credibility.
I'm impressed by this post. Now I have seen it, it is blindingly obvious that the springs and the mass of the tremolo block would be energised by the strings, and that some energy can reflect, be absorbed, or resonate.
I am disappointed I didn't realise this before.
I think the source for a lot of people talking about ground loops in guitars is the Lindy Fralin site that shows how to wire up a guitar and how to run your ground, it tells you to omit a specific unnecessary wire as an example because it causes a ground loop.
Been watching you for a while but just caught this video. Just saying thanks. Your videos are so well explained in terms I can easily understand . They help me understand my guitar so much better from trouble shooting to set up to playing. Just brilliant. Thanks snd happy holidays!!
Great video! Questions: do vintage (3 screws) vs. modern (6 screws) saddles make a difference in the tone? Does stringthrough vs back loading makes a difference in tone? Keep up the great work.
Also does a steel block (tremolo) vs potted block make a difference in the tone
The short answer is yes, you can hear a difference between these things. The “why” would be best answered by someone like Dylan
This is ALL beginner stuff
@@nunmcnun I don't know if everyone could feels the difference ... sometimes it's just a little subtile things, but real good music hear will for sure see the difference
Dylan: "...all those minutiae, we're not gonna go down those rabbit holes."
Subscriber: "yeah, but are they scatterwound ?" LOL.
I appreciate your keeping it simple as possible.
Damn, I always learn so much good shit from these videos. I'm not bragging that I'm learned enough to fully comprehend how to apply it to my guitars/tone, but it's cool to be more knowledgeable. (I also like how one discrete sip from the red mug made it through the editing process, both in this video and the strat v tele bridge pickup video.)
I love the way you can explain things in a way that most people can understand. I learn something every time I watch you. You are the best!
This was great! The last video only really talked about the bridge pickup, is there anything different about the neck pickup in the tele vs strat? They seem similar in construction, except for the metal cover, but they def sound different!
I'm pretty sure he is already planning a Tele neck pickup vs. Strat neck pickup video.
I made a little wooden block out of maple, from leftover after making a guitar neck. That kind of wraps around a trem block and make it stuck in the trem cavity, it's almost ok to remove the springs.
You would still need a spring to hold trem bridge down in place, but this changes tone to a lot more solid one.
And then we run it all through our Boss Ds1 into our solid state amp. Regardless, very informative video.
Now I understand why my tele neck pickup sounds like the neck pickup on my strat - makes sense now because it's in the same location. The in between setting and bridge pickup on the tele sound different. For instance, I can play the Hendrix stuff on the tele neck position only and make it sound right. Next thing I want is a "fat" tele (P 90's version). Trem issue makes sense - especially if it's floating.
Excellent video explains the extra glassy sound of the strat very well
I'm really glad I watched this. After being a Tele guy all my life, I finally bought a Strat, and I really love the tone and the way it plays. I thought I might block the tremolo, and turn it into a hardtail, as I never use the whammy bar. This video made me realize what a mistake that would have been. This video made no mention of the Strat's three pickups vs the Tele's two, and this is huge, at least for me. My two favorite tones on the Strat are when I blend the middle pickiup with either the neck or the bridge. My Tele just can not match those two tones.
Thank you for the video! It's nice someone's talking about these things! Many times we forget the mechanics of the guitar! I just don't think the bridge pickup angle is really the same, at least in the products currently made, and I went searching for measurements and I found that Strat bridge pickups have 50-52mm distance from low E to high E pole piece, while Tele is 55mm, to keep the pole pieces aligned with the strings at a lower angle (strings separation is almost the same between Strat and Tele).
Making my own Pickups while watching it. Woohoo !
Dylan must be the smartest person in the guitar universe. I wish my high school science class was taught by him.
Would love to hear about your thoughts on teles with bigsbys or hardtail strats
Hey Dylan, love the channel, the in-depth analysis and explanation of the wonderful world of Pickups. Here's something for you to explain, how would I go about making some Lambertones type of single coil. Very low DCR, I believe in the 3k to 4k range. Also, off topic, I heard that by wrapping the lead wire for the first turn on the bobbin, gives you a lumpy foundation for your scatter winding. What do you think about that?? Did I say that I am a big fan? We need the information you got.
I really love the info you provide on this channel, backed up with real hard math and science.
On that note, though, to me it makes no sense to proliferate Leo's screw-ups like switching the meaning of tremolo and vibrato. Tremolo - modulation of amplitude, not pitch. Vibrato - modulation of pitch, not vibrato.
Very informative and great for Pro & Amateur Guitarst/Builder enthusiasts!!...👍🏾🎶🎸
Thanks for all you do to bring us some fine “to the point “ videos!
I can really attempt my Strat build with more confidence in coming up with a fine result on my project!..so excited now knowing just how to materialize what I’m going for with my guitars!..plus the help of your channel!! (BTW,..I’m a real Telecaster Guitar enthusiast!!)
So this build will be my first and only Stratocaster!..👌🏾✨🎶🎸
☝🏾Keep those videos coming!!..you are very appreciated!..✌🏾🙂
I have seen several of your videos on pots and capacitors. If you could, would you do a video on the most basic of pickup circuits. And let us hear the difference when you add different components. For example if you change this part to this pot this is the difference, if you change this capacitor to this capacitor this is the difference, and if you wire it this way becomes a Telecaster.
You nailed it. You totally nailed it. This is like a diagram I drew up about guitars in highschool since I was a drummer I had already done drum topics. Hahaha. So I chose electric guitar pickups and how the sound works. This is something I argued for years with guitarists and they never listened. Hahah nowadays I play guitar. I do not have any bias due to 30 years drumming. HahHa. I call out BS when I hear, or see it.
Please do a video on the Strat & Tele neck pickups❗️
Not sure if you've already done one, but I'd love to see a video on the how and why a filtertron pickup is different in construction and sound to a standard PAF style humbucker. Filtertrons are my all time favourite pickup!
In case you missed it
ruclips.net/video/qOERe3m_DL8/видео.html
finaly someone jump on the right question ! very courageous!
and i am agree with you ! i have search a lot of video on tone wood etc... but no one try to explain the real difference! but!!
like eric clapton , if you put the strat saddle all back or a dtrat with fix bridge what it sound like? like a tele or somethiing in between?
and what the difference between a tele and a les paul?
if you put tele mic on a les paul? can you try it as a guitar builder?it will be a fun experience!
The reverse of that is easy to find. There are lots of Teles out there with humbuckers on them. It totally changes the sound. Good or bad, just depends on what you prefer. I love the Tele sound just as Leo conceived it.
Do matching painted headstocks really cost a lot? Fender never seems to do them, but on the contemporary squier line they look AMAZING and so much more high end imho...
The Telecaster is
all about the large metal plate under the bridge PUP.
The saddles being bronze or steel offer a big difference in tone..too.
This is where the super twang and resonance occurs on the Telecaster.
A top loading Telecaster is a beast of treble response.
The neck PUPS are basically a treble attenuation.
And, those 047 capacitors to take a big bight out of that treble response too.
Through the body stringing with bronze saddles is generally a nice variation.
People make a huge mistake by putting massive 10-15 Ohm PUPS on them.
Really hot PUPS on a Telecaster completely changes the tone dynamics
and you lose a ton of bright, clean twang & bang. Maybe excepting P-90's.
All the great mids and upper mids and treble comes from the plate under that bridge
and less than 10K PUPS. If you mount a slightly hotter PUP
like a humbucker or single coil in the neck position, the Telecaster
has an amazing and simple tonal range. Especially lead tones on the fly.
Its easy to roll off treble in a mix live or recorded, especially with chords.
And, you will find that playing the hum cancelling middle position is a delight of
various tonal ranges with just fooling with the tone pot.
Great video, after watching I can't help but wonder how high or low the strat bridge is floating effects the sound?
That the Start is an offspring or spin-off of the Tele makes no doubt. Anyone who ever put a Strat into a Tele's flightcase or vice versa will have seen that the Strat body is the same slab as a Tele body, with an upper cutaway, an elbow carve on the front and a belly carve in the back. And the neck has a larger headstock. And while I don't dispute any of the bit about the tremolo having a significant impact, I still think that what makes the biggest difference in the tone is the pickup construction. My proof point being that I have a limited series US-made 1970s genuine hard tail Strat (string-through-body and all), and even without a trem, it definitely sounds everything like a Strat, and nothing like a Tele.
the tele bridge pickup is angled more... the les paul and sg has pickups in different locations too, but most people dont catch that
not according to the patent drawings and the CNC drawings
@@DylanTalksTone take a fender pickguard and put it on top of a tele, the angle is more on the tele. I dont have an actual fender anymore other wise I would made a video.
i miss the whiteboard and red marker
how about hardtail strats?
Or a tele with a bigsby?
That's my question too -- I can't tell the difference between a hardtail Strat and one with a tremolo bridge sprung flat (a la SRV) but the bar removed, unless I look. As a listener, I can't even tell if the bridge is floating unless and until the player does something to demonstrate it. (Playing, it's pretty easy to notice the bridge is floating.)
@@mal2ksc it might just be more of a feel thing
According to his other video on this topic, a major reason for the Tele bridge tone difference is the presence of the bridge PU baseplate, and so if you are going for a Tele tone in a Strat, then, using that reasoning, you would also need to add a similar baseplate to that Strat bridge PU, in addition to having a Strat hardtail body, which did not alter the tone, like he says a Strat bridge trem does.
Amazing video, illustrations! Thx Dylan
Love your expertise, I am 75 years old. As soon as I can afford. I am a blues player, but now when I can afford it, I am itching to get back into playing again, after I had stopped for a few years. I am a huge fan of Fender style guitars. Question: Should I buy a Fender Squire Tele or Strat for traditional style blues? I also welcome any suggestion from your viewers. Thanks
get yourself a nice squier classic vibe strat, put it on the neck pick with some overdrive and blues away. cheers on picking up the guitar again!
@@23Jetstream Thanks, great advise. You're so kind to reply.
all this is well and good, but we all know the thing that affects your tone the most is the colour of the guitar
And the type of varnish! Haha
Guys, this is part 2 in a series of videos. A lot of questions you're asking in the comments are either answered in video 1 or will likely be answered in upcoming videos. A hardtail strat will still sound more like a strat because it still has strat pickups and tele and strat pickups are designed fundamentally differently. The bridge design is a factor in how each sound for sure but it is not the only reason, nor does he ever say it's the only reason.
So to make your strat sound like a tele you just block your bridge? I’ve always noticed more resonance with a hard tail / properly blocked strat compared to a floating bridge. You lose volume with a floating bridges and often volume = tone
you told a _part_ of the reason that Strats and Teles sound different. The trem is a large factor...but what about hard tail Strats?
The truth is there is no simple answer.
There are so many variables that a harder challenge would be to get two guitars of the same style to sound exactly the same.
And thank the gods for that! How boring would it be if these guitars all sounded the same. Even if by some miracle the stars all aligned ant two guitars won the powerball of all lotteries and manages to be _exactly_ the same in all respects. Then there's still the matter of those things at the end of my hands that determine so much tone on their own.
The answer is simple, though. Buy more guitars and have fun playing with what you have.
My Hard-Tail Strat And my Tele have very few and very vague tone similarities. I just cannot substitute one for the other.
What did you notice about the "ashtray" cover and a non-covered Tele? Does the ashtray or cover affect... and how; tone, sustain, etc.? And thank you for the 'ground loop' info!
Best scenario? Own both! 😎
DOes anyone here heard of the "Tone Stone" trem block? Wonder if it'd make a difference? I block my trem off with a piece of wood. Also read a tip one time to sand the paint in between the trem block, and the body, and that can make tonal differences.
Interesting to think of a hardtail strat bridge...i built one, currently building back to a trem strat bridge...
Very cool, as always... tremolo bridge vibration really interesting!
And what's the difference in tone between a top load telecaster and a string thru? Could you please explain.
A great example of a trem block that can totally change the feel amzn.to/2OjY05Z
Also here is the video on ground loops. ruclips.net/video/3mjF9-jgNQE/видео.html
but mike from that pedal show change his saddle on the same strat and didn t find sound change at that point that he put back in place the old one!!
wdid you see it? what you think?
sound true He said change the FEEL, not the sound.
@@TheAxe4Ever listen at 8.40 change the TONE!!!!!
"the motion of the string ....or tremolo ....is going to change the tone from the beginning...how the string is moving is teh very first thing in the tone!!
sound true Okay. Point taken. But he also says later on at 10:10 that it affects the feel of it by changing the block to one with more mass. He also put a link in the comments about some blocks that he says changes the FEEL. I agree that it also changes tone to some degree because I have experienced it myself by changing my trem block to a large brass block. I noticed a feel and tone change. The tone part mostly when playing with a clean tone. I also noticed a very slight tone change by upgrading to better saddles on my bridge. If Mike from That Pedal Show says he didn’t notice a difference, perhaps he should play drums. Okay, that was snarky. I’m certainly not a pro level guitarist by any stretch and even I could tell a difference in feel and tone.
We need more stuff in this pinned comment. Wheres the video that explains ground loops?
Very practical approach. Thanks Dylan.
Awesome. 7 minutes in and hellz yeah. #nerdystuff Was looking forward to this one. So electric guitars are subtractive in nature (trem, wood(!), etc), where acoustic guitars are additive in nature...me thinks.
Nope, they're both comb filters, and acoustics much more dramatic about it.
www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/hearing/the-guitar-experiment/
I'm not convinced that your add/subtract application is accurate. They both produce sound waves from vibrating strings. One directly amplifies the sound acoustically, through a sound hole and a large hollow cavity. The other uses the more complex (indirect?) system of electrical amplification.
I may be wrong, but it seems that the solid body construction typical of most electrics, being more stable than a hollow box of thin ply, would sustain the strings' vibration longer, and could thus be considered less "subtractive"(?).
@@mal2ksc - Wow! Thanks for the link. That was a fascinating study.
? Do various tone woods that resonate differently affect string vibration? Does headstock size and profile affect mass which resonate differently? Lots of talk dals with high vs low mass tremolo blocks (high mass for resonance and low mass for ability to flex greater) - any thoughts?
Props for the hat. I would never move back to New York, but I'm a lifetime Yankees fan.
I'm considering the KGC brass tremolo. What do you think about? I understood that a brass block will increase the sustain and change the tone but my question is...what about the other parts? Plate, saddles, claw, springs, screws plate to block, screws claw to body...
could these parts also affect the sound significantly?
This is really interesting. I did just get a set of five vintage springs to put into my new strat, and they were much slinkier and changed the feel of the tremolo, but I wonder if they changed the sound some? Hard to tell but maybe I will do an A/B recording and see.
Thank you for a good explanation based on physics. So blocking the “trem” would make a Strat come closer to a Tele from a string vibration perspective? Of course not considering the differences between Strat and Tele pickups.
Smh
Only in the sense that the springs and trem are vibrating less I’ve tried this and it doesn’t affect the tone substantially at all
@Dan Brian
What about the sustain?
Mal-2 KSC no noticeable affect - the maj benefit of blocking is tuning stability. I’ve also tried the Callaham trem block and no noticeable diff over the big block fender trem. Sustain and bass/low mids on strat come from the wood. I’ve played 100’s and owned 37 to find 1 strat and 1 Tele that kill. The key is to find one that sounds loud unplugged. If it’s loud and you can feel it ringing in your hands (aka “has life in it”) when you plug it in it will roar no matter what trem or pickups you roll. I’ve settled on Duncan SSL 1’s and put a Tele base plate over my bridge pup which helps give it bass. Don’t b afraid to roll off tone to dial a strat in just right. Of course everyone’s diff this is just my experience
Oh boy you're not going to like Dylan's take then. He has an entire video about how a "loud" guitar might _feel_ better in your hands, but otherwise all it's doing is losing sustain.
By far, the biggest bass boost I can imagine giving a Strat is to install humbuckers, including Hot Rails if you don't want to replace the pick guard. I actually had to install a G&L style bass control to roll it off so I could sound like a Strat again, so my knobs are Volume Treble-for-all Bass-for-all, not Volume Treble-for-neck Treble-for-middle.
Does the number of springs in a Stratocaster change the tone?
Please make a video about tele neck pickup
What if you put tele pickups in a strat? Would it sound like a strat still?
No it would sound more like a tele at that point. Watch the first video.
Not related to this video, but to a two Humbucker style guitar. How much difference does volume effect the tone when out of phase? Does it cancel the frequencies before or after the volume pots? I’m guessing after because of two volume pots, otherwise it would only need one pot. This leads to the question, how different would the same pickups sound, out of phase with each other when used in a two volume/tone setup and a one volume/tone setup?
I would argue that the floating bridge on a Stratocaster does not contribute in a significant way to the signature timbre of a Stratocaster. And this is based on one single observation. I've played many Strats, and while there is a significant difference in feel between a hard tail (or decked) Strat and a Tremolo Strat, I could never hear a difference in the tone. (And I have a pretty good ear.)
what if the tremolo is blocked vs not blocked?
So does a hard tail strat sound more like a tele? Does "blocking" a trem affect the tone? I would like to block my trems because I never use them.
What if you have a blocked off trem on a strat? What effect would it have on tone?
Does blocking the trem block (down only config), when compared to the trem being in a floating configuration, make a noticeable difference in tone? I’ve always left my trem free floating on my Strats as string breakage and the resultant everything is out of tune has never been an issue for me.
And I don’t disagree with your assertion that the trem block imparts a different tonality, but explain to me why a Hardtail Strat still sounds totally different From a Tele. If the sum of the parts: the bridge, the saddles (construction and material), pick up construction, body wood, wiring, and yes, trem or non trem...
put a strat pickguard over a tele guitar. the the tele bridge pickup is angled more. or go to a music store and look at them, use your finger or bank card to measure the angle from the saddle to pole piece
Great video. I changed my 3 saddle Tele bridge for a Babicz FCB and my Tele went from great to outstanding tone wise. It’s more contact to the wood, but there’s something else going on. Please explain it.
I have a 86 Squier Tele. It looks like a Tele but all else leaves there with the pickups.
Um, I remember Tesla and the greats said electrons move down a wire in a transverse wave motion.
still curious about the Telecaster neck pickup and why it sounds as awesome as it does
Hi, I would just like to say that there is a misspelling in the title of the video :)
Thanks!!!
Subscribed! Great video!
Hardly anyone ever remembers to actually add the links they promise in their videos! :)
If the trem was wobbling with a string pluck, it would dissipate energy through friction and the sustain would be terrible on a Strat .. but it's not. It's not noticeably different than a Tele. The largest difference between the Strat and Tele tone (after the pickups and control circuit) is in the ergonomics and how the ergonomics force a player to pick the strings. A Strat sits more to your right either standing with a strap or sitting with it on your thigh due to bridge location relative to strap pins and thigh cut. Plus the Strat has that volume knob in the way. So people pick their Strat strings between the middle and neck pickup most of the time. A Tele gets picked on top of the bridge pickup or even closer to the saddles because of where players' hands naturally hang while playing and that's the source of Twang. A Strat can Twang if played back there too. Picking position changes tone a lot. Interesting to watch old Hendrix videos; he hiked the Strats up high to avoid the knobs on the top, but he picks from the fretboard to the bridge on all the high strings because there is no volume knob there to get in the way of his picking like mere mortals must deal with. He had a lot of freedom to dig in and get the tones out. He often recorded with a Tele and then played a Strat on stage gigs and he sounded so much the same there are debates about did he or didn't he use which guitar.
I see plenty of people who play over the middle pickup (or where it would be if there isn't one) regardless of the type of guitar in their hands, and they still sound different with a Tele than with a Strat. Some of them even take the middle pickup out when present because they get tired of clipping the pickup on the follow-through. A lot of them are playing in styles that emphasize muting, which may explain wanting to keep the "meat" of the hand over the saddles at all times.
I know the Strat's middle pickup is _exactly_ in the spot _I_ want to anchor my little finger when fingerpicking, and I generally end up resting on the end of it (only a problem because I have Hot Rails and had to paint the core to prevent hum when I touch it -- not a problem with a single coil).
I'm not trying to argue against it being in the player's hands to make a Strat sound more like a Tele or vise versa. I am saying that many people use the same hand position relative to the bridge on both styles, regardless of the ergonomics, and they still sound different, so that can't be the whole answer.
So should my top-loader tele sound different than a string-thru based on your explanation?
It should sound a bit different yea. But not too drastic a change I think. Toploaders still don't transfer vibrations away from the strings as much as a strat trem.
so if a strat has a fixed bridge (hard tail bridge), it should sound like a tele?
No because the tele pickups are fundamentally designed differently from the strat pickups, as mentioned in pt 1. The only difference besides the electronics and hardware are otherwise just the silhouette since they usually employ the same scale length, same woods, same board radius, etc. A hard tail strat still sounds very much like a strat more than it does a tele. I know because I have built one of each. The bridge thing is a factor, not the end all be all reason the guitars sound different.
you're over thinking this
I like how my one tele it has a string through + top loader bridge.
my guitar has a musicraft neck , i put it on a tribute g&l legacy
“People dive way too deep into this”
Translation: hands off my trade secrets
Before watching my common sense and from watching the tone wood doesn't matter videos.. And owning a ton of guitars over the years.
It's how the pickup is made, ans the hardware.
Because tone wood only matters in an acoustic.
Bridges scale length matter. As does scale length and pickup placement..
So basically a telecaster stays in tune better than a strat.
But a hard tail strat still does not sound like a tele.
Too many other things are different.
Is Eddy Current related to Eddie Van Halen? Lol
is it just me or does his head look massively out of proportion due to the camera angle ?
That was a Sony 10-18mm wide angle so maybe.
that would explain it ,also very informative video , I didn't think a strats tremolo block had that much impact on a guitars tone
Your the Mr Wizard of the guitar world.
When it comes to bridge pickups, they are SO similar, the only people who will notice the difference are guitar nerds.
Dylan, would you please not drink coffee during your presentations? I lose your point that we should share. Also, it is often a barrier to discussion, like a jug between two people having a discussion. We call it a discussion interruption, little things show a little disrespect to viewers. Otherwise I fing your videos scientifically accurate and you points correct.
Nah... if you find coffee drinking distracting you should look into that. I love just hanging and having fun .... if that's not your thing, there are no apologies here.
Because one has 3 pickups and the other has 2. Nuff said.
My like got you off 666...😈
No, It 's not a reason.
A strat with hardtail not sound like Tele
A strat with pickup baseplate not sound like a tele
A tele without pickup baseplate do not sound like a strat
A strat with hardtail AND pickup baseplate not sound like a Tele
Have you tried it out?
Lack of seriousness of your statements!
I don't know what are the things that make Tele sound different from a Strat. But what you show is not the real reasons.
LOL... the combination of factors of course... but this video deals with guitar construction. we ha e other videos that deal with the other aspects as well.
details details.... the PLAYING has the most effect on the tone
Your computer acts in the same way- disturbing. I hope you don't get upset but in presentation, all things count. To drink coffee whilst trying to retain credibility.
GO STRAIGHT TO THE ANSWER: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE OR DIFFERENCES IN SOUND BETWEEN THESE 2 GUITARS?
fast forward...
@Dennis Berceles grow up child..
Because of different pickups
YOU TALK TECHNICALLY A LOT, ANSWER STRAIGHT!
well... thats the point of the channel so...