Twangster

HI all, I just did some upgrades to my Squier P Special and though you might be interested. It's an Indonesian 98 model, P and J pickups obviously. Completely stock, so first I swapped the steel bridge pieces for brass ones - not expecting any change in sound, and I was right. I did A/B recordings, and there's no discernible difference whatsoever. However it [i]looks [/i]great which was the main thing. I just love a bit of brass... Then onto the pickups. I looked at SDs or Di Marzios, but it just seemed a lot of dosh for some wire and a few magnets. Equally super cheap Chinese ones seemed no real change from what is (probably) in there already, so I settled on Toneriders after a bit of research. There are forums who insist Toneriders are Artics from the same factory etc etc. I don't know. But I talked to Andrew at Toneriders who is reassuringly human and in the UK, and also emailed, and he assured me they build them in the Far East to keep costs down but it's their own factory, doesn't make for anyone else though TR do provide white label pickups themselves for Fender, Levinson etc. So....he could be telling porkies...but he'd be laying himself open to misrepresentation charges putting it in writing, - I mean, he doesn't know who I am...I could be a freelance journo looking for a quick column story. So I decided to let the pickups speak for themselves, so to speak. Fitting was a doddle. Out with the old Squier ones - sealed plastic units - then in with the TRs which are coils with separate covers. Solder solder....the J was very slightly too big so out came the chisel but we're talking a few mil off each end. Took 40 mins max. I recorded a pretty crap bass part beforehand with the old pickups (I'm really a guitarist) - the P, then the J, then again with the new ones and then also the P+J together. No eq or other processing - straight into the interface into Reaper. The difference is dramatic. The TRs are much clearer and more transparent, and the P+J is a beast of a tone which was useless with the old pickups. To be honest I still quite like the old P sound - kinda 70s muffled thud....nothing wrong with that. I never used the old J and you'll see why - it's weedy and useless. Overall I'm really pleased at the cost and the end result. So to the clips - here they are - Soundcloud permitting.... https://soundcloud.com/twangothan/old-j-1 https://soundcloud.com/twangothan/new-j https://soundcloud.com/twangothan/old-p https://soundcloud.com/twangothan/new-p https://soundcloud.com/twangothan/new-both

Quick update - just installed brass saddles...I recorded the bass beforehand with the steel ones then again after with the brass.....no discernible difference whatsoever but I love the way it looks, so karma wise it's an improvement. I'm installing Toneriders this weekend which I think will make a bigger difference. 😃

Apparently the London gig on 18th November is "Full band". Is that with Lee, Waddy etc?

...I know it makes some...but would changing the (reasonably chunky) bridge on my Squier P Special make much difference - if I replaced it with, say, a Badass or Gotoh?

Thanks all. I love a good bass part, and have great difficulty finding bass players - where is everyone?

Hello all. I confess....I'm a guitarist. But I do a lot of home recording and my regular (and really good) bass player mate is a bit out for the count at the moment with work etc so I'm having to do the bass part too. I'm here to try to learn and improve - I'm fine with theory, scales, harmony etc, but really struggle with a tight groove, and like most guitarists playing bass I tend to overplay so each take results in less notes....I really enjoy it though so I've resolved to get better. Thanks!