I've got a small herd of G&L's
S500, Comanche, Legacy HB, Asat special, Classic, Z3 and two Will Ray's..
ONe WR is semi holoow with no F hole and sounds fantastic
the other WR and Z3 are heavy, both have metalflake paint
and are just to bright what can be done, different caps,? saddles ?
or something else.?. I got in touch with G&L and spoke with
Chris and he's gonna get back to me, I'm just wondering if
anyone here has had this issue and fixed it.
(rolling off the tone knob slightly doesn't fix it. just makes it dull)
Thanks...
WR and Z3 tone trouble.. any fixes.?
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ChrisPcritter
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- Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:32 am
- Location: Dixon Ca, (Near UC Davis)
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jonc
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Re: WR and Z3 tone trouble.. any fixes.?
what strings are you using? this might be a situation where it pays to try coated or another type of string that is noted for a fuller, rounder sound.
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louis cyfer
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Re: WR and Z3 tone trouble.. any fixes.?
yeah, pure nickel strings, the half ground stuff, the cleartones with the heavy coating. a smaller cap and rolling the tone back, but to me the best solution is using a different value volume pot, around 170-180 kohms.
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helle-man
- Posts: 271
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- Location: Asheville, NC
WR and Z3 tone trouble.. any fixes.?
Metalflake finishes have extra clearcoats added in order to make the finish smooth over the lumpy flakes, and that tends to make them a hair brighter sometimes. But they should still be in the ballpark tone-wise.
All my G&L's sound a little different from each other. If I were to compare them all side by side, I would need to slightly tweak the tone controls of my amp for each one to sound right to my ears. (That's why God made tone controls).
I don't think there's anything wrong with your guitars. Some guitars just become your favorites over time. I personally like the semi-hollows because they seem more resonate, and make any other guitars sound a bit more harsh. They also have a little less sustain. This is normal in my book.
One other thing I have also noticed about metalflake guitars is this: They have a little more sustain than other guitars, probably due to the thick finish. And some people like that factor.
My 2¢.
WR
All my G&L's sound a little different from each other. If I were to compare them all side by side, I would need to slightly tweak the tone controls of my amp for each one to sound right to my ears. (That's why God made tone controls).
I don't think there's anything wrong with your guitars. Some guitars just become your favorites over time. I personally like the semi-hollows because they seem more resonate, and make any other guitars sound a bit more harsh. They also have a little less sustain. This is normal in my book.
One other thing I have also noticed about metalflake guitars is this: They have a little more sustain than other guitars, probably due to the thick finish. And some people like that factor.
My 2¢.
WR
Will Ray says - Less War, More Guitars.
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ChrisPcritter
- Posts: 101
- Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:32 am
- Location: Dixon Ca, (Near UC Davis)
Re: WR and Z3 tone trouble.. any fixes.?
Thanks for the input.
I'll change the strings and check the Capacitor values.
I do realize they won't ever sound exactly the same but I'd love
it if they could be fairly close so only a slight adjustment was
needed. The MF silver WR is my favorite gigging guitar..
I'll get the others close..
I'll change the strings and check the Capacitor values.
I do realize they won't ever sound exactly the same but I'd love
it if they could be fairly close so only a slight adjustment was
needed. The MF silver WR is my favorite gigging guitar..
I'll get the others close..
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NickHorne
- Posts: 785
- Joined: Wed May 26, 2010 11:44 am
- Location: England
Re: WR and Z3 tone trouble.. any fixes.?
I totally agree with Louis's suggestion; in this situation I have used a (linear) 1 megohm preset pot, connected across the track ends of the volume pot.
At its centre setting of 500 K ohms, this will give around 170 K (500K in parallel with 250K) loading for the pups, and can be tweaked a fair bit either side.
This will give a more subtle rounding-off than a capacitor circuit, i.e. not just taking the shine off the top.
I found my WR (solid one) super-in-the-face bright when I first got it, but after living with it and experimenting with amp settings (and my own technique), I now love what it does.
My favourite for it is my Deluxe Reverb reissue, with the brightening cap removed from the amp's volume control (think I'll make that switchable).
I have also ended up using brighter strings (D'Addario Pro Steels), to help the wound ones keep up with the G and B without having to stagger poles so much that up-and-down-the-neck volume balance goes wrong, and I then warmed the amp up a bit. Result: fat top-end and grand-piano bottom, with good string balance.
Fab guitar.
At its centre setting of 500 K ohms, this will give around 170 K (500K in parallel with 250K) loading for the pups, and can be tweaked a fair bit either side.
This will give a more subtle rounding-off than a capacitor circuit, i.e. not just taking the shine off the top.
I found my WR (solid one) super-in-the-face bright when I first got it, but after living with it and experimenting with amp settings (and my own technique), I now love what it does.
My favourite for it is my Deluxe Reverb reissue, with the brightening cap removed from the amp's volume control (think I'll make that switchable).
I have also ended up using brighter strings (D'Addario Pro Steels), to help the wound ones keep up with the G and B without having to stagger poles so much that up-and-down-the-neck volume balance goes wrong, and I then warmed the amp up a bit. Result: fat top-end and grand-piano bottom, with good string balance.
Fab guitar.
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NickHorne
- Posts: 785
- Joined: Wed May 26, 2010 11:44 am
- Location: England
Re: WR and Z3 tone trouble.. any fixes.?
Have just noticed Ernie Ball's "Cobalt" - look like high output wound strings with a smooth physical feel; will have to try these.
I've suffered with the excess loudness of the plain G for as long as I can remember, and find that the answer is to try to get balance with the strings themselves, because radical polepiece adjustments affect the tone, affect bending (out of the strings polepiece zone and into its neighbour's), and also affect whether or not the string plays evenly up and down the neck.
I've got my Z-coils working a treat. Upper strings sound fat, not icepicky (due to warmer amp settings) while the brighter-responding wound strings counteract this to retain twang, and their extra output helps balance. It'll be interesting to see how these Cobalts compare with ProSteels.
Having said all this, if I could find G strings that were magnetically "worse" (quieter), I'd want some. Then my poles would probably be flat (A and D presently raised a bit, and high E a tiny bit).
I've suffered with the excess loudness of the plain G for as long as I can remember, and find that the answer is to try to get balance with the strings themselves, because radical polepiece adjustments affect the tone, affect bending (out of the strings polepiece zone and into its neighbour's), and also affect whether or not the string plays evenly up and down the neck.
I've got my Z-coils working a treat. Upper strings sound fat, not icepicky (due to warmer amp settings) while the brighter-responding wound strings counteract this to retain twang, and their extra output helps balance. It'll be interesting to see how these Cobalts compare with ProSteels.
Having said all this, if I could find G strings that were magnetically "worse" (quieter), I'd want some. Then my poles would probably be flat (A and D presently raised a bit, and high E a tiny bit).