Grateful Dead Music Forum

Thanks Strum. i should add that this is the first tune of the night, out of the box "if you will" with the Cowboy converted Strat. Recordings never capture the real sounds but man it rings like a bell.

Dozin wrote:Thanks Strum. i should add that this is the first tune of the night, out of the box "if you will" with the Cowboy converted Strat. Recordings never capture the real sounds but man it rings like a bell.

Hey man, you are welcome! You captured that bit of Bobby that I really love very naturally!

I'd love to see some pics and more of your specs, please! I have a Strat that can go under the knife!

You've got some great tone on that, I'd love to see some pics also!

strumminsix wrote:Dozin, that is OUTSTANDING Bobby tone!

I agree, MK, how could that be done S-S-S

I too am dying to know!

So there's not much to her. This was more of an experimental / trial thang. Again, I wired the humbuckers for single coil. The middle single coil is flipped upside down and wired black is hot and red is ground. I soldiered the cap from the center post of the tone pot to the center post of the volume pot. I got the concept from the way the blackknifes are wired. I noticed that when I do this I get some brighter highs. The pickups really sound the best when the volume and tone are cranked all the way up.

Dozin wrote:So there's not much to her. This was more of an experimental / trial thang. Again, I wired the humbuckers for single coil. The middle single coil is flipped upside down and wired black is hot and red is ground. I soldiered the cap from the center post of the tone pot to the center post of the volume pot. I got the concept from the way the blackknifes are wired. I noticed that when I do this I get some brighter highs. The pickups really sound the best when the volume and tone are cranked all the way up.

Is that middle single coil RW? So all pickups on at the same time?

That's correct

Actually, I don't think the middle pup is RW (reverse wound). In terms of wiring, it is connected opposite of normal (ground becomes hot and hot becomes ground).

mk

Wow man, the Bobby tone forum is bumpin again -awesome.


And thanks Dozin for the information and inspiration, I'm looking up other guitars to use for a cowboy. I found an Ibanez 170dx for about $120 here, it's already HSH - and I'm a fan of Ibanez also

http://allentown.craigslist.org/msg/2053272058.html

Anyway, it's Basswood, do you guys know if it would be worth it to get this and dump some cash into it to recreate Cowboy?

Wow, absoultely great tone. If I wouldn't know better, I'd think its the real Bobby
And thank you also for the wiring info.

So I found out, that my good old 1981 Oakland ZX1200 (more ore less kinda a copy of a Musician or an Ibanez Custom Artist 2700 with an active booster but w/o an EQ) is already close to what I need.
Originally it was built with two DiMarzio Super Distortion PUs.





More than 10 yrs ago I replaced the Bridge PU with a splitable Seymour Duncan and some years ago I added a Fender Single Coil Vintage in the middle pos.
But in my current wiring, the SC can only be combind with the Bridge PU, to get somewhat Knopfler-like sound (what really works great).
Now I will think about extending the wiring to get this Bobby sound without adding more switches and drill holes (all that can be seen, are out of the box).
Up to now the three lower switches are two only 2-way, the upper just adds the booster. Replacing them with Tri-Sounds might bring me closer.

Hope I'll have some spare time the next weeks. If there is any success, I'll keep you informed.
Klaus

So how crucial is the wood for the bobby tone? I found some nice strat bodies for a good price, but they're not ash. Would you highly recommend using Ash for the right tone or doesn't it really matter? I'm really aiming for the 77 sound.

ampegbassplayer1969 wrote:So how crucial is the wood for the bobby tone? I found some nice strat bodies for a good price, but they're not ash. Would you highly recommend using Ash for the right tone or doesn't it really matter? I'm really aiming for the 77 sound.

When thinking guitar woods you need to think of the tonality. I'd say brighter tonality is key. In that camp are: ash, maple, and ebony.
But a guitar gets alot of tone from complimenting woods. I find mahogany to be a great compliment. YMMV

strumminsix wrote:

ampegbassplayer1969 wrote:So how crucial is the wood for the bobby tone? I found some nice strat bodies for a good price, but they're not ash. Would you highly recommend using Ash for the right tone or doesn't it really matter? I'm really aiming for the 77 sound.

When thinking guitar woods you need to think of the tonality. I'd say brighter tonality is key. In that camp are: ash, maple, and ebony.
But a guitar gets alot of tone from complimenting woods. I find mahogany to be a great compliment. YMMV

When it comes to bringing out the tonality of the wood does finishing the wood in lacquer vs. poly make a big difference?

Never heard of " Oakland " guitars before. Another one of them Co. that use Ibanez/Japanese Factories ?
Thanks for the heads up.
Hey Klaus - Do you play Dead over there ? Is it hard to find players ?
Happy Holi-daze Bro

Grateful Dad wrote:When it comes to bringing out the tonality of the wood does finishing the wood in lacquer vs. poly make a big difference?

From what my ears hear, a light lacuier, nitro or light poly don't make a huge difference in tonality. But heavy poly does cover up some of the wood you hear.