Your Perfect Mix n Match Guitar

Marshall_stax

skullfunkerry said:

Hmmm, lots to think about here. I think I'd go for the body shape of my GJ2, with the neck from my Performance, but thru-neck with no heel like the Soloist I played the other day... possibly a maple fingerboard, although I'm not too bothered either way. No inlays though, just plain and simple. A couple of humbuckers and a Floyd Rose, jack socket mounted on the edge (totally agree with everything you said about that). The volume pot (I don't use the tone) would be down away from the bridge so that it's not in the way, and the pickup selector would be on the bottom horn like an N4. It would have a reverse headstock, because I think they look cool. The nicest looking headstock I've seen recently is the one on the Schecter Reaper, so let's go with that.

Chrome hardware, no scratchplate, seafoam green finish and zebra bobbins on the pups.

(I'm not expecting anyone to actually like the sound of that)

I like the sound of that! Build two please, send one my way. 

Fishboy7

335 with fender scale length, p90 in the neck and Humbucker in the bridge........ oooh and Gold sparkle finish, ebony board and inlays spelling my name!

tony99

some of these gonna come out looking like Homer's concept car

thegummy

Fishboy7 said:

335 with fender scale length, p90 in the neck and Humbucker in the bridge 

Forgot about scale length - I think I'd like it to have the loose feel of a Les Paul. Not sure how else the scale length would affect anything like the sound or whatever but I do quite like the looseness of a Les Paul.

thegummy

tony99 said:

some of these gonna come out looking like Homer's concept car

Nah read the first post again - a boffin is going to do some design miracles and make them all look great

Universal8

Strat body, 1 single coil neck pickup, humbucker bridge, hard tail, musicman style headstock

HAL9000

My most recent buy is a Yamaha PAC611HFM which is very close indeed to my ideal guitar. A Strat-ish body, P90 neck, and splittable HB at the (hardtail) bridge. Only things I’d change are small personal preferences which would make little or no difference to how the guitar plays or sounds, such as a toploader bridge and a maple board. Other than that it’s pretty much there or thereabouts.

richardhomer

Interesting thread. The ‘Swiss Army Knife’ guitar is a massively appealing prospect - but in my experience, they never ‘really’ achieve their aims. An HSS Strat style guitar is certainly versatile - but doesn’t deliver everything an SSS Strat and (say) a Les Paul can. Coil-split PRSs generally sound good when used in HB mode - but the mahogany/set-neck construction means the SC sounds lack the attack/snap of a bolt-on guitar.

They all present compromises - how much that matters depends on the player.

thegummy

richardhomer said:

Interesting thread. The ‘Swiss Army Knife’ guitar is a massively appealing prospect - but in my experience, they never ‘really’ achieve their aims. An HSS Strat style guitar is certainly versatile - but doesn’t deliver everything an SSS Strat and (say) a Les Paul can. Coil-split PRSs generally sound good when used in HB mode - but the mahogany/set-neck construction means the SC sounds lack the attack/snap of a bolt-on guitar.

They all present compromises - how much that matters depends on the player.

I could live without a single coil bridge but it's missing out on the humbucker neck that leaves an HSS lacking compared to 2 guitars.

Having the single coil bridge option is a big plus too, as are being able to have a proper position 2 sound and have the neck+bridge single coil sound.

A split humbucker has never sounded good to me.

Dave_Vader

skullfunkerry said:

Dave_Vader said:

Something that sounds like a wraparound P90 SG, but with a Floyd on it

Physics says no

Has anyone done any back to back blind testing of hardtail vs Floyd/other type of trem, like the clean tone test that was on here a while ago? Not trying to be awkward, just genuinely interested...

Not sure, and I'm 99% sure that what I really want is the strings to have that tight feel you don't get with any trem, and the unplugged sound of a full contact bridge (I know, not even the SG thing) and physics really says no to that.

JezWynd

Telecaster body with a Music Man 4+2 solid rosewood neck. Maybe fit a middle pick up on the tele.

thegummy

skullfunkerry said:

Dave_Vader said:

Something that sounds like a wraparound P90 SG, but with a Floyd on it

Physics says no

Has anyone done any back to back blind testing of hardtail vs Floyd/other type of trem, like the clean tone test that was on here a while ago? Not trying to be awkward, just genuinely interested...

I've found that there seems to be very few blind tests for guitar tone and pretty much zero that are legit scientific.

I think it might be partly because people like the idea of hearing all these subtle differences so wouldn't want to find out they've been imagining them.

bbill335

it'd be nice if my parts tele could weigh and sound the same with a vibrato and strat mid sounds. but as a tele, it's perfect as-is

Matt_McG

Something not wildly different from some of the things that Novo make, and the Musicman Valentine.

So, tele or offset type body. Maybe swamp-ash or roast swamp ash. 

Neck: Fender style neck, medium chunky C, medium chunky frets, roasted maple (rosewood board would be a nice to have).

Trem: optional, but if it had one, something that's stable, and easy to do nice shimmering chord vibrato, rather than dive bombs or Vai style manipulation.

Pickups: hot tele (maybe with a tap for lower output) or Filtertron bridge; neck: P90 or staple style pickup, or maybe a Dynasonic style single coil, or brighter Fender Full Range style 'bucker.

if someone could make a silent coil type system that reduced noise without affecting the single coil sound, I'd have that.

It'd be quite nice if the controls had a master volume, master tone, and maybe a blend control (so in the middle both pickups in parallel position you could blend in more neck, or more bridge, or 50/50). Volume control should be close enough for swells, but not as close as a strat volume control.

Dave_Vader

thegummy said:

skullfunkerry said:

Dave_Vader said:

Something that sounds like a wraparound P90 SG, but with a Floyd on it

Physics says no

Has anyone done any back to back blind testing of hardtail vs Floyd/other type of trem, like the clean tone test that was on here a while ago? Not trying to be awkward, just genuinely interested...

I've found that there seems to be very few blind tests for guitar tone and pretty much zero that are legit scientific.

I think it might be partly because people like the idea of hearing all these subtle differences so wouldn't want to find out they've been imagining them.

Once you've plugged it in yep. You're right.

But disconnecting the bridge from the body, balancing it on two little bits of metal and attaching springs to it does change the sound in a predictable way. You lose a bit of sustain, and a certain amount of thickness. Not lots, and not enough for me to stop playing guitars with whammy bars exclusively when I'm out gigging and can make up for it with gain and eq.

It has to be noted that I do most of my home practice with an unplugged electric, so these little nuances get to my ears, and are completely gone once I've plugged in.

Probably.

TTBZ

Mine would just simply be a Les Paul with a Revstar style forearm contour and a Feline neck heel for upper fret access. 

JMP220478

stratman3142 said:

octatonic said:

HSS Strat with the ability to have neck and bridge pickup together in parallel covers a lot of sonic territory.

That would be my choice. My HSS Strat with S1 switching comes close. I can get bridge humbucker, in parallel with the middle and neck in series humbucker mode, but I can't get neck single coil in parallel with bridge single coil. I suppose I could include and extra switch for that. I need fairly high frets and a fairly flat neck camber, but my Fender HSS Strat has that as stock.

As the icing on the cake, I'd also like 24 frets and improved upper fret access. Probably something like an Ibanez RG550 but looking less pointy and looking more like a Strat.

Update edit: Thinking about it a bit more, I think I've just described a Charvel Guthrie Govan Signature guitar.

or an MM Silhouette ?

JMP220478

Universal8 said:

Strat body, 1 single coil neck pickup, humbucker bridge, hard tail, musicman style headstock

USA MM Sub might get you most of the way there - change neck from HB to single ...

Jimbro66

I've always been most comfortable with Teles but have owned several other types of guitar along the way (I still have a 335). One that made a lasting impression was a '57 Duo Jet and I've always liked the look of Les Paul Specials but never got closer than a '59 LPJ.

So I got to thinking that a Tele with Gretsch overtones and with a nod to LPS aesthetics would be rather nice. The idea expanded to a chambered Tele body (the Duo Jet was chambered) with TV Jones pickups and Gretsch control layout but the pickups being in P90 guise to be LP Special-ish. Front body binding as per the Duo Jet and, to indulge my rockabilly influences, some sort of one-off graphic pick guard. Finally, it should have a trem but not a great lump of Bigsby. Oh, and a blend control to mix the pickups. Once the concept was fixed in my head I just had to have it.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4858/46837668511_b65175fc44_b.jpg

It fills the brief admirably.

stratman3142

JMP220478 said:

stratman3142 said:

… My HSS Strat with S1 switching comes close. I can get bridge humbucker, in parallel with the middle and neck in series humbucker mode, but I can't get neck single coil in parallel with bridge single coil. I suppose I could include and extra switch for that. I need fairly high frets and a fairly flat neck camber, but my Fender HSS Strat has that as stock.

As the icing on the cake, I'd also like 24 frets and improved upper fret access. Probably something like an Ibanez RG550 but looking less pointy and looking more like a Strat.

Update edit: Thinking about it a bit more, I think I've just described a Charvel Guthrie Govan Signature guitar.

or an MM Silhouette ?

That's an interesting option I wasn't aware of.

edit: It looks like the MM Silhouette doesn't have a whammy bar (which I forgot to mention in my spec.). And it looks like the Silhouette Special has a whammy but only 22 frets.