Hey there everybody,

I'm Vegas Wierdo. Apparently I spelled "Weirdo" wrong when I registered! :eek:

My problem is dual, I think.

1. I have a Mexican-built Fender Stratocaster in the Humbucker-Single-Single (HSS) configuration, with a Floyd Rose tremolo, with an alder body, maple neck, and rosewood fingerboard. Of course, I intend to upgrade the pickups. As for the tone I am looking for... shrill, ear-splitting, teeth-grinding, butt-puckering, eye-bulging, as dirty and unclean as competent soloing can reasonably be, far more bright than warm but not all ringy, and extremely ridiculously loud but without gain that is too terribly uncontrollable (i.e. thirty seconds of feetback if a cat farts ten feet away) if it is possible to mitigage for that and still get what I want. Enough low end, but emphasis on the high end and shrill/terrible enough to qualify as torture by North African standards.

When I wrench the slide up past the 12th fret on the high strings I want seasoned headbangers to clutch the sides of their skulls in shock and in searing agony as they sprint to the glowing exit sign - a green blur through the streaming tears of pain - in an effort to save what is left of their ruptured, bleeding eardrums.

Fingers on the chalkboard, the screech that roving zombies emit in zombie movies to rally other nearby zombies when they spot live humans, a freight train derailing (EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCCEHKKKEEHCCKKK!!!!!), a microphone shoved down the throat of a mountain lion being tortured to death by sadistic hillbillies, screaming artillery shells as heard from the trenches of World War I, an elephant being microwaved alive after frantically stampeding into a signal repeater station, giant screaming eagles getting in a fight with a pod of dolphins as downed powerlines fall into the water tank... *catches breath*... yeah.

If anyone has heard that Japanese noisecore band "Melt-Banana", the track "Bored Elephant" where the guitarist Agata is doing all this awful-sounding slide stuff is about what I'm after. Except maybe more shrill and more intolerable, if that is even possible. Also, some of Kirk Hammet's solo work... I guess his guitar has a maple body so it's really bright/loud sounding compared to the other famous metaleros, where I guess mahogany is the norm.

Oh let's see... who else... King Crimson on that one track "Red" (Robert Fripp is his name?)... uhhhhh... whenever bands like Zao, Dillinger Escape Plan and the other weird math/metalcore acts are doing low crunchy stuff and then suddenly and without warning they hit the really high strings out of nowhere and catch you off guard... *chunkachunkachunka / ngooooh-WWWWAAANG!!!!* :eek: Or sort of like when the 80s hair metal guys would hit a high string out of nowhere (first thing that comes to mind is the opening riff of "Get High On a New Thing" by Enuff Z'nuff... or the screaming high parts in that one solo in "I Remember You" by Skid Row) except a lot dirtier and nastier.

I'm more of a soloist than a rhythm player and I usually play with a hard pick or with my fingers, and I sometimes use an aluminum "Firecracker" slide. What kind of pickups, what kind of half-stack, what kind of strings, and what kind of effects would achieve this awful, horrible, ultra-shrill, horribly high, equipment-wrecking engineers-refuse-to-work-with-me audience-abusing tone? If I ever want to focus on rhythm as well I'll just get another guitar, though I don't want to completely forsake it.

Can I do this on the guitar I have? Or will I have to get another one? I realize that this may be kind of unrealistic, and I do tend to exaggerate in my breathless descriptions of what so far may have only existed in a sound engineer's wake-up-screaming nightmare. I also know very, very little theory, so I'm unable to deliver this in proper technical terms. I hope you tone expert-type people have been given enough to work with!

2. As mentioned above, I play pickless a lot, and I actually prefer it. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the same "bite" as when I use a pick, and chords sound like they're being done on rubber bands. When I've messed around with an archtop that has big fat jazz strings on it (which I guess is a suitable setup for fingers), I find that I can pull way, way more stuff on it than I can on my Strat. Should I just get an archtop and stick to picking the Strat, or is there a way to modify my Strat (within reason) to accomodate?

Also, I've heard of these fingerpick thingies called "AlaskaPik" which are these hard plastic-type picks that fit on your fingertips (I gather that I can wear three for my index/middle/ring and can even put one on my thumb); would those work?

As you might have guessed, I've been a bassist for far longer than I've been a guitarist (I never ever used a pick for bass playing), and my main rig was/is a 5-string fretless that I played three-fingered (index, middle, and ring) with the occasional thumb thrown in (not for slap, but as a fourth finger on the B/E). When I use that technique on an archtop guitar I have an absolute blast and am able to just go to town on it, but that technique doesn't work nearly as well on my Strat (currently strung with midweight nickelwound D'Addario strings). I wonder what would happen if I put really thick strings on it... but then it might sound weird and foul up the (bolt-on) neck.

A good friend of mine is a professional sound engineer and a semi-pro drummer with a lifetime of musical training, and he thinks I am a very, very evil man. :D

Well, I've been cruising old posts... and I came across this:

http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/

Their "Nail Bomb" humbucker might be the ticket! Yeah? No? :cool:

I hope I could get their stuff via mail-order to Las Vegas.

Edited to add: In case my first post is too muddled, I'll sum up what it is I'm after in plainer speak. Keep in mind: Fender Strat, H-S-S. I will get another guitar if my Strat can't be modified to what I want.

Basically, I do care about the low end for the metal/hardcore rhythm stuff but I want to focus on the high end. Not in a way that's all clean and clear like Vai or Satriani doing arpeggios on the 20th fret or whatever, but... well... in a way that hurts people and makes them want to kill me.

I often use an aluminum "Firecracker" slide and mostly play lead, usually with a hard pick, sometimes with a soft pick, and often with just fingers (looking to get some of those "AlaskaPik" thingies). Sometimes I use two picks like Dick Dale (the surf guitar king).

Also, I love playing on an archtop because I can finger the [bleep]in' thing all the way, nearly falling off the stool because of how into it the thing allows me to get... but I hesitate to get one for the following reasons:

1. I guess they're supposed to be all clear, clean, warm, and jazzy, something that belongs in an intimate high-dollar jazz club in uptown Chicago... as opposed to a blood-spattered medieval torture chamber in Slovakia where boorish American tourists lured in by foxy Euro-babes meet their grisly unenviable ends (guess which locale my guitar would belong in... :D ).

2. I'm worried that if I had big nasty Skull-Exploder Soldering-Iron-Through-Their-EarDrums brand humbuckers put on it, it would get all warped and fouled up and not sound good at all.

3. Don't know if those big thick jazz strings can produce the sound I want. I do know that they somehow work for fingerin' (pizzicato?). Don't know if big huge thick strings would foul up a bolt-on neck. The reason I fear that is because a metalhead friend who went to school for guitar playin' told me that those Zakk Wylde signature strings are so heavy that you have to put them on a neck-through guitar or else the thing will bow like a Chevy LUV trying to carry your 800 lb. Uncle Boom Boom's titanium coffin to his final resting place.

4. Don't know if a regular solidbody could be modified to be good for fingerin' like an archtop. Maybe some kind of semi-hollow or something?

5. Still wanna see if these AlaskaPik thingies will make a difference on my Strat.

6. I must have the weirdest needs of any guitar player I've ever met. If you think this is bad, you should see what I'm trying to accomplish with my bassplaying! I just know I can build a 5-string fretless with enough punch for thrash/noise/hardcore/metalcore/deathgrindpukevomit. But then I guess that's for another forum! :D

Anyways, I must apologize in advance for all this needless verbiage, especially since this is my inaugural post. I can be rather compulsive when it comes to the written word. Also, I've just been going in relentless pursuit of what I want... 'cuz if I'm gonna blow all this cash, I want to get my money's worth and then some. Man, it's like heroin... the more you get into it, the more you need.

very poetic

you should go to a custom shop that sells pickups and tell your delima to them. I cant recomend any pups cause it seems so precise.

I've got a Dimebucker in my LP. It works pretty close to how you want. I know an LP is a whole nuther ballgame but it's probably worth a little research.

Hmmmmm... a custom job... I was a'feared it would come to this.

I think I will put in the "Nail Bomb" humbucker and "Irish Tour" singles in my Strat, both from Bareknuckles. If I am going to get custom p'ups made, I reckon I'll do it for a much fancier guitar!

I wonder if there's any such shop here in Las Vegas. Las Vegas Nevada, not Las Vegas New Mexico. Or maybe when I go back to L.A. (born and raised, multi-generational in fact) I could find a place easy enough down in Hollywood or something. I wonder how much it might set me back.

I was originally going to put in a Dimebucker, a Lil' 59, and an SB Jr., all by Seymour Duncan. However, I've heard conflicting things: the Dimebucker sounds like crap in an alder guitar (as opposed to mahogony); Lil' 59 isn't good for extremely heavy stuff; other things. I will someday have it all figured out.

Now, aside from the p'ups, what kind of gear/effects/settings?

Edited to add: I should some it up in one sentence. Sufficient low/rhythm but absurdly extreme high/lead, far more abrasive and awful than clean but with just enough clarity for lead guitar (with occasional aluminum slide usage), very very high output, power and volume, basically something that most would find intolerable and hurtful.

yea you should seriously consider having a conference with a guitar tech and tell him that sentence. There are so many distortion pupies out there and to really like one, you have to play it and not really go my words.

but the Dimebucker seems to be an contender. Whatever the case, try not to get an EMG or any sort of active pickup cause their tone killers. Their really high output, but in the wrong way. Their built to distort which in theory is a good thing, but their range is very small. Basically, their hide all the REAL guitar wood tone and only produce the pickup tone. (thats why you see acrylic and weird shaped guitars with EMGz) Yes, if you read anything about EMGz, you will think their something to be noticed, but not really. You want really high screaming distortion that sounds unique, favorful, and spicy. Not just raw power that makes your guitar sounds if its made of steel. (unless thats what your lookin for...)

well, Stratocasters aren't really made for high, high distorition playing. Alot of your descriptions seems as if you got the right pups, they would sounds brash on a stratocaster. But rather than the guitar, amp's make a world of difference. Since what you said is so in detail, a tube amp would be the best choice. Yet they are known to make one's wallet skinny... The tubes produce such rich and full sound when on distortion which seens to be your niche. A transitor amp would make it either sounds real muddy and deep or real high and sqeaky.

I like Strats because of the ergonomics/playability. I don't feel I get the same kinda deal with an LP or an SG.

I reckon they make double-bucker guitars that would fulfill that, and I know there's double bucker Strats but I think there's a reason you don't see too many of those.

I'm wondering what kind of tone wood would do the trick. I would go so far as to build one to get what I'm after... i.e. a kit from Warmoth or even have something built from scratch by a luthier. If I'm not mistaken, Kirk Hammet's guitar is made of western maple (yeah? no?) as opposed to mahogany, the latter being the norm for metal. He seems to have a really bright, cutting, teeth-grinding high-end tone and I've always really liked it (even though Metallica began sucking for me shortly after I realized that the Black Album was such a disappointing departure from what made them gods... yeah, I know, I know....), as opposed to the usual low and grumbly "chunka chunka chunka" of most guitars that are built for the hard stuff (which seem to invariably be constructed of mahogony, both neck and body).

What about walnut or some other oddball tone wood? My five-string fretless bass is made of walnut (and has a maple neck) because it was built to be brighter and louder than a fretless would normally be; the string spacing is more narrow because it's meant for aggressively/fastly working chords and harmonics so that you can closely follow someone working a double pedal on a fusion bass drum. Also, it was meant to have thick jazz strings, but I replaced them with mid-weight D'Addario nickelwounds. It got a good bit brighter and heavier but it can be quite ringy so I have to really tweak the knobs just right.

By contrast, the average fretless sometimes has wide spacing almost like an upright (and 5-stringers are much rarer than their fretted counterparts; I've never encountered one that was six strings or above though I know of companies that will make them to order), and is (ideally) made of swamp ash with a wenge neck to counterbalance the brightness of an ebony fretboard (ebony is usually necessary or else you'll lose a lot of clarity; I've seen a British company who made fretless guitars, and the fingerboards had to be made out of some weird brass/steel alloy).

I'm guessing ash and alder are for the more straight-ahead bluesy/musical/subtle/progressive type tones as opposed to anything extreme, grumbly, or biting.

Any particular tube amp? I've often wondered what the difference is when it comes to watts. How different is a 50 watt Marshall head from one of those 350 watt 'Mode Four' Marshall heads? I'm rather confused; I would imagine that more watts = more oomph (kinda like horsepower or cubic inches with an engine), but then I've read about famous guitarists with amazing boot-to-the-diagphram tone who were playing out of something with a 50 watt head or something. Needless to say, I'm definitely not an electrician or a sound tech. :confused: What's the deal there?

Also, I'm wondering about effects. If I'm not mistaken, the "Death Metal Pedal" apparently has a setting for solo/lead work that's supposed to be ultra-trebly and absolutely ear-splitting. Might that do the trick? Or would I need something else instead of or in addition to it?

Finally, I prefer thick strings. I use a hard pick and also like to use fingerstyle, and use an aluminum slide at times. But I wouldn't want my tone to get overly warm because of that. I've always been under the impression that really thick strings are for warm jazzy sounding stuff, or ultra-low chunka chunka Zakk Wylde type stuff. I've been told that Zakk's signature strings are so thick and heavy that they'll ruin anything short of a neck-through guitar.