Every Experienced Pro Knows THIS Tone Trick with a Strat

[@kels866]

Killer post and playing as always. I could watch you solo for days. Always beautifully melodic and your tones are to die for.

[@JohnSmith-is8nq]

I do that. I find the sweet spot by rolling the tone all the way back, then, while rubbing my palm against the strings, I roll it back up until the rubbing sound goes from a "o" vowel sound to the "a" vowel. That the spot.

[@ruaidhrilumsden]

I do a similar thing except with the modded blend control - starting in the bridge position with neck pickup fully on (wired in series), steadily dial out the neck until you hit that spot

[@JeremyAndersonBoise]

2:40-2:51 - absolutely going to steal this line from you, love it.

[@JohnLloydDavis]

The pro trick I remember from Jim Campilongo (superb guitar player) is to turn everything on your Fender Princeton up full and control the amp with your guitar volume and tone controls.

[@jambajoby32]

Yeah man that’s the way! My 5e3 has no master volume so that’s how I learned to properly use amps!

[@bernie_smith]

My Strat is wired with a master tone and the other tone knob is a neck PUP blend. I love sitting on the Bridge PUP and blending in some Neck PUP to taste.

[@MacPakinga]

Same 👍🎸

[@joeltunnah]

I hate stock Strat controls. I rewire them to be master volume + master tone. I leave the silly third knob unwired. Does nobody use EQ pedals? They're so much more exact and useful than the typical amp and guitar tone controls.

[@ahall3823]

In the fractal world, the magic control is the bright cap on the ideal page of the amp settings. I find it works better than the presence knob. I set the bridge tone at around 7.

[@andypeacockmusic]

I’ve wired my three strats so the middle tone is moved to the bridge, using the tone back a little on the bridge lets you set an articulate front pickup sound that doesn’t take your head off when switching to the bridge

[@lyricbread]

Same.

[@jbbourbon178]

This is truth. Makes a Strat a beast and silences the Strat bridge pickup stereotype

[@chrisgmurray3622]

Its the only way that makes sense.

[@tylergorham7301]

This was extremely helpful. Any time I've tried rolling off the bridge tone knob to "fatten it up," it just felt neutered. I didn't realize the trick was in setting up the amp to allow for this first (which also allows for less compromise for the neck and middle pickups that benefit from the more open amp). Thanks!

[@JohnPriceJNPMusic]

This is one of the reasons I use a humbucker in the bridge. It sounds a little darker and it's much fatter than a single coil. Bridge position single coil pickups just don't do it for me. That's my preference anyway.

[@JK_L250]

If a Humbucker is used in a Stock Strat ,the 250k Pots are darkening the Sound of that PU too. It's a missmatch commonly done.😉

[@JohnPriceJNPMusic]

@@JK_L250 Yes, I'm sure any experienced player know's that.😉

[@brandfbr]

​@@JohnPriceJNPMusicI had a hot humbucker and just changed it for a Seymour Duncan twang banger. It has a metal baseplate under the single coil and it sounds thicker/more like a tele. It changed my life

[@jshearer94]

My main guitars are typically dual hb. So I get the neck pick up where I like it for clarity. Then use the bridge with the tone rolled back to match. It gives you a built-in treble booster of sorts. It’s not a very inspiring sound by itself, but in the context of a mix, it sits beautifully!

[@mattc1176]

I like to think all serious Strat players know this. But the number of people complaining about the bridge pickup tells me that’s probably not true. I’d also add - I don’t ever (or almost never) dime the volume. Back it off a shade and it cuts down any nasty top end (and I use the volume knob all the time to vary tone too - more than the tone which I tend to set and leave).

[@MattGuilhermeMusic]

I’ve been experimenting with this as well recently. Full time wedding/function guitarist and strat user here! Great tone and playing as always. That VHT sounds incredible!

[@tbluesboye]

Hey John! Here's a thought experiment that I was hipped to years back. Treat your Fender single coil guitar (Tele or Strat) like it's an Esquire with just one pickup. You'll make fast friends with your tone control and, as I've come to realize, sometimes we have too many choices. Less is sometimes more! Cheers!

[@IIImobiusIII]

That's a good point. One thing I've been doing, though, is recording without any cut at all and using eq in the mixing stage. I realize you aren't speaking about recording, but it's logical to leave those frequencies in and not bother to chase tone until you have all the competing tracks recorded. It's become my favorite part of the recording process.

[@ianparr1533]

If I understand David Barber correctly, what's happening is altering of the harmonic profile from the guitar strings (by rolling off tone & vol controls) whilst boosting harmonic generation from the amp (and/or pedals) by opening up the tone stack and presence controls. Lots of sounds are achievable by doing this that you just can't get with guitar tone and volume on 10. Andy Timmons beautiful Blues Driver clean tones are a prime example.

[@jonathanwapner6262]

I'm just starting down this route with my Reverend Billy Corgan. The tone controls are shared so it's not as much of a set it and forget it situation as your Strat with the various pickups. You have to change the high cut and low cut for each pickup. My main amp is an Orange AD30HTC with Vintage 30s. It's a very bright amp.

[@peteolinski7471]

Awesome Video John. Had me rolling right out the gate with the Stipe comment. Just threw it in and kept on! Or crack on for you guys across the pond!

[@neilwarden]

I owned a Fernandes Strat' with a Little 59'er in the bridge. Back off the tone a little and the tone was supreme when overdriven. When overdriving my Tele I always back the tone off on the bridge. I've been playing for 50 years and for the first 20 I never used the tone controls!

[@CorbCorbin]

I’ve always used them, because I had a cheap guitar, with cheap pickups, that were ear piercing when the tone all the way, through most amps and cabs. Because I had yet to learn about all the modding, I had to learn to adjust my tone knobs, to get sounds I heard. I only had a wha, which helped me do other things with getting unique tones, but I very much rode my volume and tone knobs to dial in for whatever scenario I was playing in. I realized very quickly, how what sounds great alone, almost never works in a full band mix.

[@jakollee]

Sorry to change the subject a little, but this is why it’s nice for a guitar to have more than one tone knob. My PRS Swamp Ash Special has just one universal tone knob, and it’s a constant struggle to have to readjust the tone knob every time I switch to the bridge pickup to avoid having it sound too bright, or switch to the neck pup without it being too dark.

[@keithbenedict8764]

My general rule of thumb for any of my guitars is that as I increase gain I decrease tone. I have super bright Fluence Strat pickups. The bridge pickup is especially bright. The pickups came in a loaded pickguard. The pickguard bypassed the tone knob for the bridge, so I couldn't decrease the tone on the bridge. Made it completely unusable with any gain at all. I added a jumper so that the tone knob works with the bridge pickup. I find that I have to roll the tone back to almost nothing when I add very much gain at all. Too much highs also tends to amplify Stratitis as well. Especially on the D and G strings.

[@joeltunnah]

"Stratitis" is just a symptom of a bad setup. Lower the pickups. And if you're using vintage staggered pole pieces, you need to be using pure nickel wrapped strings, with a wound G. Your volume and intonation problems will go away.

[@keithbenedict8764]

@@joeltunnah I'm not having volume or intonation problems. Intonation is dead on and the pickups can't go any lower. They are literally at the pickguard. The issue I'm having is a warbling sound most noticeable on the G string and somewhat less noticeable on the D string. The D & G pickup pole pieces are staggered, but like I said, they are literally as low as they can go. Somehow guys like Dave Gilmour manage to avoid Stratitis without resorting to wound G strings. I wouldn't want to give up the expressiveness a bendable G string gives me.

[@joeltunnah]

@keithbenedict8764 I still suggest you try a nickel wrapped set. Wound G is still bendable, the diameter is the same. But your problem could also be overtones from the break angle at the headstock. Add more wraps to increase the D and G angles.

[@keithbenedict8764]

@@joeltunnah I have locking tuners, so I can't really wind the strings down low. Maybe I'll add a second string tree for the D and G strings. Appreciate the advice. This is something that bugs me a lot.

[@davezoradi]

Ya my main 80s MIJ Strat is setup with the Emerson custom blender. It does a lot of the top mods: treble bleed on volume, master Tone knob for all pickups and Blend tone knob (blends in the bridge pickup in positions 4, and 5 or the neck pickup for positions 1 and 2). Overall just gives tons of versatility. Pairing that with the Porter pickups vintage customs and it’s a grip of tonal capabilities. With that said I do often dial any sounds up a bit brighter to accommodate that neck response but can always either roll off tone or blend in some neck or bridge depending on the feel needed.

[@GraemeCampbellMusic]

My recently aquired G&L Legacy (S-type) has the tone controls wired as a passive treble roll off and bass roll off respectively. I think its brilliant. Opened up so many sounds. I wiah all Strats had this

[@TLMuse]

Here's my favorite tone knob "trick" for 4-knob ES335-style guitars (I discovered this with my Yamaha SA 1100). Set the tone on the bridge pickup wide open (10), but put the tone on the neck pickup quite low, around 3-ish. Put the switch in the middle position (both pickups). Put the bridge pickup volume all the way up. Now use the neck pickup volume control near its high end, like from 7 to 10. It acts as a kind of tone control, with small changes producing quite strong and interesting changes in tone (the highest volume is a darker tone but with slightly more level than a slightly lower volume setting, which is brighter; my favorite is around 8 to 9). I especially love this with edge-of-breakup tones, with a favorite being a JCM800 model; just small changes of the neck volume knob while playing can make very effective changes in color. Also, I swapped the neck volume with the pickup switch, so the volume knob is by the bridge (I got this idea from Phil Keaggy). With these settings, using your pinky on the neck volume knob is much more expressive than using just the neck pickup. -Tom

[@stevesteve1965.]

But thats why you buy a strat, its the bridge position wide open ,you have 4 other positions to play with if you want tone or depth to your sound.

[@MacPakinga]

Same i do that too 🎸👍 wickedly Awesome 💯😎 from new Zealand 🌎🎸.

[@BluesPower74]

I always set my amp to my neck pickup and dial back the tone on the bridge pickup. That way the guitar will be useable right across all pickup selections. If you just go for a great bridge sound with the guitar tone control up full, the neck pickup can sound muddy. On a Telecaster I only have the tone control wired to the Bridge pickup. Talking amps. If you set the amp tone controls to midway and Presence to taste on a Clean to edge of break up sound. Play your top E and find the sweet spot with the treble control. Do the same with the Middle control whilst listening to the D and G strings, find the sweet spot. Finally Play the low E and adjust the Bass to its sweet spot. This will balance the EQ of your amp and your guitar. I learnt all this whilst working at CBS Fender UK in the early 80s.

[@KozmykJ]

Matt Schofield's method of find the 'Active' position on all the tone controls has stood me in good stead. (TPS vid 7 years ago) This Bridge pickup Tone control method seems like it would work well with that. I do a Bridge pickup tone mod on my Strat and Strat types if they don't have one, and back it off until I find 'The Spot'

[@grahamnunn8998]

Of course, those of us who bought 70s Strats back in the day did not know this. They only wired the bridge to the tone control in the late 80s, then we started modding ours. I also have a 60s style Strat but drew the line at a 3-way switch and no tone on the bridge. There is definitely a sweet spot but I swear it moves!

[@1man1guitarletsgo]

I had a 1979 Strat which I gigged for years, avoiding the bridge pickup all that time! It never occurred to me to wire it to a tone pot. I now have a Squier CV 50s Strat, and have wired all three pickups to the middle pot; I have yet to decide what to use the redundant pot for (maybe a neck pickup blend?).

[@Yamsek]

I do the same on my Les Paul ….just gets a bit rounder and sits in the mix better

[@dennismasterton3834]

What is the best method of having tone adjustment on the bridge pickup of my strat?

[@androidvitrianravaya3479]

Bridge tone is a must have. Sometimes shaving off the very top end of a neck pickup tone, or a neck middle combo, is a surprisingly nice thing, too - like, you still have the chime but you loose the screech. Also, rolling tone a bit is an easier solution - and a quicker one - as opposed to how you low pass your cabs; both produce albeit non-identical, but still, a very similar effect. But alas, in a live loud club it almost doesn't matter lol

[@dansands6363]

A never ending battle I have is dialing in a tone that is pleasant in both the neck and bridge positions, it seems like I always need to end up compromising one or the other. Dial in the bridge just right, neck is muddy, dial in the neck with a useful amount of chime and top end, now the bridge is too shrill. I will say this issue is least common on a strat style guitar because of the independent tone controls but on something like my PRS or Novo I struggle with this.

[@tommywallberg]

A push&pull knob connecting bridge with neck pickups. Less sharp and spiky sound

[@AutopsySuiteable]

I commented about this months ago. To me it’s the only way to play a strat without the ear piercing tone in the bridge. Of course with the fractal you can take this out with eq in front as well.

[@joeltunnah]

A Strat bridge should never be ear piercing. Try adjusting your setup, where you're picking, pick choice, and string choice (pure nickel strings are warmer, for example).

[@lanceholland]

My Strats all have the last knob as a tone control and the middle knob as a shared tone for the middle/neck pickups. I've always rolled the bridge pickup's tone to about 8...just enough to take off the sharp top end. I hardly ever touch the tone control for the other two pickups. FWIW, my Custom Shop '54 strat came wired this way and since it works better, I've done that on all the ones I've owned.

[@lukesteverything627]

Nice job. I train eagles to do under water tap dancing.

[@hendrix2430]

best mod is to use a blender pot where the bridge tone would be.

[@CraigFlowersMusic]

I like to put smaller caps in the tone circuit so when I roll it back it doesn’t get honky or muddy but just loses treble.

[@yikelu]

I would generally say that I optimize the neck pickup on a Strat and not the bridge. But I typically run HSS, so I get around the ice picky bridge that way.

[@picksalot1]

I've always used the Tone knob to sculpt the tone I want. Picking the string, and turning the knob while it's ringing makes finding just the right tone a lot easier. For the Bridge Pickup, this is usually around 7. Tim Pierce has mentioned the same method and result. I also find this is also the easiest method to make my HX Stomp tones sound more like a Fractal Modeler, if I want that sound.

[@JohnSmith-is8nq]

I rub my palm on the strings to make an approximate "white noise" and I roll it back juuust before the "vowel" of the noise turns from "A" to "O".

[@picksalot1]

@JohnSmith-is8nq Cool method. Just tried it, and it worked well to hear the spectrum of frequencies. Thanks

[@Neville-0000]

My 57 AVRI bridge pup is not wired to the tone pot. Has amazing bite. But I also replaced the pup with more output so it’s more mids less treble.

[@TheBbtlegit]

That was some useful information. I will start doing this. Thank you

[@daveg5340]

You can get a great rhythm tone on the middle pickup by putting the tone control on about 7

[@waynegram8907]

JOHN CORDY, What other tricks can you do with the strats tone controls rolled down?

[@JudeGold]

Great sound. Signal path?? 😃

[@TLMuse]

Re: "As you increase presence, apparently you decrease negative feedback." That's sort of right, but you missed something important in the text you showed-the presence control only decreases the feedback at high frequencies. It's making the negative feedback more frequency-dependent. Though it seems you get this from your subsequent remark that it is "mostly affecting the top end of the amp." Maybe more importantly, there isn't a universal meaning to "presence control"-even at Fender! The earliest Fender presence controls worked in the feedback loop, but on some later Fender amps the presence control is basically just a normal EQ section in the power amp. The term appeared in audio settings before it was used in guitar amps, I believe. The idea is just to do some kind of equalization that makes whatever signal is being processed seem more "present." This amounts to boosting upper mids and highs. In guitar amps, because there are multiple nonlinear stages (preamp, power amp active components, output transformer), having separate EQ in the power amp stage does something different than it would if it were earlier in the signal chain. I think that's all that can be said about it in general-it's a kind of upper mid/high-frequency boost in the power amp stage. When everything is clean and linear, it doesn't really do anything you couldn't do by moving that EQ to the preamp, but once you push the amp, having the EQ later just does something different that guitarists have come to like (or not-I'm one of those low-to-zero presence folk!). -Tom

[@klextacy]

I generally run my bridge tone knob between 3-5 on my Strats. Most of my guitars, it lives around 5.

[@rocnpops62]

Fantastic tone on this one John. May I asked which setting were you using on your Buss pedal?

[@JK_L250]

I'm astonished you didn't know this so far! As I mentioned in an earlier Video in the comentsection, that's excactly what I recomended you to avoid a thin sounding Bridge PU.😉 Of course, you need the „right“ Electronics, Wireing and PU-Set (Output and Voicing).

[@scottcrist0070]

That VHT sounds great!

[@NorthGeorgiaMountains]

Does your full transcripts on patreon come in guitar pro format?

[@KuyaPastor]

Hey John! This is an awesome video as I myself am a Strat player and want to maximize my tone. I was curious though, what are your pickup heights for each pick and why did you choose with those heights? Mine are relatively close to factory but I noticed that yours are a lot lower maybe? I'm really curious! Also, I love your playing!

[@kalanterry7508]

Have you heard of the kingtone switch

[@DamianS1893]

Very nice Tone

[@djhoneylove5710]

When I play a distorted rhythm on the bridge pup I turn off the tone. It sounds like it's coming out of a transistor radio which I like.

[@areyouabus]

noload tone pots or disconnect neck pickup from tone control like Dan and Mick do

[@edhauser6052]

Pick ups were designed to be run wide open. Then use a volume pedal to control the volume!

[@UnknownStone-b7w]

I hope you keep the amp this time…🤣 High end is something I’m always wrestling with too.

[@pokeround]

I thought Eric Johnson backed off the treble at the amp end to give him a mellower tone while still letting his pinched harmonics pop out. I've found that works anyway.

[@neoranyamatsane4854]

I had a partscaster loaded with Seymour Duncan Classic Stack set. Couldn't make it work no matter what I did. To me, those pickups are the darkest single Coils. Gibson 57 classic is where I'm at now in a slim hollow body and I'm OK. Almost there.

[@dash4786]

Man John you should put a lot of your back tracks on KZbin man. I know you have a patreon and all that but some that just don't make that should come to your channel. A lot of the other guys who make backtracks kind of end up sounding the same which becomes sterile. Your tracks are always perfect not too much of this or that.

[@tanukibrahma]

I use the volume and tone controls on all my guitars and amps to get the sound I like for a particular track. Then, when I inevitably find it doesn’t work in the mix, use EQ to fix it, lol.

[@cesspaul2]

Try maxing every thing but the bass so the amp is blowing its top and rolling back tone and vol on guitar, it's where all the best sounds came from...works fantastic on the deluxe you just bought. Can't be!I've your playing this on only three. I usually have a deluxe between 5 and 7 and control it with the guitar. Be bold and try it on 10 it doesn't get much louder but gives the best distotion

[@Thr3-Words]

That would explain why, even though you claim to like a darker sound, I often find your Strat tones too bright. I’ve so often read and been told to make lots of use of the tone and volume knobs so I’ve always done that. For clean sounds I’ll generally start with the treble and presence between nine and ten and the gain fairly high before I even turn up the volume knob one the guitar, then turn the guitars tone knob to maybe five and finally slowly roll the volume up bit by bit to figure out what kind of interplay happens with different strengths of plucking. I’m a mediocre player but I know exactly what I want out of any amp😅 What you did in this video is possibly the best overdriven sound I’ve heard from you ever; no need for the Gibson anymore!

[@onusgumboot5565]

I don't know if you mentioned this, or if I missed it. But a strat doesn't have a tone control on the bridge pickup. So unless you are good with a soldering iron, or can have someone else rewire it, none of the info in this video is useful at all.

[@davidabramyk2999]

I usually live between 7-9 on the volume pot, and never touch the tones, honestly never really got much success achieving anything special playing with the tone knobs just dial in what u want on the amp at 7 for base tone and up the guitar volume pot for a bit of grit and sparkle. I almost never actually use my bridge pickup I’m usually neck and positions 2 and 4. With the telecaster I’m almost always just bridge with the volume pot as my “tone control like evh says :)

[@franz2820]

i was just about to ask you this question about how your strat bridge pickup doesn't sound ice picky

[@juanmascorro5172]

Another option is to just can use a p90 bridge pickup strat

[@JeremyAndersonBoise]

You like 9ths almost as much as me, John.

[@monkofwar]

Epic

[@davidyelland908]

A real pro tip is not to leave your guitar controls on 10. They are variable for a reason so vary them.

[@IvorThomas]

You were definitely in Eric Johnson territory there.

[@BOSSenjoyer]

Master vol with bleed, master no-load tone, blender pot for neck and bridge. Nashville Tele or 4-way switch Tele can get pretty fancy with push-pulls, too. Fender Deluxe Drive Alnico III strat single coils are beefy and high output. DD Tele spec is 14.4k for bridge but mine came way over at 15.25k.

[@MrDaigoRiki]

Just change the bridge pickup to Seymour Duncan SSL-5 and it’s done.

[@yuriykrushnytskyi7742]

Pickups?

[@eugenedaly]

That’s if there is a bridge control on a strat…..many don’t

[@gdawgs101]

Do you know how dead simple it is to rewire the tone pot to the bridge? It involves moving all of one solder connection 😂. Not even worth bringing up because the mod is so simple

[@ianparr1533]

Yes, it's a simple mod to wire the mid tone pot to affect the bridge pickup as well. Change the pot to a no-load type and you will still be able to get the sound of the bridge pickup with no tone control.

[@bluwng]

I thought presence was mid range.

[@gravyblue]

Humbucker in the bridge. No one should be using position 2.

[@ltgray2780]

Not a true "Strat" with a tone pot wired to the bridge pickup. Tame the Beast W/O.

[@DanStanley01]

Man, do you ever play a wrong note???

[@perttutarvainenp-tunes6924]

Yep, me too. All I can focus is the way he is playing. So fluid, musical, well timed, melodic, technical... Every little thing he does is magic😁

[@DanStanley01]

@@perttutarvainenp-tunes6924 100%

[@Telepkr]

so is an experienced pro going to do a vid on this ever?

[@TeleTonemonkey]

☠️

[@kalanterry7508]

You watch ufc lol

[@jwhitty14]

Using the tone control is a “trick”??? lol 😂

[@deuxetduexfontcinq]

'every experienced pro'..calm down kid..maybe you should go spend another $10k or some obscure pedals or another boutique amp or something. Or maybe if ya spent more time playing loud in rehearsal rooms or actual real gigs and not sitting on the end of your bed by yourself, you might have this 'tone' bs sorted already. Youre certainly not going to figure it out playing covers in the corner of some random trendy public bar

[@12thfret66]

Ouch.. do you feel better after that?

[@rigelloar7474]

I much prefer to set the amp's treble and presence a bit brighter than I need, and roll down to the sweet spot with the guitar's tone control. This has several benefits. If (while playing) you should need a little more clarity, you don't have to take your hand off of the guitar. Also it makes the voice of the guitar more consistent from string to string, making it less obvious when moving to another string. It also just makes the guitar sound somehow "wetter", more spacious and liquid. The players that have the sound I like (Metheny, Holdsworth, Johnson, etc) all use the tone control like this. Just sayin' . . .

[@JudeGold]

Great sound. Signal path?? 😃