SRV's use of his pickup selector mid-solo

lukedlb

Sitting down with a reliably stratty stratocaster and vocal blackface/tweed amp, I went through the SRV catalogue and was amazed just how much he uses the 2 and 4 pickups for his songs. I assumed SRV was known for his neck pickup where the middle pickup and the 2 and 4 are used just as much, not to mention the bridge.

This thread is not about that.

Instead, I was amazed to see how often he changes pickup mid solo. A good example is Testify where he divides the 8 or 9 different solos between different voices on his pickups.
Moreover, and this is where it's particularly interesting, he will flick from neck to mid or to bridge and back to neck during a single short phrase. Check out Live at El Mocambo with Testify to see some of this quicker pickup changing. Why does he do it and how?

Here are some of my thoughts:

Other than on voodoo Child, Stevie doesn't use his vox wah. Although Hendrix did enjoy his wake-wakka, he more often than not turned the wah on and off to accentuate lines with the toe down to push through the mush and mix. I think SRV did this with his pickups (compare live voodoo childs of both jimi and SRV to hear them both pull a long extended bend, one using the wah, the other his pickup switch to get that ooo-aaaa, and vice versa).
I believe SRV pulled this off with well balanced pickups, tuned with the amp on full to identify volume differences and produce a thick to thin sweep without sacrificing each pickup and combination own vocality. Not too muddy at the neck. Not too thin and shrill at the bridge.
His rapid switch changing mid solo allows him to push out part of a phrase or eliminate flabby lower string notes. This technique may depend on equipment contraints or vocal/tonal voicing mid solo, from solid oooooohhs, to punching aaaaaaahhhhs. This is second nature when you know a wah pedal well. I just never considered it on pickup selector switches.

El Mocambo is a particularly good example to discuss as SRV has reduced equipment compared to future live shows (or recordings for that matter). He only changes guitar at the very end for Lenny. Pedals are one or two tubescreamers and a wah. Two amps. Such a set-up makes pickup study a little easier regarding his core sound that night.
As I said earlier, let's try to keep this thread focused on his rapid pickup switching during solos, shown particularly well at the El Mocambo, rather than going through his catalogue examining which pickup for which song (which would be a lovely thread to do anyway).

Please feel free to mention your own mid solo technique with pickups. Pick attack and pick position over the string is no doubt important. Again, let's keep it pickup selector switches. 

viz

That note in Still Got the Blues

viz

4:15

https://youtu.be/A7VK2YqgiY4

lukedlb

viz said:

4:15

https://youtu.be/A7VK2YqgiY4

Off thread but I just realised he’s playing Hello by Lionel Ritchie on that final solo. Please tell me I’m wrong. 
But yes, that does sound like a pickup change, albeit a longer one than srv. 

stickyfiddle

I think it's just another way of adding colour, especially to longer solos or instrumental tracks. When you've only got a clean-ish amp-plus-TS setup there's not much else you can do if you want to give a section a tonal 'lift".

Slash does it on the SCOM solo as well. 3:02 here, though the two parts are actually overdubbed on the studio version, as the neck pickup sound is still ringing and fading when the upward run on the bridge pickup starts. He also didn't change the switch while filming the video because he's just too rock n roll for proper attention to detail

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w7OgIMMRc4

axisus

I'm fascinated by your analysis to be honest. I was a massive SRV fan back in the day but I never for one moment thought about what pickup was being used for anything. That train of thought is right over my head

viz

lukedlb said:

viz said:

4:15

https://youtu.be/A7VK2YqgiY4

Off thread but I just realised he’s playing Hello by Lionel Ritchie on that final solo. Please tell me I’m wrong. 
But yes, that does sound like a pickup change, albeit a longer one than srv. 

All “back-cycling” songs sound similar, so yes!

Lebarque

I love how SRV switches pickups on the harmonics right at the end of Lenny. Really makes it finish with a flourish.

vasselmeyer

I really love the way he used pickup selectors to build certain phases of his solos. One of the ones that jumped out at me when I first heard it was the "Couldn't Stand the Weather" solo where he changes around 3:18 and again at 3:33.

That's a really nice analysis.

tone1

I’ve just listened to Tightrope and I had noticed it before but I’m sure I can hear similar changes...

bluechargeboy

Nick Johnston does this a lot. He spoke somewhere about switching to the bridge pickup to get more bite out of a decaying bend. In this clip at about 1:18 and many other places.

Wazmeister

To be fair, its adopted by some Strat players, and I myself do this a lot...

I first noticed it some years ago when I visited Peach and John Priest (wonderful player aint he ?) did it a lot, and then explained to me a bit more about it.

Once you get the 'sound' of each setting in your head, you can then switch according to the solo/licks needs. 

It is a release and even a revelation, to find all those tones in just one guitar.

It's also probably why some people may struggle with cheaper pick-ups ? There needs to be a similar balance across the PUs to avoid too much of a spike volume boost...

lukedlb

Wazmeister said:

I first noticed it some years ago when I visited Peach and John Priest (wonderful player aint he ?) did it a lot, and then explained to me a bit more about it.

Once you get the 'sound' of each setting in your head, you can then switch according to the solo/licks needs. 

So much to discuss here. Let me start with the 'sound' point. I think most Strat players use the pickup selection for different voices, ultimately preferring one over the others. Are you siding more with the tonal sounds of each pickup? It would probably be easier if we were only looking at a 3-way switch with perfectly balanced pickups where the 3 pickups provide 3 different tones of the same voice, allowing a single voice to punch through depending on phrasing/PU choice. The 2 and 4 have distinct voices IMO, which SRV uses for specific songs (little wing, lenny, etc.).

Wazmeister said:

It is a release and even a revelation, to find all those tones in just one guitar.

It's also probably why some people may struggle with cheaper pick-ups ? There needs to be a similar balance across the PUs to avoid too much of a spike volume boost...

Cheap pickups are absolutely to blame and especially the bridge. Playing vintage Strats shows how solid the bridge pickup is: distinct from the middle PU yet much closer than the thin scratchy bridge PUs most complain about.

The idea of 'hot' pickups, or those texas flood, pickups, set close to the strings continues to muddle this issue. Instead, a pickup needs to be set distant from the string with a much lower output than one would expect. This should help provide greater room for pickup playability without limiting the attack strength. It should help with low string muddiness on the neck.


How would you go about tuning your pickups from a 3-way selector point of view? A five-way selector requires give or take to perfectly tune so I assume a 3-way would be easier. Do you begin with the middle? Any advice? Please remember, we're tuning for balance of a single voice across 3 pickups, not 3 distinct voices.

I was quite surprised by how noticeable the volume differences when playing through a BB or tubescreamer. I usually tune/balance the pickups at low level volume. I thought mine were well balanced before I heard them through a pedal at volume. Which brings me onto my next point:

lukedlb

SRV had his amps dimed with pedals so that any volume control would provide drive or compression. Such vocal space that can be described as 'thin' as one switches to the middle or bridge wouldn't be as apparent. In fact, it would suggest the need to reduce the fatness of the neck to avoid compression.
Moreover, I remember reading that some of the mods done on Stevie's amps only work at volume; at low volume they sound shrill. Could this be part of some intuitive genius of SRV or his amp tech to consider every element from string gauge to pickup to pedals to amp in order to achieve that balanced tone across all pickups? Bedroom players, digital players, end up constantly battling and fiddling with controls in an effort to compensate for something which is very difficult to achieve with such separate elements. After all, a guitar jacked into a good amp should be all you need. As things got more complicated and expectations changed, along with production costs and savings, it was inevitable that the Stratocaster lost its balance across each PU.

lukedlb

axisus said:

I'm fascinated by your analysis to be honest. I was a massive SRV fan back in the day but I never for one moment thought about what pickup was being used for anything. That train of thought is right over my head

At one point I wondered if SRV's constant knocking of the switch was accidental and he was simply checking it was still in place. Then I thought the man is a god for changing so quickly and intently. It's starting to dawn on me that this should be a technique as fundamental as pick attack.

EricTheWeary

I was re reading an interview with Rene Martinez who was SRV's guitar tech at one point. Stevie changed his set up a lot, sometimes just depending on the venue or what was working that night. As he got to any individual song/solo he might have been making on the fly decisions about what worked in the context of that night's set up, band mix and musical context. As well as all the changing for emphasis type stuff. 
I seem to remember years ago someone pointing out  to me when the tubescreamer gets knocked on during House is Rocking (? long time since I listened to this stuff) which wasn't about boosting for a solo it was a tonal choice. 

axisus

bluechargeboy said:

Nick Johnston does this a lot. He spoke somewhere about switching to the bridge pickup to get more bite out of a decaying bend. In this clip at about 1:18 and many other places.

I've never seen that before! Nick is an awesome player.

lukedlb

EricTheWeary said:

I was re reading an interview with Rene Martinez who was SRV's guitar tech at one point. Stevie changed his set up a lot, sometimes just depending on the venue or what was working that night. As he got to any individual song/solo he might have been making on the fly decisions about what worked in the context of that night's set up, band mix and musical context. As well as all the changing for emphasis type stuff. 
I seem to remember years ago someone pointing out  to me when the tubescreamer gets knocked on during House is Rocking (? long time since I listened to this stuff) which wasn't about boosting for a solo it was a tonal choice. 

Yes, it could be reactive, as this solo is not getting through so I’ll switch to bridge. No doubt, we’ve all done that. But he happily returns to previous settings. 
With the Hammond b3 and keys to sit above, I wonder what was the major change in his armoury? The Dumble perhaps?

lukedlb

bluechargeboy said:

Nick Johnston does this a lot. He spoke somewhere about switching to the bridge pickup to get more bite out of a decaying bend. In this clip at about 1:18 and many other places.

A great example. Good find.