Tone wood compensation

[bammbamm]

So, for years I've been playing on Rosewood fretboards on maple necks, and recently I nabbed a gorgeous RG ART. Maple Neck, maple top, Mrs Butterworths is eying me as we speak... Anyway, all my tone is set up for Rosewood's warmth, I'm amazed at the brightness of the maple. In fact the difference between my Main 550 and the ART is painfully drastic. I have a Tone zone in the bridge slot on each of them, yet the tonal differences are impressive. I get the spanky-est, stratty tones in the 2 & 4 positions when tapped but it just lacks the warmth I'm used to.

Anyone else bounce between different woods and have to compensate?
Do any of you have a rule of thumb that you would suggest implementing?
I have the means to shape tone like mad, but need to devote some serious tweak time to the rig and seemingly make separate banks of patches for each instrument.

Any advice is of course appreciated.
(Triaxis 2 : 90 rig)

[Jaden]

yes I do bounce between different woods, but I have different pups in those guitars so I cant run a straight comparision....
but yes, maple is snappy..

[JJEMMER777]

Originally Posted by bammbamm

Mrs Butterworths is eying me as we speak...

Lol....

Originally Posted by Jaden

yes I do bounce between different woods, but I have different pups in those guitars so I cant run a straight comparision....
but yes, maple is snappy..

Snappy / shinny / brighter / crispier, lol.

I hear ya Bamm, the tonal difference between the BFP (maple) and the FP (rosewood) is HUGE!!! PAF pros on both same body wood, etc so I can definitely run a straight comparision. If you are looking for the warmer rosewood tone (for certain songs, etc) try knocking your treble down a tad and take a bit of the tone out. (and don't reply with a big DUH )

[shreddersymphony]

I'll let ya know soon enough lol. My first custom guitar has a flame maple neck with a cocobolo fretboard, and an alder body. My second has a maple neck with a flame maple fretboard, and a korina body.

[HeavyMetal4Ever]

I have different preffered settings for each of my guitars. They all vary in tonewoods and pickups, and all sound quite different.

Just do some tweaking until you find something you like, and then make a note of your settings.

Rock on!

[bammbamm]

That is the plan today, It's just me and the drummer's annoyingly discerning ear, along with my own. So I'l copy the bank of patches I use currently to another bank and just mod them to compensate for the brightness.
I took the presence completely out the other night and it was still a tad harsh.
Truly amazing.
The OTHER pisser was on the RG-ART, I had to replace a volume pot, so I nabbed a 500K from GC...1st mistake.
They sold me a pot with the wrong kind of taper, now the volume swells sound abrupt and not at all like they should. I hate Guitar Center...
It was packaged as a guitar volume POT too...

[JayRobIBZ]

Bamm. I was going to respond to this thread earlier saying that in my situation I use my vastly different sounding guitars for different songs that need a different feel and tone. But now I realize that you have a certain sound that you are going for and don’t wish to vary from.

So, what I am going to recommend in addition to the things you are already trying is to try using a set of vintage nickel strings. These work GREAT when I need to tone down a guitar. I prefer Dean Markley Super V's but if you are REALLY looking to tone down the maple I might recommend Pyramid, or any other PURE nickel strings.

[bammbamm]

That's not a bad idea.
Also a great analysis, I have all the tones I want, more or less established.
Thanks! ! !

[JayRobIBZ]

Just to clarify, if you end up going with the pyramid strings don’t judge all nickel strings by the outcome. As I have experienced there are three different types of nickel strings. Super V's give you a vintage tone with a more modern output where regular pure nickel strings give you a truly vintage sound but sacrifice some output. On the other end of the spectrum are Pyramid strings which under the right circumstances I'm sure are GREAT but I found them to completely suck the life out of my LPjr. Keep in mind this was an all mahogany guitar that they didnt work on.

If you do your homework you will probably find something that suits your needs.

[bammbamm]

well, it's on the back burner, I need to do some setup work on the guitar.
Wiring issues, etc, so strings are taking a back seat to the obvious issues at hand.

I will look into them, though.

Mike

[nickcoumbe]

Originally Posted by bammbamm

So I'l copy the bank of patches I use currently to another bank and just mod them to compensate for the brightness.

Yep, this is what I ended up doing on my JMP-1.

I have just finished (well nearly) a Paduak bodied rg which is so different that I am having to go through the whole process again.

Although it's so good I might just sell the other 13 guitars to simplify things.