EuroAussie Posted November 6, 2011 Posted November 6, 2011 For quite some time Ive been somewhat frustrated with the tone of my CW. It sounded a bit too brash for my liking, missing warmth which I normally associate with a HB. And given its meant to be the same guitar I coudnt work out the issue, even to the point where I toyed for 5mins about selling her and getting a HB TV. But then that vintage, woody tone always stopped me going further ....luckily. Anyway, so you know what the solution was ... I went back from mids to lights. About a year ago I switched to mids and at the time loved the extra power, thump and volume. I also figured the extra tension would give the top a larger shake given its a 69' model and allready has some of the extra bracing that became an epidemic in the 70's. But over time I realised that it sounded too brash, missing warmth as mentioned earlier. So today I thought about going back to lights, and bingo. The tone became much, much warmer and suprisingly I didnt lose much tone at all. I guess I forgot how she sounded a year ago with lights or when I bought her initially 18 months ago. I guess given that its been a very played in guitar over the years the top is quite settled and didnt need the extra tension, and Im happy to say its a much warmer, richer tone now. Interesting how it is with the mids vs lights debate. I swear my SJ sounds signifcantly better with mids (and i switched back couple times to confirm this) but the SWD and CW really do like lights. Im still on the fence with the J-150. The CW is not going anywhere. :)
SimonJ45 Posted November 6, 2011 Posted November 6, 2011 I've just come to a very similar conclusion with my J-45. Mind you I didn't spend a year playing with .013's Just doesn't suit my right hand, so am also going back to .012's.
EuroAussie Posted November 6, 2011 Author Posted November 6, 2011 Being a custom your J-45 would be rosewood, which I found doesnt work with 13's. To me it chokes the bottom end too much and I found the SWD sounded much more balanced and open with 12's, this was one of the easy ones to work out, more difficult was to settle on the right set of strings which reluctantly ive settled for Elixir PB's. I use DR Sunbeams on all my other guitars but they are too warm for rosewood and go into the dreaded muddy tone territory pretty soon. I've just come to a very similar conclusion with my J-45. Mind you I didn't spend a year playing with .013's Just doesn't suit my right hand, so am also going back to .012's.
E-minor7 Posted November 7, 2011 Posted November 7, 2011 Seems you are walking circles round the sound hole (or year wheel) there. A good sign you're not clotted. For a long period, I had trouble playing my '63 SJ different than a whole step down. 2 months back I happily turned it half a tone up. Are the woods changing humidity, , ! ? ! Everything is in flux – not least your ears. . .
ol fred Posted November 7, 2011 Posted November 7, 2011 The lights are always on here. Even though the wife says nobody's home
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