Odd question-tone differences between…..

JackBootedThug

JackBootedThug

MURDERATOR
Strat style guitars with pick guard versus no pick guard…. I have these two Showmasters’s and basically they are Strats without out pick guards. They sound like your typical hot rod strat type guitar. Close to a strat but not quite there. They also have mahogany bodies also. Is there any information out there about how having a pick guard affects the tone? Just curious 👀
 
It's not so much the pick guard itself impacting tone (that'll add just a few ounces of weight) but rather the swimming pool wood route underneath 99% of all traditional Strat pickguard designs. Removing all that wood makes the tone airier, softer with less midrange.
 
Is it that in one case the
PUs are mounted to the pickguard an in the other directely mounted into the wood.
PUs react to every kind of vibrations, which might be stronger when mounted to the plastic pickguard
 
JackBootedThug said:
Strat style guitars with pick guard versus no pick guard…. I have these two Showmasters’s and basically they are Strats without out pick guards. They sound like your typical hot rod strat type guitar. Close to a strat but not quite there. They also have mahogany bodies also. Is there any information out there about how having a pick guard affects the tone? Just curious 👀
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Judging by what others have said
..Welp, you can't really change the routing to that degree so...

That being said, an Orange drop cap will scoop some mids and accent bass and treble if you want more of a stratty sound.

I personally prefer to not have caps in most guitars, but when I do, I have PIO caps for my tastes.
 
JackBootedThug said:
Strat style guitars with pick guard versus no pick guard…. I have these two Showmasters’s and basically they are Strats without out pick guards. They sound like your typical hot rod strat type guitar. Close to a strat but not quite there. They also have mahogany bodies also. Is there any information out there about how having a pick guard affects the tone? Just curious 👀
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All I can say is fuck pickguards, they’re lame 😂
 
Music&Chaos said:
Judging by what others have said
..Welp, you can't really change the routing to that degree so...

That being said, an Orange drop cap will scoop some mids and accent bass and treble if you want more of a stratty sound.

I personally prefer to not have caps in most guitars, but when I do, I have PIO caps for my tastes.
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I snipped the capacitor when I swapped out the pups. Wonder how pup rings would affect it versus the body mounted pups?
 
JackBootedThug said:
I snipped the capacitor when I swapped out the pups. Wonder how pup rings would affect it versus the body mounted pups?
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I tend to find that when pickups are floating off of the body/ring mounted, you get that extra 'ringing' almost going on. All of my direct mounted pickup guitars have an almost focus on certain base tones and frequencies I would say whereas the floating lets some other stuff in, if that makes sense. Now this is tough, as I have not replicated these tests on the same exact guitar and pickups, but pretty darn close to it in some ways.
 
CrystalSky said:
All I can say is fuck pickguards, they’re lame 😂
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I agree for the most part.

That actually made me look around at my guitars to see how many I have with guards on em.

My main partscaster has a clear pickguard, unsure if that counts.

My vintage Mustang has an aged white one that works well against the Dakota red.

There never was one on my LP (The way I like it).

My Jem has a mirror pickguard, and is definitely part of the vibe.

Had an Olympic white strat with tort guard and maple board I wish I never sold - that look seems to work together.

Was keeping a friends nice Gretsch for a pickup install and electronics upgrade for him and I immediately removed the pickguard - the top is a stunning quilted maple, why would you wanna cover that up with a huge piece of plastic?

I reinstalled for him when I was finished but yeah, I really dislike them on most guitars.
 
I’ve actually considered building a strat but with non-pickguard routing, and adding a pickguard after the fact just so there’s no big open routing cavity in the middle of the guitar that causes those characteristic stratty resonances and gaps in the certain frequencies.

For swimming pool routed guitars, I wonder if simply damping the routing by stuffing it with cotton or something would help.
 
The Chubtone I have has direct mount Tonenerd's. Looking into getting pickup mounting rings so that I can play with pickup heights.
 
fek said:
The Chubtone I have has direct mount Tonenerd's. Looking into getting pickup mounting rings so that I can play with pickup heights.
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You can install standoffs in the routing slots where the screws were, and get short screws and springs from the hardware store and accomplish this task. Your adjustability range will be limited to the depth of the female end of the standoff. I've been meaning to try a heli-coil as well for further adjustability, but don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.
 
NowYou'rePlayingWithPower said:
You can install standoffs in the routing slots where the screws were, and get short screws and springs from the hardware store and accomplish this task. Your adjustability range will be limited to the depth of the female end of the standoff. I've been meaning to try a heli-coil as well for further adjustability, but don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.
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That's a cool idea. When I had my Peavey Wolfgang, I switched the pickups to DiMarzios. I wanted a bit more output from the bridge pickup. So, to raise that pickup a bit, I used the washers that are used under the tension rods on a drum. One of each side of the pickup. Luckily for me, that worked well.
 
NowYou'rePlayingWithPower said:
You can install standoffs in the routing slots where the screws were, and get short screws and springs from the hardware store and accomplish this task. Your adjustability range will be limited to the depth of the female end of the standoff. I've been meaning to try a heli-coil as well for further adjustability, but don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.
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Also, be prepared for tonal changes for direct mount vs rings @fek

Some people prefer one or the other, but it for sure sounds a little different
 
JohnnyGtar said:
That's a cool idea. When I had my Peavey Wolfgang, I switched the pickups to DiMarzios. I wanted a bit more output from the bridge pickup. So, to raise that pickup a bit, I used the washers that are used under the tension rods on a drum. One of each side of the pickup. Luckily for me, that worked well.
Click to expand...

One of the cool things is if you need a different female thread size/pitch for a new set of pickups you can just change it to match whatever the screws that work for the pickups are without having to change the male end thread size/pitch. The one thing I did notice is it does take a bit more time to align as you have to go back and forth a bit more often vs rings when tightening the screws as to not cause binding, but that's really the only downfall I came across.
 
TheGreatGreen said:
I’ve actually considered building a strat but with non-pickguard routing, and adding a pickguard after the fact just so there’s no big open routing cavity in the middle of the guitar that causes those characteristic stratty resonances and gaps in the certain frequencies.

For swimming pool routed guitars, I wonder if simply damping the routing by stuffing it with cotton or something would help.
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Like this?

IMG_20250614_015841385.jpg
 
Music&Chaos said:
Like this?

View attachment 403759
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Hah nice.

But I'm talking about the opposite. I like the look of pickguards on strat style guitars with solid colors but I'm not sold on the standard strat routing. I'm talking about building a guitar without a pickguard, Charvel San Dimas style, but then just putting a pickguard on it after the fact. Get the look of a strat but without the swimming pool routing.

Although to be fair, that guitar you showed is about the least swimming pool routed strat I've seen.
 
TheGreatGreen said:
Hah nice.

But I'm talking about the opposite. I like the look of pickguards on strat style guitars with solid colors but I'm not sold on the standard strat routing. I'm talking about building a guitar without a pickguard, Charvel San Dimas style, but then just putting a pickguard on it after the fact. Get the look of a strat but without the swimming pool routing.

Although to be fair, that guitar you showed is about the least swimming pool routed strat I've seen.
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Yes, it is definitely "in between" a bit, that is true.

The top is so nice, no way I could cover it!

"Charvel San Dimas" - Yeah, I totally get what you are saying now.

Interesting thought/idea.
 
I’m probably overthinking this because it’s not a Strat and the body is mahogany… I definitely dislike body mounted pups. I think that’s why I dumped my 84 Kramer… plus it had that nasty fuckin jb….even after snipping the cap off it was just too dark. To me body mounted pups are darker sounding. Am I right? Probably not but it seems that way to me. It’s like picking up a hot phillipina chick and you get ready to kiss her and notice the Adam’s apple….🍎
I spent 22 years in prison but I just can’t do it yo…..
 
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