[jeffm725]

this was touched on in another thread, but I feel it deserves its own discussion because there are so many tonal options on the pallete of a "jerrycaster"

I am interested in hearing what others do as far as pickup selection.

I think the universal notion is that the "sound" lies in the middle pickup in single coil mode. I tend to agree with that. However, Do you stay in that position for a whole gig? If not, when do you switch (Example what songs makes you switch out of that, and where do you switch to)

Also, does anyone use the pickups in Humbucking mode?
let me give an example there from me. I find that a qtron, or Af-9 or an emma (I have used them all) doesnt really trigger properly in single coil mode.
So when I use the auto filter, I switch to center pickup humbucker for the best and most consistent filter triggering.
What do you do?

Finally, how many have an SDS-1 in the neck position(I do), how many have another super 2 there? And either way, does anyone play in the neck position at all when doing "jerry".
Example, if I switch to the neck pickup (sds-1) and throw the tube screamer on and roll down the tone pot just about to "0" on my guitar, I get that great, smooth "Allman brothers" sound..think Blue sky.... but that is not a jerry tone by any stretch.


Lets hear some detailed explanation of your jerry pickup settings and tone pot settings........

I've got more questions here, but this should start us off............

[tigerstrat]

May be splitting hairs, but Garcia had no middle pup at all and no split-coil wiring during:

'65- mid '69 (Guild Starfire, various Gibsons)
mid '70 to mid '71 (Gibson LP-SG, Gibson LP Jr, and breifly, Alembic prototype and Les Paul with minibuckers)
late '75 to mid '76 (Travis Bean TB1000A)

[jeffm725]

tiger, youre not splitting hairs, it is an important distinction.
I should have qualified my statement to be "the tiger years" ....I dont want to start with late 70's wolf even as there was some unique, atypical stuff going on during that transition too. So to keep it simple, lets talk Tiger fall '79 - '89

[tigerstrat]

cool.

well, my own take is that I do pretty much stay in middle Super 2 s/c mode for the whole show, except:
when going straight from a solo to handing it over to another soloist (usually the keyboardist), I like to just go straight to neck pup, which on my guitar is a Duncan JB Jr., always in HB mode. This pup (even in HB mode) is lower output, but not extremely so and I can drop to a semi-muted background rhythm role and back to my exact previous setting w/o having to make a volume adjustment twice.

I keep my amp set to extreme treble, minimal bass, and my guitar tone pot rolled pretty far back most of the time, around the 2-4 range most of the show.

[Capt Rosebuddy]

My current guitar isn’t set up to do Garcia at all, but I do have a Q Tron and I find that it only really hits its butter zone when I am using the neck pick up. I can pick quietly or very aggressively and it works great. Actually, sorry this is a touch off topic, but I find that the Q Tron in addition to doing the classic Shakedown, Fire on the Mountain ect. filtering can duplicate the ‘77 Dancin’ in the Streets filtering amazingly well (think Barton Hall 1st. set closer…)!

[jeffm725]

cool.

well, my own take is that I do pretty much stay in middle Super 2 s/c mode for the whole show, except:
when going straight from a solo to handing it over to another soloist (usually the keyboardist), I like to just go straight to neck pup, which on my guitar is a Duncan JB Jr., always in HB mode. This pup (even in HB mode) is lower output, but not extremely so and I can drop to a semi-muted background rhythm role and back to my exact previous setting w/o having to make a volume adjustment twice.
I keep my amp set to extreme treble, minimal bass, and my guitar tone pot rolled pretty far back most of the time, around the 2-4 range most of the show.

Excellent information and description, thanks. I like your application of the neck pup, using it for a volume drop for rhythm comping. I can say that at least on my setup the sds-1 does not lend itself to doing that, the level difference (and tonal difference) are just too great without a lot of dialing.

You are like me (the anti-vic in regards to tone pots, I very rarely open my pots up past 6 and usually stay in the 2-4 range myself.


Now while I got you here tigerstrat , for the envelope efffect, single coil or humbucker?[/i]

[Crazy 9.5 Fingers]

I have all Duncans in my Jerry Strat.

59's in the middle and bridge both with coil taps. They probably aren't as close to the Jerry sound as the Super Dist.'s but I didn't really like the sound of them for me. However, the 59's manage to pull off some great Jerry tones as well as some Trey without the hollow-body.

I went with the Lil Screamin' Demon in the neck and I really love it. A little lower output than the JB Jr. in Tiger's axe, probably pretty close in tone I imagine. Has a real nice round, bell tone which I prefer when I go to the neck. Roll the tone down a bit and it makes my Strat into a great jazzbox.

I do have some very small output issues though as I do lose a little juice when I go from an untapped middle, middle-bridge, or bridge setting. But usually if I go the neck setting, it is for rhythm and the output match is perfect. If I do solo on the neck, I have a Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive tonally set for that pickup and kick it in when I need it.

I used to have the Jerry Di Marzio combo of pickups but really like the sound of the Duncans better as well as the output match.

[tigerstrat]

[quote="jeffm725]Now while I got you here tigerstrat , for the envelope efffect, single coil or humbucker?[/i][/quote]

s/c, normally, i.e.Estimated, SS, FoTM. I might fiddle with HB in the midst of jams now and then.

Not biting on the 5/8/77 bait.

[playingdead]

LOL ... as the anti-anti Vic ... and yes, I don't roll my tone controls back much at all, to my detriment, I'm sure. On my guitar, there's very little sonic difference with them wide open and mostly closed.

I use the middle pickup, single coil for almost everything, including the Q-Tron stuff.

However, I am looking for a Mutron III now. The Q-Tron is okay, but it's not really right to my ears. But I think you can adjust it so it will react equally well to the single coil as the humbucker. What happens on my guitar, at least, is there is a HUGE boost in output when that middle pickup goes from single coil to humbucker. It's seriously louder.

For certain tunes -- Black Throated Wind, Mr. Charlie, Here Comes Sunshine -- I will use the inbetween position with the bridge and middle pickups single coil; my Tiger does a very convincing Stratocaster tone that way. If I want it a little fatter, I'll leave the bridge pickup as a humbucker, it still quacks nicely that way.

For other certain tunes -- Cumberland Blues, Mama Tried, Big River and a few others -- I will use the bridge pickup as a humbucker. I love that sound -- it's close to the 1979-81 tone where Jerry had the DualSounds -- but I love it on the low end and the midrange, but I find it shrill and piercing on the highs. But it crackles and jumps, I love it. I switch to it in the middle of Chinacat during the instrumental bridge, when I go to the E lead. It's also very good for those tunes where I am really fingerpicking -- West LA Fadeaway, Althea, etc.

And, finally, for some overdrive playing where I really want the guitar to sing, I will go to the bridge pickup as a humbucker, but only with the overdrive on. I also roll back the tone (finally!) for that "woman tone" Clapton loves.

However, I also find that the bridge pickup, either humbucker or single coil, without any overdrive, is a close approximation of the "loud" tone Jerry used to use on tunes like "I Shall Be Released" with the Garcia Band, just a really meaty, penetrating clean tone, with a slap delay. Nice sound.

YMMV!

[jeffm725]

LOL ... as the anti-anti Vic ... and yes, I don't roll my tone controls back much at all, to my detriment, I'm sure. On my guitar, there's very little sonic difference with them wide open and mostly closed.

You are absolutely right about the tone pot functionality, at least as it pertains to my rig too.

I have the right Pot value (500k if I rememember correctly) and the right taper installed, but I get very little change between 3-10 in my overall tone. the thrust of the change lies between 0-2

[tigerstrat]

LOL ... as the anti-anti Vic ... and yes, I don't roll my tone controls back much at all, to my detriment, I'm sure. On my guitar, there's very little sonic difference with them wide open and mostly closed.

You are absolutely right about the tone pot functionality, at least as it pertains to my rig too.

I have the right Pot value (500k if I rememember correctly) and the right taper installed, but I get very little change between 3-10 in my overall tone. the thrust of the change lies between 0-2

I had the same problem when I had the 500k in there. I finally tried out a 250k(which I had never done since doing the whole UGB/loop mod), and it really opens up the usable pot rotation, more like between 0-5 now, where before it was 0-2 like you said and with my preference for rolloff, it was a very precarious balance which could easily be upset. Come to think of it, the "250k" pot (the original on the '87 MIJ strat) actually measured 325k. 250k might be even better, I should try it.

[jeffm725]

LOL ... as the anti-anti Vic ... and yes, I don't roll my tone controls back much at all, to my detriment, I'm sure. On my guitar, there's very little sonic difference with them wide open and mostly closed.

You are absolutely right about the tone pot functionality, at least as it pertains to my rig too.

I have the right Pot value (500k if I rememember correctly) and the right taper installed, but I get very little change between 3-10 in my overall tone. the thrust of the change lies between 0-2

I had the same problem when I had the 500k in there. I finally tried out a 250k(which I had never done since doing the whole UGB/loop mod), and it really opens up the usable pot rotation, more like between 0-5 now, where before it was 0-2 like you said and with my preference for rolloff, it was a very precarious balance which could easily be upset. Come to think of it, the "250k" pot (the original on the '87 MIJ strat) actually measured 325k. 250k might be even better, I should try it.

Ain't it funny to see the variance in pot values? I remember measuring a bunch of 250's before that ran from 240 - 481! K !

Seriously, though, you bring up an interesting option. I tend to use tone pots more than average, and a 250 may be just waht I am looking for. Maybe I will try a 250 on the combo neck/bridge Pot and see how I like it and keep the 500 on the middle.

Funny how you mention how hard it is to find the setting between 0-2 on the 500k pots. I almost started painting microscopic hash marks between the 1 and the 2 on my tone pot. I couldn't find a brush made of a single strand of capuchin monkey pubic hair to use as my brush though.