So I've loved Peter Buck's guitar tone (on LP and live) ever since I started listening to early R.E.M. That clear, defined, percussive tone was a breath of fresh air in the grungey mid-1990's. But my efforts to replicate that tone (first with my Strat copy, then my Mexican Telecaster, then my 2004 330) only resulted in painful icepicky tones when I turned up the treble enough to clear up the low strings. When I bought a Boss EQ-7 pedal, I instinctively started dialing out the low-end in kind of a stepped pattern. Much closer to the tone I wanted, but something about the resulting sound didn't agree with me, and I didn't like having to keep a pedal in the chain to get the sound I wanted. I learned here about the 0.0047uF cap used in Ricks up till the mid-1980's and a light went off in my head. Since I'm the experimental type, I decided to open up the guitar, unsolder the connection to the Treble pickup, plug it in, and try it both ways before stitching it up again. And it was a success! Finally, the clear -- but not piercing -- sound I heard on those records!
A tweak of the blend knob, and now the reduced volume from the bridge pickup is a non-issue.I'm in love with this guitar again -- I may even keep these flatwounds on it, now that they have that old-school "clanky" sound!
- Scott
