How do I make a Single Coil sound thicker?

[borge]

I've never understood people suggesting pot changes, when the volume is on full it's zero ohms, regardless of the pot value... The higher ohm pots are just required to silence a hotter pick up!

Zero (more like 2-10ohms IME) from the input to the output but there will still be XXX kOhms across the track from the output to earth, high end bleeds to earth via that route. The higher the resistance the less high end loss to earth.

[Single coil]

move the pick up as far away from the strings as possible

This will get you sustain (to a degree - Less magnetic pull) and clarity.
This suggested, some pickups don't care how high they are or aren't set (EMG's, some DiMarzios with super low magnetic pull); others are quite finicky when it comes to changes.

Source on clarity: My tele. Tonerider hot classics.

Also, Boss GE7.
Start with a flat EQ, and take things away until you have what you need. Even it out with the volume slider.

[willow13]

I thought the thread said "how do I make single coil thicker" at first .... I had 3 or 4 jokes about it but one was a bit racist and the others weren't that funny so I won't post

[WellyBlues]

Not sure of string gauge, it's the ones that were originally on it by the looks. And the interweb, including the official Gretsch page tells me nothing. I have a set of 13-56 lap steel strings I should probably put on it.

Tuning is Open D. Will look at C6 soon.

At the moment it's going into a Danelectro Cool Cat Drive > Modtone Mini-mod Reverb > Fender Champion 600 low (clean) channel. If I have the drive and volume too high on the Cool Cat it gets a bit shrill.

There's nothing wrong with the sound as such but there's some stuff I like that has a thicker sound.

The pickup is kinda P90 size (but maybe narrower, though wider than a standard single-coil) sitting in a hole. So it's probably not replaceable by a person of my skill level ).



In the picture the pickup looks like it might be sitting on top like a dogear P90 but it's actually sitting in a hole, the silver surround is 7mm below the wood top, and there's another 10mm under that. The top of the pickup is 5mm under the bottom E-string and 5mm above the top of the wood.

It's possible the tone control isn't working properly so I'll look at that. Seems to be an all or nothing thing.

Thanks for the suggestions. Some things to chase in the tone quest!

[Hot_Grits]

Probably a cheap eq pedal.

Ideal tool for the job but out of budget is the voodoo labs giggity.

[El Chris]

Surely using the tone control would work well?

[mike]

+1 EQ

[AiRdAd]

I don't think you'll be able to make single coil sound thick... He goes to university

[sizzlingbadger]

I've never understood people suggesting pot changes, when the volume is on full it's zero ohms, regardless of the pot value... The higher ohm pots are just required to silence a hotter pick up!

No.

The pot is wired across the pickup and forms part of a reactive RCL circuit so its total value effects the tone even when the volume is at maximum. This is why a 300K vol will sound different to a 500K vol pot set at 300k.

This is generally not true for tone pots, a 500k tone pot set to 300k will sound the same as 300k tone pot set at 300k.

[willow13]

I don't think you'll be able to make single coil sound thick... He goes to university

everyone does now days danny .... they have lowered the bar

[Sustainz]

I don't think you'll be able to make single coil sound thick... He goes to university

everyone does now days danny .... they have lowered the bar

Got a pulse? C'mon in!

[Aquila Rossa]

I don't think you'll be able to make single coil sound thick... He goes to university

everyone does now days danny .... they have lowered the bar

not for me they didn't. i had to go to uni and complete foundation studies with a B+ minimum in order to qualify to enroll for a degree program. my nephew also can not get into even even though he passed 7th form. marks were not quite high enough. he was really bummed out.

[Vince]

I don't think you'll be able to make single coil sound thick... He goes to university

everyone does now days danny .... they have lowered the bar

not for me they didn't. i had to go to uni and complete foundation studies with a B+ minimum in order to qualify to enroll for a degree program. my nephew also can not get into even even though he passed 7th form. marks were not quite high enough. he was really bummed out.

I think it was meant as a joke.

[Aquila Rossa]

yeah, i figured that, but best point that out. they raised the bar, not lowered.

[Starfire]

Has your nephew thought about doing a bridging course? I did one and, if I had known sooner that I wanted to go to university, I'd have skipped 7th form and gone straight to that. There's a bit of stigma attached to bridging courses, that they're for dummies. They're not. There are all sorts of reasons that people don't get the marks they need at school to get into uni. For me it wasn't lack of intelligence, but lack of knowing what the fuck I wanted to do with my life, being a lazy bastard in 7th form, and generally not having a great time of it at school. The bridging course I did was great. Certainly, bits of it made me cringe. I know how to construct a sentence, for example. But they have to cover all their bases, and it's amazing the number of people at uni who can't do construct sentences. Anyway, it was generally a worthwhile course, and I found the Arts paper better than the one I did in my first year of degree study.

They do let lots of dummies into university though. They form the managment school.