Friday, June 24, 2016

LTD singles


Good Friday morning! It's another weekend ahead of us. You might have seen this guitar of mine previously loaded with Seymour Duncan pickups: CLICK

Just yesterday, I got it de-Duncanized not that I gave up on Seymour Duncan pickups, but I'm returning it to its former glory featuring a trio of non-stacked humbucking pickups. There were no plans to have its default pickups do the job, I went with Tesla this time round, a trio of Plasma 1s in all positions. 

Why bother? I'm still in the single coil itch in the mean time. My John Page & Edwards were the most played guitars recently & their single coils in there had proven its worth; there is still life in planet overdrive even if you don't employ humbuckers in your instruments. With Teslas in this LTD, it means that I have a line up of single coil equipped instruments featuring different brand names for variety's sake. 


The Teslas are smooth in the neck & middle positions so if you are looking for a brash, SRV-type twang, they are not quite available. However, the fundamental single coil twang is still in tact; more top end definition without the lower frequencies getting in the way. The bridge Plasma 1 is the twangiest of them all & it might be a little too sharp-sounding for some of us but I like it this way. 

This episode proved two things: 1. You don't need a Fender guitar for good single coil tones- you need good single coils. Many of us ignored the pickups consideration entirely, we were blinded by the brand name priority on many occasions. 2. Good overdrive tones come with clear objectives & singular perspectives will usually end up with more confusion than accomplishments. Ask yourselves what you wish to achieve before splurging good money on upgrades. Chances are, you only need to spend on the crucial consideration & not re-vamp your entire rig. Also, leave conventions behind & go with your gut feelings. 

Thank you once again to Master Beez for the quick & dandy electronics job as always. FYI, this LTD ST-213 had been discontinued WEF 2016. What a waste.

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