ES-339 Pro brighter tone

[hubix]

Hi guys, most recently I've bought Epiphone ES-339 Pro. I'm really pleased with this amazing instrument. But one thing bothers me - is it possible to achieve a bit brighter tone without changing pickups? I wonder if substitution of the stock strings to .011-.049 d'addarios and raising pickups a little bit closer to the strings will do the trick?

 

Also wouldn't it be better if the pickups were parallel to the strings? Because right now they are at some angle.

 

I will be grateful for your help.

 

 

P.S.

I should probably add that I have Hiwatt G15R amp with bass/middle/treble set to the middle position.

[Spamonkis]

Steel strings (no nickel plating) will give a brighter tone.

[vomer]

Hi hubix, welcome to the forum. Yes, pickup height and angle ( I assume you mean across, i.e. different height from the top string as compared with height from the bottom string) will affect tone and volume. 'Angle' in this way is normal, just adjust the height till you have a volume balance across the strings.There are no hard and fast rules, but higher tends to equal brighter and louder, and there are some pitfalls to avoid, such as going too close to the string and reducing sustain. Have a look on youtube for Lindy Fralin talking about pickup height, I think someone might have posted a link here recently.

 

I wouldn't have said changing for a bigger string gauge would necessarily get you a brighter sound. But, how old are the strings on there? You say original, was it in a shop being played for a while, or are they fresh, and how fresh is fresh on a new guitar anyway? If I was looking for a tone change I'd always tend to first change the strings to ones I was familiar with, to rule out strings as a factor.

 

With regards to your amp, there was a great tip from Brit blues player Matt Schofield recently. Rather than just setting all your amp's tone controls to 12 o'clock and leaving them there, start playing and sweep the bass control from zero upwards till you hear a 'sweet spot', whichever place on the sweep sounds best to you. Repeat with the mid pot, then the treble. You may find you are dialling in a more pleasing tone with a better balance of bass, mids and treble which may not need the guitar to be producing more treble.

 

Hope that's some food for thought & experimentation.

[DrGonzo]

The Electro harmonix "Knockout" ist the right thing for you.

Brightens up a humbucker or fattens a singlecoil:

 

http://www.ehx.com/products/knockout

 

Greets

[hubix]

Hi hubix, welcome to the forum. Yes, pickup height and angle ( I assume you mean across, i.e. different height from the top string as compared with height from the bottom string) will affect tone and volume. 'Angle' in this way is normal, just adjust the height till you have a volume balance across the strings.There are no hard and fast rules, but higher tends to equal brighter and louder, and there are some pitfalls to avoid, such as going too close to the string and reducing sustain. Have a look on youtube for Lindy Fralin talking about pickup height, I think someone might have posted a link here recently.

 

I wouldn't have said changing for a bigger string gauge would necessarily get you a brighter sound. But, how old are the strings on there? You say original, was it in a shop being played for a while, or are they fresh, and how fresh is fresh on a new guitar anyway? If I was looking for a tone change I'd always tend to first change the strings to ones I was familiar with, to rule out strings as a factor.

 

With regards to your amp, there was a great tip from Brit blues player Matt Schofield recently. Rather than just setting all your amp's tone controls to 12 o'clock and leaving them there, start playing and sweep the bass control from zero upwards till you hear a 'sweet spot', whichever place on the sweep sounds best to you. Repeat with the mid pot, then the treble. You may find you are dialling in a more pleasing tone with a better balance of bass, mids and treble which may not need the guitar to be producing more treble.

 

Hope that's some food for thought & experimentation.

Wow, first of all thank you for such a feedback.

 

About the strings - I bought guitar 3 days ago, and it seemed to be completly new (was packed in box with all the wrappings etc.) and those stock strings (I guess Gibsonos Brite .010-.046) looked and felt like they had never been used. (I still have to tune them every few hours) My first replacement-thought for them were those d'addarios because I have them on my squier affinity strat and they sound like razor blades bumping the glass surface, if you know what I mean :-)

 

About the pickups - by pickup angle I meant that the edge closer to the neck is very low, and the edge closer to the bridge is quite high so from profile it looks like a triangle. And as far as I know that angle across serves to balance the signal, I'm not sure what would be the purpose of setting different pickup height along? Maybe there is also some theory that I'm not aware of?

 

Also I will try to experiment with my amp, because I have always been limiting myself to this 12 o'clock setup with a thought that this is the most neutral position and reveals the true guitar tone.

 

Cheers!

[CheapShoes]

Try this. Take one row of screw poles out of the pickup coil number 1. Keep the the screws if you want to put them back in. Turns the pickup into a P90 like tone and retains the noiseless quality. Brightens them a lot. If you like the new tone but don't like the look of open holes, later you can take the pickup cover off and push the slugs out of the other coil and put the screw poles back in the first coil. That way when the cover is back on it looks the same as ever.

 

Another thing you might try is the Ernie Ball conalt string are a lot brighter; however, at 10 bucks they are a bit pricey.

[vomer]

Hubix, yes, that angle you describe isn't ideal and can affect the sound. Have you tried simply pushing on them to see if they seat any better? Failing that, have a look inside. It's very simple to unscrew the mounting ring screws and get the pickup out, still attached to the mounting ring. Don't unscrew the pickup height adjust screws with the springs if you can avoid it, those springs can disappear off across the room quite easily and be fiddly to get back on, if you ever do find them.

[dporto]

Also I will try to experiment with my amp, because I have always been limiting myself to this 12 o'clock setup with a thought that this is the most neutral position and reveals the true guitar tone.

Cheers!

 

Well, your "thought" turns out to be fairly accurate - and reveals that the "true" guitar tone of the 339 is a little darker than what you were playing before. So now you want to change it so it's the same? If so, what's the sense of having a different guitar? Experiment with the tone controls on the amp...that's what they're there for

[Alroundj]

Hi

I too have a 339 pro. I replaced all the guts in the guitar and love it. I started with a set of Burstbucker pros. The original pickups weren't alive. The guitar sounded bland. The burstbuckers were a nice upgrade, and they were 4 conductor for the push pull pots. However, I fell out of love with the out of phase end of the spectrum. I bought Luxe bumblebee caps, new CTS standard 500k pots , new switch and input. I followed that up with cloth insulated wire. I also decided on a master volume as opposed to 2.

This guitar now sounds better than most hollow bodies I have played. The caps woke it up for sure. Everything I did made a difference. The guitar came to life. Bright yet warm. Hard to explain but it has that chime that I crave out of a humbucker.

I currently am gathering parts and bought a Epiphone Sg with a maestro. I plan to do the same thing to this, but am trying Semour Duncan Antiquities. I have always wanted an SG. This should be fun!

[Ess]

Hi guys, most recently I've bought Epiphone ES-339 Pro. I'm really pleased with this amazing instrument. But one thing bothers me - is it possible to achieve a bit brighter tone without changing pickups? I wonder if substitution of the stock strings to .011-.049 d'addarios and raising pickups a little bit closer to the strings will do the trick?

 

Also wouldn't it be better if the pickups were parallel to the strings? Because right now they are at some angle.

 

I will be grateful for your help.

 

 

P.S.

I should probably add that I have Hiwatt G15R amp with bass/middle/treble set to the middle position.

 

Ahhh... you do realise you have push-pull pots??

 

Pull 'em up and you get a very bright tone.

[milod]

The problem with guitars as working musical instruments IMHO isn't so much the given instrument, but the head of the player.

 

Also, an electric guitar especially is an instrument of two parts, the guitar itself and the amplification device.

 

There are a quadrillion variables even with a single guitar, single player and single "amp."

 

After pickin' over 50 years and making probably as many errors in perception of guitar/amp as anyone, I've concluded that anyone offering a "you should do..." likely is not one who has a broad perspective on what may bring variables to playing or perceived "tone."

 

For example, as Segovia noted, a guitar offers a whole orchestra's potential of tonality - and that's with a nylon string acoustic.

 

Another example came from a now occasional but onetime very active forum member and professional. He told of a fine classical player doing a master class with a student and was very impressed by the quality of tone from the student's guitar. Yet... when he played the guitar, it simply lacked the tone he perceived from the other. Why? We must return to the variables of how one plays rather than the qualities of the instrument itself.

 

You've gotten some good advice on messing with pickup, guitar and amplifier settings here. None of those will cost a penny. Another thing to consider is how you play. Any electric, as any acoustic, can sound very different simply through playing at different points on the strings, how a pick may be held, nails or bare fingers or both, angle of attack on the strings...

 

Strings?

 

Yeah, they'll make a big difference. But IMHO even a $7,000 new guitar should have new strings of your favorite type put on them rather than whatever they came with. They may look pretty and new but regardless of any other variables, they're not YOUR strings. In the classical field, those paying well over $10,000 for an instrument are very likely to try several sets on a guitar that's new to them before accepting or potentially rejecting a given instrument. Figure that one.

 

What should "your" strings be? If I knew the answer to that, I'd not still be experimenting with different types myself on my various guitars... But if I buy a new electric, as a "baseline" for my future decisions, I'm likely to put on a quality 9-42 set first, either Ernies nickel or a polyweb Elixir. Should you do the same? Dunno; that's your decision - but I'd consider something you're familiar with on other instruments as a "baseline" for future decisions.

 

m

[dporto]

The problem with guitars as working musical instruments IMHO isn't so much the given instrument, but the head of the player.

 

Also, an electric guitar especially is an instrument of two parts, the guitar itself and the amplification device.

 

There are a quadrillion variables even with a single guitar, single player and single "amp."

 

After pickin' over 50 years and making probably as many errors in perception of guitar/amp as anyone, I've concluded that anyone offering a "you should do..." likely is not one who has a broad perspective on what may bring variables to playing or perceived "tone."

 

For example, as Segovia noted, a guitar offers a whole orchestra's potential of tonality - and that's with a nylon string acoustic.

 

Another example came from a now occasional but onetime very active forum member and professional. He told of a fine classical player doing a master class with a student and was very impressed by the quality of tone from the student's guitar. Yet... when he played the guitar, it simply lacked the tone he perceived from the other. Why? We must return to the variables of how one plays rather than the qualities of the instrument itself.

 

You've gotten some good advice on messing with pickup, guitar and amplifier settings here. None of those will cost a penny. Another thing to consider is how you play. Any electric, as any acoustic, can sound very different simply through playing at different points on the strings, how a pick may be held, nails or bare fingers or both, angle of attack on the strings...

 

Strings?

 

Yeah, they'll make a big difference. But IMHO even a $7,000 new guitar should have new strings of your favorite type put on them rather than whatever they came with. They may look pretty and new but regardless of any other variables, they're not YOUR strings. In the classical field, those paying well over $10,000 for an instrument are very likely to try several sets on a guitar that's new to them before accepting or potentially rejecting a given instrument. Figure that one.

 

What should "your" strings be? If I knew the answer to that, I'd not still be experimenting with different types myself on my various guitars... But if I buy a new electric, as a "baseline" for my future decisions, I'm likely to put on a quality 9-42 set first, either Ernies nickel or a polyweb Elixir. Should you do the same? Dunno; that's your decision - but I'd consider something you're familiar with on other instruments as a "baseline" for future decisions.

 

m

 

 

^it's all right here^

[chipwich]

^it's all right here^

 

This is probably oversimplification, but as well as setup, coil splitting, articulation, and EQ, how about playing through a brighter amp, like a black or silver face or even some tweeds? Works really well for me. Sorry, I am not familiar with Hiwatt G15R.