How Stevie Ray Vaughn Kept His Guitar Quiet - And Other Myths

[@bldallas]

Really cool looking guitar! I love the thin flat finish and the swamp ash woodgrain. I also like the “inspired by” Stevie Ray concept, while avoiding the overly used heavy relic plus “SRV” stickers. Makes more sense from a playing perspective.

[@jeffcooper3433]

I've been telling my friends about low output pickups since the early 80s. Now they are starting to listen. Thanks, keep up the good fight and KeepSmiling!

[@leonarddaneman810]

Yeah. When I modded my old Korean strat I picked out the low output 1st Gen Noiseless, and love the tone.

[@bobmanners8624]

Hey Dylan: How cool it was to meet Rene Martinez. Stevie's #1 was a 1962 body, a 1963 neck, and had 1959 pickups. In '59 Fender supposedly used .0030 OD formvar, 7925 turns, TL/TG and north up alnico V's @ 5.95k. They didn't make specific pickups for the bridge, middle and neck, nor were the middle pickups RWRP. Do you think the variation you measured was just a product of hand guided winding and inconsistency in the number of winds? In those days there was considerable variation in winding the pickups. I've never read that he intentionally selected each pickups output. Maybe they just sounded right?🤔 What did Rene say?

[@stratolestele7611]

From what I've heard (as an Austinite), there was nothing complicated or purposeful about Stevie's #1. It was ready to go as it was hanging at Henning's. He said it was just "the one" and he knew it immediately. Personally, having owned so many Strats (over a dozen), there doesn't seem to be any consistency. I think we all agree that you can take the same combination of parts, ex. Alder, maple, rosewood, same everything, and they'll sound different from each other. Just as the above is true - I can love the tone of a particular Strat, while at the same time, you don't like it. With total respect for Dylan, I find this particular clip to sound harsh, transient, and unpleasant. Probably due to our different tastes in amp eq (and amount of delay).

[@njt2347]

I had a set of shielded pickups in my strat and it did lose some high frequencies as you pointed out. Everyone who tried it out said my strat sounded "really dark for a strat". It was cool but not my cup of tea. I eventually swapped them out for a set of nice low output traditional stat pickups and never looked back.

[@JDStone20]

Beautiful playing, Dylan!!!! That guitar sounds awesome, you are getting a great sound out of it!!

[@Tony_Leonardi.]

Thank you that Strat is amazing

[@caleshtcincredibles]

That guitar is sick! ❤it!! Masterful playing too !

[@petew.1418]

Fascinating! I love that shielding! Also, I thought I was the only one who preferred a neck pick-up with more output than the bridge.

[@identifiesas65.wheresmyche95]

How does soldering the negative to a piece of copper over the winding do anything? Is it just instead of shielding the entire guitar?

[@bwilson_guitarworks]

I'm very excited for this! Thanks for sharing!

[@johngeddes7894]

It’s always cool to learn details like this, even if you don’t plan to go for Stevie Ray’s sound. One company that mods Strats and other makes is Ilitch, and by their elimination of unwanted squeals and howls, they simultaneously have found a way to enhance the good tones that Strats are known for. At least on the two demos that I’ve seen in addition to reading up on their website what they do and how they do it. It really makes me want a Strat like never before. And - Yes! I heard some tones I really liked in your demo, but I don’t want to roll off any good frequencies with copper coil surrounds (at this time) .

[@richardpierce7819]

I use a hush pedal to keep my guitars quite. It works great. My velvet hammers are 3.2 and 3.4 respectively. I put a 69 Voo Doo special from planet tone in the bridge position it measures somewhere around 6.5 and 7

[@maorienteg]

Years ago I saw it was suggested to leave a small gap with the wrapped copper tape to minimize high frequency loss, like 1/8 to 1/4 inch. So most of the coil gets wrapped, that small 1/8 inch is left unwrapped I've done it and was happy with it. Might be worth trying to see if that "frequency saving gap" is just another myth.

[@stamppedals7114]

Doing that as well

[@JoeAmaral427]

Glad you brought up the Texas Special pickups. Being a SRV fan that I am, I purchased a Fender SRV Stratocaster with those in them. I found those to be very harsh and almost gave the guitar away cheaply. Then a friend said switching a loaded pickguard in was super easy. I bought an EMG David Gilmour set and have not looked back. Do you think you'll be marketing the pickups in the video either separately or in a loaded pickguard?

[@vinniesworld459]

Great video! That's a beautiful guitar. Talking about noise - I have one room that is properly isolated so that even single coils are almost noiseless... and then I have my bedroom where there's something running in the wall causing any guitar (even humbuckers and actives) to pick up a whole bunch of unwanted EMF.

[@Mark70609]

I have heard the shielding affects the sound of the pickups though. I thought the body cavity was also shielded too.

[@hoosierdaddy2308]

Those sounded great. What amp did you use may I ask? Great tone man❤

[@shanewalton8888]

Very awesome guitar. Love the headstock logo!

[@schulergr]

I have a Squier Vintage Modified made in India. The pickups are copper wrapped.

[@tommythiel9268]

I love that 73 Finnish. Sounds great 👍

[@johnnybourbon4823]

You should put an insulating layer of paper around the coil before wrapping the copper foil to avoid any unintended shorting of a winding to ground.

[@BackWoodsBillyCraftBeerReviews]

I always learn something new from your video's... Cheers 🍻 🥃🥃 🎸 🎵🎶🎶🎶🎶

[@ethansumrall]

Isn’t the shielding trick the same thing that lace sensors do?

[@leonarddaneman810]

One of your best videos . . . just add some Roy Orbison shades and you got the whole package.

[@kevinmackfurniture]

Hey Dylan, Any chance you'd build a loaded pickgaurd in Lefty, for my 92' MIJ Strat ?? The lefty Tele wiring harness you made me is so good, it got me thinking, I should do the same thing for my sunburst Strat.

[@LPCustom3]

Why not use an anodized pickguard? I’ve used those for the last 40+ years with great results & No Noise!

[@kellyseager8163]

What is this kind of Pick guard? Where can one get one?

[@pitbullguy5884]

Feel free to ignore the haters. That is a beautiful instrument and your playing was great as well. Did I say, ignore the haters? Go ahead and do that. Thank you.

[@sunn_bass]

Great video. SRV was my hero when I started playing (still is too). So glad I saw him quite a few times early in his career. Great explanation on this mod he had. I like how you describe that the way he got around the tone on low output pickups was the fact that he played hard. Another thing to note was that he used heavy gauge strings and high action which really facilitiated his heavy technique. Also he used a dummy coil (i belive a P-bass coil without the magnets) in at least one of his guitars. I believe you mentioned this before. That would make a great video. Again, great video and thanks for all you do for this community.

[@nalukeko]

A dark coffee colored pickguard would look bomb on that Strat... still pretty with the black one.

[@aminahmed2220]

Absolutely fantastic have a wonderful day ❤😊

[@andresilva8444]

Would shielding the inside of the covers work as well? With a little tab so it could be soldered without melting the plastic.

[@scozz6139]

A bit of buzzing on the low E string, not uncommon on Strats, but a bit too much on this guitar imo. (even for a Strat). I also heard just a small amount on the A string too. Sounds great btw!

[@russellives6069]

Is there any practical difference between shielding the pickups vs shielding the cavity and pickguard?

[@JDStone20]

Hendrix had a 3T-Sunburst with a rosewood fretboard. In fact he had 2, one was burnt at the Astoria Hotel, and I think the other one was stolen, and recovered years after his death, I could be wrong about the second guitar. I looked into this because I wanted a Strat because of Hendrix, and mine has the same colors as those guitars.

[@d-mack7053]

SRV Also played hifg E strting at 13. gauge.

[@sunn_bass]

12s at the beginning of a tour and 13s after a few gigs from things I heard back in the day. High action too. The heavy strings and high action allowed his aggressive heavy playing and played a big part of his sound.

[@martinguerrero6377]

Awesome stuff

[@bluevd12]

now thats the wood and metal whats yur amp?

[@roberthastings708]

Very cool. Thanks, Dylan.

[@Seastone84]

That’s one sexy guitar Dylan. Nice work

[@omegahiker]

Is the high freq roll off less severe or the same as a dummy coil?

[@brianintexas1108]

I have a 2012 Fender SRV. I always hated the Texas specials it came with. Way too hot. I had a set of old Fender year specific vintage pickups cloth wiring, low output and noiseless. It is as close as i could get with the info i got from Ray Martinez. Those pickups made a huge difference. My understanding is that Jimmy Vaughn selected the Texas specials so it would be easy for the masses to get Stevie's tone. Big mistake in my opinion. Cool video thanks.

[@ramencurry6672]

Most guitar consumers in the general public are sort of beginner or medium skilled. So the high output “hard rock” sound is expected. Personally I dislike that which is why I dislike stock pickups. That said, stock pickups on bass guitars are usually great.

[@BobbyCulpepper.srv3fender]

Did you ever think about lowering the pickups to lower the output? I really liked the texas specials! They are only slightly overwound compared to other pickups. They sound way better then the junk they put in some other fenders.

[@brianintexas1108]

Ya, I did. But it wouldn't have solved the noise problem. The 58/59 vintage noiseless pickups really give you the super sweet sparkling Lenny/Riviera paradise tone only a low output single coil can give. If you love the Texas specials, keep using em brother. We all like what we like. My goal was to get as close to what Stevie used as possible without mortgaging my home.😅

[@BobbyCulpepper.srv3fender]

I dont use ts anymore but i would if i was in a pinch, can always pick up a used set for cheap. As for noiseless pickups ive never found a pair that didnt sound fake to me. As for noise when i used ts i would use a dummy coil next to the switch. Knocked out about 80% of the noise. Then i always use a little bit if noise suppression in my pedal chain.

[@brianintexas1108]

@@BobbyCulpepper.srv3fender I know what you mean. Some of the noiseless sets sound flat to me. The set i have is about 20 years old now. Back then Fender made them to be year specific not era specific.They don't have that sterile sound some people say about PRS having. I run it through a Fender Supersonic 1x12 it gives me all i need with minimal need for effects.

[@olddogguitars23]

Does the shielding increase the inductance? Seems like that might slightly affect the response curve. Probably not enough for a crappy player like myself to notice lol

[@Highland_Paddy]

Looks like a nice guitar but I'm still confused about all them low and high things from that other one I got that I mentioned and can't afford any custom Strat thing right now even though it's not as expensy as a Cust Shop one, etc.

[@Highland_Paddy]

I still haven't figured out the knobs and switches work different for the two, but the Squier sounds great overall whatever the guy did to it, but not sure it needed the new switch since I actually kinda prefer the old one better, etc.

[@coryfeldman-hz2yj]

Ever seen the movie crossroads? It went down pretty much the same way.

[@royrobles7423]

My shure wireless system I have had and used since 2003 takes care of all my noises....

[@internetselling]

Curious what amp using in this video?

[@thesoundpurist]

That’s a gorgeous guitar

[@albertarguelles3262]

Great Video you won me over. I'm sub'd

[@Sarge978]

Killer sound

[@timothypotter2137]

I love that guitar! Has me scheming...

[@MarzLast]

Guitars with no or thin finish definitely sound better ,SRV kept his guitar quite but not his amp or effects his excellent playing covered that but he would have probably not used a noise gate anyway because he knew what Great tone was!.

[@stevelaferney3579]

Hi Dylan, beautiful guitar, really nice looking and hopefully sounding great pickups but the sound was just atrocious compared to other videos I heard from you. Coarse, grinding, highs were screechy. Something go wrong somewhere? Thanks for all you do.

[@joejohnson8966]

12:30 never knew that

[@bradc32]

SRV was hard on his guitar i am sure alot of the time his tech or himself would be just getting it going for the next show.i am sure nothing stayed the same for very long.. also seemed he was going for hotter pickups.what was the one strat with 3 lipsticks in it!?

[@ThomasBrock74]

Pickups should be more than 4 ohms and less than 6 ohms. Can be anywhere in between 4 and 6 ohms for a 50s Fender single coil.

[@DylanTalksTone]

I bet you are fun at parties

[@DylanTalksTone]

I should mention that if your pickup is between 4 and 6 ohms …. It will not even function

[@jeffreyeagen4896]

Gorgeous and great sounding guitar!

[@simonsmith2642]

Since I only use mine in the studio, I am considering Fishman. Best noiseless Ive heard, only ones that sound “real” to me. But if it was my everyday gig beater. Yeah this is really neat, I would totally do that to stock pickups. Or better yet. Buy yours! Already done. I imagine it would work on Teles too. Or any single coil P90’s etc..

[@stringybarkin]

All my guitars are noisy at home, off-grid solar !!

[@BobbyCulpepper.srv3fender]

So much easier to use a dummy coil, its reversible and Zero risk of damaging the pickup

[@fenderlead1]

It would be better if you explain to people the difference between shielding versus humbucking pick ups. Shielding protects against electrical interference and humbuckers protect against magnetic interference. Also note that shielding the pick up that way will take a bit of the top end off. I think SRV was OK with that. Coily cords have the same effect and he preferred those because they let less “sound through“.

[@DylanTalksTone]

That’s a separate video… also…. I covered shielding effects pretty specifically… maybe you were feverishly typing during that part

[@godbyone]

Thought he used dummy pickup

[@wizardin9365]

Can you try wiring a dummy coil?

[@AntonovichHicksenbrau]

Best to ignore the haters

[@Sensei.shonuff]

His fingers are blaaaaaack Aye i never listened to srv any song suggestions

[@godbyone]

You need to make another video. Sound was super fuzzy. Don’t think it wa guitar. Sounded like super hifi fuzz amp thing Maybe model. Etc

[@grimora-dg3vq]

That's more authentic than the one Mark Agnesi tried to pawn off as Stevie Ray's #1 prototype on Norm's Guitar lol.

[@maxwellblakely7952]

I keep my Strats quiet by shielding the cavities and installing humbuckers in them. Super quiet.

[@timfireblade]

I thought you were going to cover the dummy coil he had in his number one.

[@TheModmc]

cute doggo/10

[@captainobvious254]

Those pants in that color make it look like you aren’t wearing pants 😂.

[@StuCrombie]

Shame man when he died he was like 7-10yrs sober

[@mikelundquist4596]

4... November of 1986.

[@mulleygraves]

how he kept his guitar quiet - he used basically no gain. Problem solved

[@kitchenspider]

3/4 through the vid I stopped playback. You have mentioned NOTHING about what he did to make his guitar quiet or what you even mean by the title of your video. You talked about your customers guitar, bragged about working closely with Stevies guitar tech, cut to a shot of yourself doing some soldering hack w/any explanation and now are noodling around with the guitar. Hands down THE most aggravating clickbait is instructional/educational/DIY clickbait. For me, ya blew it.

[@DylanTalksTone]

Um…. The mod to the pickups WAS the thing… you should pay better attention

[@kitchenspider]

@@DylanTalksTone You should hire someone that doesnt take constructive criticism personally to respond to comments. You did zero explaining of the mod. Imagine sending a guitar mix to an engineer: "Yeah, can you increase the 'quiet' on this track?" 🤭

[@DylanTalksTone]

@@kitchenspider I demonstrated it.... Did you not see the Video?

[@kitchenspider]

@@DylanTalksTone Call it a demo, call it what you want, but the fact remains that you didnt 'splain nothin bout what you were doing. I watched up 3/4 of the way through as I mentioned before you told me I need to pay better attention. I'm not crazy dude. Its all up there. I was left wondering what you meant by 'quiet'. "Does he mean reduced 60-cycle hum?" "Does he mean reduced EMI?" "Does he mean less output?" "Oh, whats he doing with the ground wire?" "Why is he soldering THERE?" "...wait... why is he not explaining anything??" "I thought this video was about an SRV mod?" "Am I having an lsd flashback?" "Why is he just riffing on the guitar now?" "Where is the before/after comparison? ... are just a few questions that came to me while I watched your video. I want answers.