SRV Strat Sound Shootout | Is It Pickups Or Tonewood

So since getting my Blue Strat back, i have been loving it. But wanted to hear it side by side next to the Stevie Ray Vaughan Replica Stratocaster from Eternal Guitars. They both have the same pickups, and the result i think is quite interesting.

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►GEAR:

Guitar:
Fender 1999 American Standard Stratocaster
Eternal Guitars "Number One" Tribute

Amp:
Fender Supersonic 22:

Pedals:

Seymour Duncan 805:

Recording Gear
Two Notes Torpedo Captor X

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Mike has been playing the guitar since he was 12 years old, and from that first moment his love affair with music and the instrument began. Fresh out of school at the age of 16 he attended the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford and completed a year-long Diploma course.

After finishing the ACM his life as a full time musician began, playing in numerous bands and touring up and down the country playing iconic venues such asThe Shepherds Bush Empire, The Astoria, The Underworld and London’s Jazz Café. He’s also been fortunate enough to support industry legends Paul Weller, Blondie and Katie Melua.

Mike’s session work has led to his working on a variety of projects - from performing with stars such as Ricky Wilson and Diana Vickers, to appearing in many TV shows and adverts. Mike loves being on stage performing, but is equally at home recording in a studio - where he has worked with Alex Von Soos (All Saints, Seal, Atomic Kitten), Mike Horner (The Prodigy, Shakira, Bloc Party), and Mike Chapman (Blondie, Suzi Quatro)

[aab]

Pickup heights, other electric components, wire gauge, shielding are all important for an electric guitar.
Borrow the SRV copy back from your friend, put the entire pickguard with pickups and all into your blue guitar, swap the bridge and hear the difference.

[bryangarcia]

Great video as always, Mike!
The SRV really stood out to me here, it simply had "moar".
If you can swing it, I would definitely get that guitar, especially if you connect with it. All you have to do is replace the pickguard, and all of a sudden it stops being an SRV "replica". I bet a nice tortoiseshell pickguard would look ace on it, Spitfire make truly amazing aged guards. 😎
Cheers!

[Matt-d]

“Open” was the word that came to my mind as well for the SRV strat. I see that others have suggested this as well, but maybe change your pots and bridge? I’d change those one at a time just in case it’s one or the other, and not both. But I bet it’s both. Ooh…and add a couple of stickers too. Clearly the secret sauce.

[markleadbeatter]

Great upload again Mike and there is clearly a difference in the expressiveness of both guitars. I guess many of us are always in the pursuit of that perfect tone but the honest truth is that every guitar is individually different and there would be no guarantee that another Eternal Strat would be exactly the same as the example you tried. So you could ultimately end up being disappointed if you did take the plunge, especially if you went down the built to order path, as there are no guarantees you would ultimately get what you are looking for. That’s why it is so important to ‘try before you buy’ imho but that may not be an option with a boutique builder unfortunately.

[robbiehays]

I did the same comparison between maple and rosewood fretboards years ago. I feel the bright, almost tinny sound of your blue strat is the maple board. Stevie said it in an interview years ago. Hence why I did the comparison. My .02

[greg]

Love the passion and soul you play with! Great comparison vid!

[comet-launch]

Sorry for my late reaction, the open sound was also the reason why john mayer had his ‘black one’; he wanted as less paint as possible, just like the guitar of bonny raitt. Black 1 sounds also amazing. And also the wood of the body can have something to with it (sort of wood, number of parts). Anyway, interresting video and enjoying your playing! Keep it up!

[nicko]

Massive difference in sound/tone. Don't know what it is, but it's there!

[Michaelcollins]

The Blue Strat sounds really good but I agree with you that Stevie Ray Vaughan replica guitar has such an open organic sound to it and your playing on that guitar was something special it would be great if Dave could build a guitar that was similar to the Stevie replica guitar with the same sound but not a straight replica Stevie' guitar which you could use on stage as a main guitar.

[DennisAlvarezMusic]

Interesting video. The blue strat has solid stainless steel saddles, which (in my experience) are darker sounding. IMHO, hardware design and material affects tone much more than the type of wood. Wood has a very subtle effect on the tone.

[JumboJimbo]

The difference could be in pickup heights. The SRV might be just a little bit closer to the strings, causing them to have a little more punch.

[craiger]

My brother has a Strat from the late 90s with a similar, mid-forward sound. I wonder if it's pots, pickup height, or saddles? Hard to know, but you can really hear a difference. The SRV sounds open (the highs and lows are more pronounced than in the Blue/1999.

[cbr]

Whoa!! That is nuts! This needs further investigation. The tone difference is so distinct and it shouldn't be in my humble opinion. It is almost as if the potentiometer controlling tone on your blue guitar is closed down all the way. Could your pot be malfunctioning? I also like the suggestion by another poster that the bridge and/or saddles could be affecting the tone.

Let us know what you learn Mike!!

[Bairov]

I wonder about the pots and tone caps along with the wiring. Were they the same, too?

[tonechest]

Love that you did the head-to-head on these beauties! So many differences between the two guitars, each subtle but when added is definately noticeble. Agree with the comments on saddles, maybe even the bridge itself given the srv is flipped? Definately the rosewood/maple is having effect, a snappier response. Tone pots in blue are Std, what about the SRV model? Fellow geeks unite😉

[jamescarey]

Try wearing the Jimi shirt while playing the blue one....

[djt]

Hi Mike. I am sure you have already had this experience with two identical guitars while trying them at different guitar stores/events around the world... I have three recent examples personally. I got two identical CS '60 Strats from GC because I know the sentiment in your video is really quite common, even in "identical" guitar models. The difference between them was not as extreme as this video, but still the same kind of difference. One sounded more open than the other, despite setting them up the same (neck relief, action & PUP heights).
I also got two Gretsch 59vs Country Clubs to try. Again one was standing out as a clear winner. Not that the looser was a lemon either.
I put the Peach Guitars Mark Foley No1 pickups in a Fender '64 reissue Strat. Decided they were now my favourite PUP set in a Strat. Bought a PRS Silver Sky and experimented by setting it up as a floating bridge like the Strat and using the same ViPOT's, capacitor and MF No1 PUPs from Peach... same result as your video again... The PRS remained midrange heavy and did NOT sound like the Strat.
I take each and every guitar on it's own merits and if I want to buy a guitar I will try at least two of the same if I can get duplicates to pick out what feels and sounds best to me.
As far as I am concerned, if you go around trying different guitars, you will find more stand out guitars than you already own. Partly psychosomatic as we love to find new guitars and partly because some really are clearly more open sounding (without being harsh) and more comfortable feeling than the ones we already own.
Even if you don't get this particular SRV Strat and change the Pick Guard to make it your own, it sounds like you have accepted there are other Strats out there in the wild that can blow you away in terms of feel, vibe and tone. I suggest if you don't want to get the SRV, just make peace with looking for another one in the coming years to stop you thinking about this particular SRV copy. It doesn't have to be a guitar that got away, just one that gave you inspiration for the future. If however you fall in love with the feel of this particular guitar... that's a tough one to let go ( feel, vibe and tone in one great package ;-)


Keep up the great content 👍

[althewicked]

The difference is huge! I cant believe that this is so extrem. Sorry Mike, no matter how correctly tested that sounds but I have to check this by my own :) ...but thanks man, it was very interesting!

[jamesgeducation]

SRV was known for using vintage pickups and vintage Fender Super Twin Reverb Amps. But this does not mean you can't get his tone by other means. Even in the amp simulation world the SRV tone is very accessible. If you pull up a Fender Super Twin Reverb on any amp simulation software, add a tube Overscream pedal with drive set to 0 and tone set to 10. Add a compressor pedal with comp and level set to 12:00 - 2:00 o'clock and wal-lah! You got it! SRV was known for pushing his amps at high volume so this can create a compression like affect. But in today's standards it's about adjusting and rolling back the ratios. You have to use reasonably good single coil pickups though. Using the bridge and middle pickup together is the best. Adjusting the volume knob to 5 is another good option too. It can really clean up your sound and tone just with that!

[jamesgeducation]

The SRV tone is the guitar, amp and stomp box all together. The best guitar is a single coil guitar of course. The best amp is a Fender Super Twin Reverb with a touch of tube overdrive. But what you really want is some medium compression on the effects chain. Wood tone will give you some variety but the amp and single coil guitar with compression will get you that tone. Middle and bridge pickup together is a good start.