The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
  1. #1

    User Info Menu

    I just had my 89 American Standard Strat refretted, and it made a substantial difference, not just to the playability (to be expected), but also to the tone. The only way to describe it is as bigger, fatter, and better sounding. It now has almost a p90-like quality, whereas before it was sounding kind of mushy and thin.

    The original frets were Fender medium jumbos (.46 x .103), but they were worn way down after 30+ years and many fret level/crown jobs (lost track of how many times). I've been doing some of my own fret leveling and crowning, but leave refretting to the pros. The tech I went to recommended Jescar .047 x .104, so I went with that. I'm sure most of the difference I notice is from the frets being new rather than the small dimension difference, but it sure is nice. I remember when I bought this guitar I picked it because it seemed warmer and bigger sounding than the others I tried, and it seemed to have lost some that over time. Now I know why.

    Anyway, back to the subject of tone, here's how it sounds now (also posted to the JGF Jam threads):



    Here's my Seventy Seven Archtop:
    Stream Prelude to a Kiss by John Albin | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

    And here's my D'Angelico semi-hollow
    Stream Goodbye Porkpie Hat by John Albin | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

    All are played through the same GarageBand amp/cabinet plug-in (BF Super Reverb amp combined with SF Twin Reverb cabinet) with similar settings. I think this puts to rest the idea that you can't get a warm jazz tone with a strat. FWIW, the D'Angelico also has a recent refret (a couple of months ago). That also made some difference to the tone, but not as much.
    Last edited by John A.; 09-25-2022 at 12:28 PM.

  2.  

    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

    User Info Menu

    Nice! Everything that touches the strings really influences the tone so good fretwork matters. Are you using the Strat’s stock SC neck pickup? It’s hard to be 100% sure from your sound clip but either way it sounds fine. Very articulate and touch-sensitive.

  4. #3

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Oscar67
    Nice! Everything that touches the strings really influences the tone so good fretwork matters. Are you using the Strat’s stock SC neck pickup? It’s hard to be 100% sure from your sound clip but either way it sounds fine. Very articulate and touch-sensitive.
    Yes, the guitar is stock, except that at one point I had the original nut replaced with a bone one.

  5. #4

    User Info Menu

    Very nice. What strings? Seems like a fairly light gauge?

  6. #5

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Woody Sound
    Very nice. What strings? Seems like a fairly light gauge?
    Roundwound 10-46 on the strat and semi. D’Addario Chrome 12-52 with a 13 swapped for the 12 on the archtop.