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I would like to hear some thoughts on the routing of the pickup cavity. Swimming pool route versus conventional. I would guess from a physical stand point there wouldn't be any differance as long as the electricals don't touch the body. From a weight point of view, it would be lighter. I was wondering more about the sound? Any Ideas?

Toneless

I think you'll get lots of opinions on this...IMO the more wood the better. My strat is routed for H/S/H and I wish it had more wood. The weight is a factor but I just think it sounds better if it has more wood under the guard. That said, SRV had a yellow strat that he called quot;Butterquot;, it has one pickup, a single, single coil in the neck position, and a single volume control...the guitar was routed out from the end of the neck to the top of the bridge but it had a killer tone.

I prefer the traditional routs, but I just wonder how many times someone has come up to a player and said, quot;that sure sounds like a swimming pool rout on that guitarquot;

Kenny Blue Ray says he hears no significant diff at all between guitars with a swimming pool rout and a standard rout. Kenny's a great player and gets a great tone. All of his custom guitars have the swimming pool rout.


Originally Posted by Curly. . . but I just wonder how many times someone has come up to a player and said, quot;that sure sounds like a swimming pool rout on that guitarquot;

Classic!

In a similar vein . . . I've never, ever heard someone say, after a concert . . .

. . . quot;That was great . . . but his pickup lacked character.quot;

Seriously though, my cheapy Strat-clone has both a swimming pool route, and a tremolo route, and a control route, that all blend into a big hole through the body. I added two springs, tightened down the claw, . . . and this baby sings with the best of them.

One guys swimming pool route is another guy's quot;tone chamberquot; LOL

All my guitars with the big route under there sound just great. No problem with any
lack of wood...hehe

Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't tone got to do with more than a swimming pool route? In my opinion, I think it depends on the resonant qualities of the guitar, and how the pickup characteristics complement these qualities.

doesnt that lack of wood add to the hollow acoustic tone of a strat; it's one of the strat's trademark qualities....


Originally Posted by Quencho092doesnt that lack of wood add to the hollow acoustic tone of a strat; it's one of the strat's trademark qualities....Oh, that would explain the cr@ppy sound of all the vintage strats that are routed S-S-S...Uhhmmm.....nevermind

j/k, my friend

I am of the quot;leave as much wood as possiblequot; school of thought, but in this case, I think it's simply paranoia.

However, I still breathed a sigh of relief the first time I took the guard off my Strat and found it routed H-S-S, and yes, this was after I'd played the hell out of it and loved how it sounded

One thing to consider is using a thicker pickguard. Or rather avoid using a singly ply guard. Weather there's any difference, dunno, check with the Tone Zombies.

Make that single ple guard

with a swimming pool rout, it is ESSENTIAL to use sheet metal screws instead of wood screws to hold attach the pickguard
has anyone read the internet story about eric johnson being handed a guitar and him playing it for a while before handing it back and indicating which 3 frets he thought had been installed backwards? ... as the story is told, the frets were removed and proved to indeed have been installed backwards ... it sounds like a fabricated legend to me, but i think it is funny that someone would make up such a believable story (given the true story about the batteries)

we really can worry about the wrong stuff sometimes, cant we

cheers
t4dcheers
t4d


Originally Posted by pgambonMake that single ple guard

I think it was better before.

In my opinion, the swimming pool/miminal routing thing is more of a feel issue than a tone issue. I find non swimming pool guitars tend to feel a bit more resonant and responsive than swimming pool routed guitars. Just my two bits.

I would defy anyone to be able to discern the difference toally between the two at ten yards.

I have 3 strats, a 57 RI with SSS routing, a big apple strat with HSH routing, and a strat plus with swimming pool routing. Both the 57 RI and strat plus have antiquities installed in them. All 3 sound and play great.


Originally Posted by pgambonOne thing to consider is using a thicker pickguard. Or rather avoid using a singly ply guard.

When this issue came up on a different forum it was suggested that a real wood pickguard be used on a strat with a swimming pool rout, to make it more like a chambered guitar...

Although I couldn't spot the difference at 10 yards I believe the style of the routs do effect the sound... not necessarily bad, just different.

[QUOTE=ColonPowell]One guys swimming pool route is another guy's quot;tone chamberquot; LOL

Vive la difference eh?