Jerry-fy a Fender Strat.. or start from scratch?

[calbucks09]

Hey there, wondering if you folks here who know 1000x more than I do on all things Jerry could suggest what the best options for getting the true Jerry guitar tone are in terms of being cost effective and getting the true 'sound'.


I am aware of the Resurrection guitars, 10k is just out of reach
Troy Post makes cool custom guitars, but is not taking orders
I see some folks using Warmoth as a base and then tweakign the electronics.

I already have a Fender Am. Strat that I got pretty cheap... $600 with nice seymour duncans in it. I could send this thing to AO guitars and Jerry-fy it for like another $600 I think. But will that really get it close to the right sound? or should I really look for a thru-neck as a base.. like a carvin and then Jerry-fy it? or Are there other recommendations out there?

I could spend up to 3k on a custom job. Will it be that much better than a tweaked Warmoth or Fender?


Sorry if my questions are dumb, I've read a ton on here, and realize that wood types are very key for part of that tone, but the cost of a true replica is too steep right now. And it seems like only a custom wlil have the right combo of Cocobola etc. So I'm thinking a intermediate solution would be to tweak my fender, tweak a warmoth, Carvin etc.


Thanks for any advice!

[Mr.Burns]

You don't really need a neck-thru unless you're specifically seeking wolf tones or the hippie sandwich look.

FWIW, I'm tweaking a Carvin bolt-on right now, I'll let you know how it comes out.

[JonnyBoy]

Jeff of DSO and John K. of Further use bolt on necks and get great tone. I think you will find 90% of the Jerry tone comes from playing like Jerry. Ability is something that can't be bought though,,, unfortunately. Jerry sounded AWESOME playing a standard strat, see Sunshine Daydream. I think you can get what you seek by fixing up what you have.

[calbucks09]

ok, thanks guys for the replies.


I certainly realize that most of the tone comes from the fingers of the guy playin it! But i do hear some wonderful sounds from guitars that have been jerry-ized as well. certainly Jdarks has a great tone out of his Tiger replica that uses i think a mahogany neck on the resurrection.

I would love to someday get that fat rich Tiger sound out of a custom build that doesnt actually have the same shape, just the tone.


Anyway, I guess I will tweak what i've got and see how close it gets and then post a vid here or something.

I have heard the carvins have really nice necks so would be interesting to see how that turns out as well.

[mkaufman]

Mik (Tapestry) has a custom-built Warmoth. It sounds great through his Twin/Mac rig.

mk

[playingdead]

You can get most of the way there by modifying your Strat. That's exactly how I started, and I used the Strat as a backup guitar after having a Tiger guitar built in 2006. The Tiger will be a little meatier sounding, the Strat's a bit thin in comparison, mostly because of all that wood and weight behind it, different fretboard, etc.

Here's a one-on-one comparison; the Tiger went to Gary Brawer for a truss rod issue. The first cut of BEW is the American Standard Strat with the same electronics as the Tiger has. The second BEW is the Tiger two years later. Both direct to the board through the AxeFX Ultra, so no changes at all on the signal path.

Strat: http://archive.org/download/pd2009-10-3 ... t2_vbr.mp3

Tiger: http://archive.org/download/pd2011-08-2 ... d01t04.mp3

Tiger's a little more full sounding, but the Strat still sounds decent.

[Cmnaround]

You don't really need a neck-thru unless you're specifically seeking wolf tones or the hippie sandwich look.

FWIW, I'm tweaking a Carvin bolt-on right now, I'll let you know how it comes out.

Hehehe hippie sandwich - love it - my Carvin is a hippie sandwich! As for the neck through I get a lot out of it. The biggest benefit for me is no neck heel, so if you prefer thin necks with nothing in the way between you and fret 24, neck through gets you there. The extra 2 frets providing 2 full octaves is also a plus but not essential to the tone. One could also make the sustain claims with a neck through. On a related note this DC400A is eventually headed for complete Jerrification. The active electronics are messed up so, I need to use my strat -which plays great but where the neck bolts on it is 2 1/8" thick vs the Carvin which is maybe 1 1/2" where the neck joins and a real smooth transition from the thin 3/4" neck.

[calbucks09]

You can get most of the way there by modifying your Strat. That's exactly how I started, and I used the Strat as a backup guitar after having a Tiger guitar built in 2006. The Tiger will be a little meatier sounding, the Strat's a bit thin in comparison, mostly because of all that wood and weight behind it, different fretboard, etc.

Here's a one-on-one comparison; the Tiger went to Gary Brawer for a truss rod issue. The first cut of BEW is the American Standard Strat with the same electronics as the Tiger has. The second BEW is the Tiger two years later. Both direct to the board through the AxeFX Ultra, so no changes at all on the signal path.

Strat: http://archive.org/download/pd2009-10-3 ... t2_vbr.mp3

Tiger: http://archive.org/download/pd2011-08-2 ... d01t04.mp3

Tiger's a little more full sounding, but the Strat still sounds decent.

wow, that is immensely helpful! thank you. and wonderful playing btw.

[calbucks09]

so, am I correct that to get that real raw low end growl Jerry had on tunes like Althea that the wood and weight is critical?

I'm thinking I will not be satisfied without that low end growl... which would point me towards saving up for the custom build. damn this is a tough choice.

[gr8fullfred]

Apparently the easiest way to get a Jerry ish sound would be to add a Super II in the middle position of the Strat, and then add the Waldo buffer. And lock down the tremolo. The Strat bridge/trem system is not want you want for Jerry ish ness. Lock the bridge, add a split super 2, or cut a Super II down like Scott Walker explains in another post here, and add the Waldo buffer and OBEL and you are probably pretty close. Need to spend much more money to get "closer".

The you need a JBL D, E or K 120 ..................................

[Jimaroe]

I'm thinking I will not be satisfied without that low end growl... which would point me towards saving up for the custom build. damn this is a tough choice.

You mention 10k on a Res... How's about a Moriarty Bare Bones? That is, if you're gonna save and go custom. Those Tiger bare bones are SICK. And, don't quote me but I think they are substantially less than 10k.

Sorry, just re-read your op. You mentioned 3k budget and the Moriarty BB's are like $4800 for Wolf, $5400 Tiger.

[guitarcats]

You should try either a Phiga or Rusch(?). The Phiga Wolf is $3500 and Rusch(?) was $3000 the last time I saw his ad on Ebay. Just got my Phiga Wolf and its a great guitar.

[tigerstrat]

You can flip the jack plate on your Strat to make an accessible spot for a 9v battery.

[tigerstrat]

You can flip the jack plate on your Strat to make an accessible spot for a 9v battery.

1. remove the jack plate & jack assembly from the guitar body
2. remove the jack from the plate
3. flip the jack around and reinstall it in the plate from the other side, oriented "inside-out"
4. reinstall the jack plate & jack assembly onto the guitar body upside-down and backwards, so that the "cup" of the plate is now convex, rather than concave. Done!

Now there is just enough space to slip a 9v in there beneath the TRS jack... only two screws to access it!

Yes, it looks weird but think of it as "character". Use guitar stands with caution.

[TI4-1009]

You should try either a Phiga or Rusch(?). The Phiga Wolf is $3500 and Rusch(?) was $3000 the last time I saw his ad on Ebay. Just got my Phiga Wolf and its a great guitar.

If you're willing and able to do the electronics yourself you can get a Phiga for less than that.