here is a video someone made comparing squier cv 60s zinc block vs a brass one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PajspH1A ... re=related

i have to listen to it when im alone, it sounded a bit different. but i dont know...

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"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

oogway, kungfu panda 2008

That's a cool video. There seems to be a tone difference going on to my ears. Whether it's any better.. Hmmm. I don't know. I guess I'm just more of a believer that you can use both sounds equally as well for different situations.

Here's a video of a guy playing stock Squier CV Guitars. I'm assuming they still have the stock blocks in them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFaWYSr6d_Y&feature=related

Sounds good to me.

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HaleAmano- House Of Sharks (Now On iTunes)
http://www.reverbnation.com/haleamano
http://www.haleamano.com

While I don't have all that much money,I'm sure I have more money than sense,as the old saying goes...so after reading the hype about the Callaham bridge and block,I bought one and put it in my favorite '62 Hot Rod Strat....well the guitar already sounded great and it really didn't make much of a difference,maybe a little better,but not enough for me to tell everybody to get one.....it's still in there for now because I don't want to remove it and have to do the setup all over again.
I just have to try things for myself,and it's cost me a lot of money over a lot of years....you know,guitars,amps,speakers,tubes,caps,strings,beer......

Actually I'm right with you on that. As Ceri so noticeably pointed out It seems my hair was starting to fall out and I wear a hat these days as a result of all of my tone chasing madness.

Lately, I'm finding myself regressing from doing as much of it as I've done in the past. I've come to more conclusions about what I like and what I believe is necessary for myself. So I really don't get into investigating too far into these things anymore. I still enjoy reading these kinds of threads, but I'm getting more into playing what I have and finding their strengths being what they already are and not what they COULD be. In the end, I COULD assemble a Chuck Norris approved guitar, but I still have to play it regardless.

I've been swapping a lot of pickups lately, but they're pickups I already have around here, and I'm just about finished playing musical chairs with them. A couple more to wire up, and I'm good to play for the rest of the year at least. Hopefully.

I have tours coming up, a lot of shows to play, writing, recording etc.. And it feels nice to be finally just enjoying what I have in the state they're in and chasing the dream instead.

Fascinating thread though. I hope to read more insightful posts as it goes on.

_________________

HaleAmano- House Of Sharks (Now On iTunes)
http://www.reverbnation.com/haleamano
http://www.haleamano.com

",......but not enough for me to tell everybody to get one.....it's still in there for now because I don't want to remove it and have to......"
Rebelsoul

Very interesting Rebelsoul. Before read your post i wish to buy a Callaham but now i don't think so.

Thank's

Louis

Why won't people perform this test accurately? Who the hell seriously looking into this is interested in hearing someone noodle for 2 minutes before the 'important' change happens.
The fella didn't even play the same thing. Why did he switch back to the neck pickup instead of doing a side by side comparison on the bridge pickup? Why did he have to overcomplicate the experiment by playing comletely different pieces.

All in all, I couldn't hear a difference that couldn't be attributed to playing technique.

Why anyone so confident in the supposed improvement can't simply play one single chord, one strum, let it ring out. To display the difference between the two things is beyond me.

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No no and no

And +1 from me (which makes +1,000,000,001 in total ).

And frankly all of that applies to nearly all the other tone stuff people agonise about too. Multi-piece bodies, fingerboard wood, bridge saddles - even pickups. None of that stuff ever reaches the ears of the audience, even the guitarists. At most it can only be about making the instrument nicer for its player.

I think we're of a single mind on this stuff, Shredd (and others).

BTW, much more importantly:

Ooo - I really didn't and would never have been so tactless!

I merely asked a leading question about the hat, after you made a remark about how hunting too hard for tone would make your hair fall out. I'd never, never comment unkindly about the top of someone else's head!

Still. If you feel like it, Google "Histogen". Maybe salvation is on the way. Or maybe it isn't...

Ah, to be nineteen again... [Wistful sigh]

Cheers - C

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I agree wiht you nikininja

I think you can obsess too much about tone also,I've done it and like Shredd6 said I've gotten to the point where I still like to try things but take the gear I have and tweak it even more.
Once you kind of settle in on what works,it's nice to play and hear the results of tone chasing...but new players should work more on learning the basics and practicing instead of becoming frustrated with chasing the newest,latest greatest sonic wonder that is being praised on the net.
My tone chasing has gone on for well over 40 years.

I agree with Niki on the squier test video. I can't tell anything at all about it. The way the guy performed the test, it's too confusing. Too many different pickups' sounds.

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"Damn Right I Got the Blues"

And do you, like I, prefer the remembered sound you had way back when? Though hindsight is always 20/20 and rose tinted.

I often think the best sound I ever acheived was a Avon LP copy into a cheapo overdrive with the volume set to full and the drive to minimum. That going into a Boss distortion and then a Badger (company name, not Suhr) 30watt keyboard amp.
At the time nothing could have made me happier. Despite knowing it's foolish, I still chase that sound.
That was all way back before I was a target of sales divisions across the globe.

Bshane.

What I want from a audio test is along these lines. Though this test isnt perfect. The pickups were set differently on the two guitars. That is about the only difference though. All the hardware is the same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emNlebBMdUw

It's not showy or flash, but demonstrates the lack of difference between the two guitars. Sadly it's not perfect. Theres no guarantee that I hit the strings the same way on the two guitars. The maple guitar is definitely louder, whether that is due to pickup height (like I mentioned earlier) or the fact that I hit the strings harder, I can't be sure.
Despite it's imperfections, it still conveys it's info clearly.

Looking back on that vid, I really ought to do something about that old amps buzz.

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No no and no

Yep. That's the way to do a comparison nikininja. Simple and easy to decipher. I didn't hear much of a difference. Maybe a little. I think maple and rosewood aren't as different sounding as some may think.

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"Damn Right I Got the Blues"

i'm new to this whole electric and Strat thing. I have been playing Martin acoustics in bluegrass for a little over 30 years.

This block debate sounds a lot like the saddle and bridge pins debate with acoustics. I know guys who swear fossilized ivory bridge pins makes a huge difference. They wax poetically about the velvet tone and other BS like that. To tell the truth, I drank the cool-Aid once and sank a big load of cash chasing better tone. What I learned after a couple hundred dollars was there may have been some minor differences but much of that was probably my mind wanting to hear a difference. I went back to the standard stuff on my HD-28V. I loved the tone when I bought it and settled there. I sold the. FWI bridge pins and saddles and other ivory and bone stuff to recover some of my loss.

Moral to the story is one can chase tone and spend a bunch of money and end up with little to no change in tone and not necessarily an improvement.

Pickups are a different matter totally, but the term block discussion isounds like the bridge pin and nut discussions in the acoustic world.

The vast majority of tone comes not from the stuff attached to the guitar, but from the fingers of the man or woman playing it.

Jeff

nikininja,yeah,I remember getting a great tone through a Marshall 2x12 combo back in the early 70s,everything sounded good played through it,like a fool I sold it to buy a Mesa Boogie that never sounded 1/3rd as good as the Marshall...now to get that amp back would be more than I would pay....makes me sick to think about it,....I mainly played a Gibson Les Paul in those days,you could say it had that Clapton Bluesbreaker tone nailed.

Moral of the story? The grass is not always greener or better!!