The Elusive Quack

[ddemusic]

I've got a hollow classic w/ SA's and the Switcheroo setup. I'm having a tough time getting the front or rear pairs to quack in the traditional fender manner.

How do you guys with similar setups obtain these tones? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

d2

[heyrey]

I am not sure my TA will ever be traditional sounding, but if the tone is close, and you like the amp settings, then try a different picking technique.
How you attack the strings has a lot to do with what kind of tone will come out!

Adam

[ddemusic]

Hey Adam,

DeMichelis here - what I'm talking about IS tone - not technique. I want to know how guys set that internal switch & Switcharoo pickup switches to obtain the sound we get out of a traditional strat in pickup selector settings 2 & 4.

Anybody else out there know what I'm talking about and how I can get there? Tom perhaps?????

BTW Senior Rey - we ought to get together and check out each other's rigs as we live about 20 min. from each other.......

[oscar100]

always had quack problems until i tried suhr v60lp single coils

now i am teh KING DUCK

quack quack quack quack quack

try em and your search will be over

:D

[Stan Malinowski]

I think the answer may lie in the fact that SAs are really a stacked humbucker type of pickup as oppossed to being a true single coil design. The VA pickups (true single coil) produce great "quack" tones on all my Classics. I have one HDTC which has the SA series and the "quack factor" is noticeably less. I believe that the quack effect of single coil pickups is really a function of the middle pickup being out of phase electrically with the neck and bridge pickups. I don't believe this is possible with a stacked or split humbucker. Please feel free to correct me if I'm off base.

[dpeterson]

my solid alder classic with va's quacks like a mofo. the hollowness might be doing something to the sound as well.

out of my other dt's with switcharoo, i can get a pretty convincing quack, and they use the sa's, and an H2+ in the bridge, which i think splits very well.

but there is just a sound that comes from the alder classic that is all it's own imho.

Dave

[Casper]

Your answer may lie in pickup adjustment. Try backing the pickups down a bit. I have a classic with SD's and mine quacks just as good as any strat...
Also if you have a split switch, you may find that leaving it on and backing off on the treble pot a bit will help..
Shaun

[Stan Malinowski]

Your answer may lie in pickup adjustment

Also making the pickup height of the middle pickup lower than the bridge & neck pickup heights will tend to increase the quack effect (as least it does with single coil pickups).

[tom]

there are lots of factors that contribute. the sa's and sd's are smoother sounding than our va's or most people's true single coils. adjusting as per casper and stan will help. there are two other physical properties that are just a function of how the vintage alnico pickup works that make it sound the way it does. the staggered pole pieces and stronger more focused magnetic field "mess" with the strings, and change the way they vibrate. "messing" can be a good thing or bad thing. it is responsible for a good portion of the quack, as well as the stratitis, those wolf tones on the low strings when you play above the 7th fret. they also make the note decay faster, the bad part for me. so what is the solution? try the adjusting that has been suggested. if that doesn't get you close enough, then you're gonna have to live with the hum and get some true single coils.

[ddemusic]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm still wondering about the switch that you access from the back. Any explanation and advice would be helpfull.

[Stan Malinowski]

dde,

Click on the "Switcheroo FAQ" link on the following page:

http://www.andersonguitars.com/questions.html

This explains how the Switcheroo works as well as how to adjust the small dip switches to change the pickup wiring from split to parallel.

[Stan Malinowski]

BTW, I think you would want the pickups to be set in the "Split" mode to optimize quacking.

[ddemusic]

Stan - 3 times in the last 2 days you have been the man with the answers!
I'll try this out tonight and let you know the results!

BTW - You don't know Bill Holoman by chance? He was Danny Gatton's musical director/producer for a number of years. He's a good friend and a great musician who lives in your neck of the woods.