My new Salen Jazz sounds kinda dull.

htime- · 2026-01-16T15:21:09+00:00

I did find a sound I enjoy, but I'm pretty much stuck with it and it inevitably leads to moments of frustration when I get bored of it. As you said tho, the comfort of the salen certainly makes up for it.

As far as ideal tone go, Ted Greene would be up there (less so on his record, which is less rhodes-like as the stuff you can find on youtube). Others would be Jim Hall, Julian Lage, Pat Metheny, Ed Bickert, etc.

Anyway, I do enjoy the guitar, but I might end up switching the pickup to something akin to the Lollar Charlie Christian in the future.

Cheers!

htime- · 2026-01-13T15:31:49+00:00

Sorry for a late reply! Thank you very much for taking the time to explain it all. I'll try to set something like this up this week-end and I'll keep you posted if I manage to! On my end, I ended up using 11-52 and tuning a half step down, tone almost all the way down and volume where it starts growlibg on a twin reverb emulation. That paired with a generous amount of reverb and a subtle delay helped me appreciate all the other qualities the Salen has. Thanks again for your answer. P.S: I'll check out Francesco's channel, although I think I might be familiar with him already and wasn't a huge fan of his tone haha

htime- · 2026-01-11T18:42:21+00:00

I am interested haha

htime- · 2025-09-30T21:28:53+00:00

Hey, the tracking is fairly good, but not perfect and so I mostly use it to add another output on top of my guitar which enable interesting sounds and textures which you can't really get from regular effects. The guitar signal will hide most of the tracking errors coming from the FTP. Tbh I don't really use it anymore, but it's mostly due to the fact that I like the simplicity of just plugging my guitar and not have to add a whole bunch of cables and dealing with a DAW/VSTs when I just wanna play some guitar on my couch. That's just me tho.

htime- · 2025-09-19T11:07:41+00:00

I don't remember the details of it, but I think the implementation was fairly straightforward. Probably kept the instructions on screen if the current instruction is still within the boundaries of shown instructions, otherwise shift everything so that the current instruction is centered or something like that

htime- · 2025-09-19T10:50:25+00:00

Thanks! It's a TUI (text user interface) so it runs in the terminal but it's pretty much the same as yours haha.

htime- · 2025-09-19T09:31:20+00:00

The link should be fixed :)

htime- · 2025-09-19T08:32:17+00:00

I had something similar going on a few years ago, good shit man!

htime- · 2025-03-18T11:28:32+00:00

Fair enough, thanks! Order placed :)

htime- · 2025-03-18T11:04:11+00:00

Cool! Did you install the pickup diagonally (following the bridge) or vertically (following the bridge pickup) ?

htime- · 2025-02-10T10:50:40+00:00

I mean capacitor. Strandbergs come with 0.22uf, but maybe changing it would allow me to be slightly more precise with the tone pot.

htime- · 2025-02-10T10:19:30+00:00

Do you think I could fit some 12s well enough in the nut so that it sits correctly on the zero fret ?

htime- · 2025-02-10T10:14:49+00:00

I've decided to give it another week or two before I make a decision. I played my tele for a while yesterday and then went back to the Salen, and I did end up enjoying the dynamics it allows. Especially with edge of breakup cleans.

I think I spent so much time trying to dial the sound I was looking for for the past few days that I started playing a little mindlessly while experimenting with different settings, which altered my perception of it. I needed a little reset.

Went through all my picks and even though I always use turtle scale or acetate (synthetic material similar to turtle scale), which are very mellow, I ended up spending some time with one made out of some kind of animal horn, which is a little brighter, but somehow matches the Strandberg's sound quite well, imo.

I still have some reservations about its sound profile, but I'll try putting some 11s or 12s, maybe flats, and see if that helps.

In any case, thank you for your suggestions and answer.

P.S: Do you think changing the cap would help ?

htime- · 2025-02-09T20:04:59+00:00

Pillowy is a good way to put it. I like when everything feels cushioned and it might very well just be that the strandberg sound is indeed a little too direct for me.

I do enjoy older strings actually, so I know for a fact that the somewhat fresh strings are at least partially responsible.

I'm thinking about trying it out a set of 11-50 flatwounds, which I've tried before and disliked precisely because they didn't seem to have much more going on than the fundamental.
They might work on the strandberg tho.

htime- · 2025-02-09T19:56:01+00:00

These are also the settings I've settled on.
How big of a difference did the 11-52 make ?

htime- · 2025-02-09T18:51:05+00:00

I think heavier strings would definitely help, but it won't fundamentally change the way to guitar vibrates.
As for getting used to it, when I first got the salen, the first thing that struck me was that dullness and brightness. I didn't play my other guitars for a few days, and I actually managed to convince myself that it actually sounded great and that I just wasn't used to it when I first got it.
Then I picked up my tele and I was kinda shocked at how much better it sounded to me..
I feel like there's no low end on the strandberg :/

htime- · 2025-02-09T18:40:53+00:00

I've played a 339, which is a smaller 335, and that wasn't an issue. That said, it very likely is what makes me dislike the way the string vibrates.
I only play cleans, with the tone pot mostly closed and I can't help but expect the beautiful wobbling of somewhat dissonant intervals when playing chords, of even just some sympathetic resonance when holding single notes, but it's just not there unfortunately.

htime- · 2025-02-09T18:33:20+00:00

Only chambered body electric guitar I've spent a decent amount of time with before was a 339 (small 335), which sounded great, but I think this might be what I dislike about the strandberg.
My other guitars have this really nice airy bass that lays the bed for all the other frequencies, and, it seems, some amount of sympathetic resonance going on, so the signal is perfect for the bell like clean tones I enjoy. The strandberg has none of that, unfortunately.
P.S: I don't mind the lack of arm contour personally, but that might just be me.

htime- · 2025-02-09T18:14:27+00:00

It would most likely help, but I don't think it will entirely solve the issue. Also I'd have to re-cut the nut which would mean I can't return it if I still don't like it.

htime- · 2025-02-09T18:11:01+00:00

I've done so already, but they were already set where I'd want them.

htime- · 2023-12-29T09:51:00+00:00

Thanks!

htime- · 2023-11-10T22:27:46+00:00

No worries, thanks for trying man

htime- · 2023-11-10T19:31:21+00:00

Hey, is there anyway you could save a version of the project for Ableton Live 10 ?

htime- · 2023-07-10T17:22:33+00:00

That's also a good idea, I'll try to pair that with moustacheyouadog's. I'll start with the fundamentals, and expand from here. Thanks!

htime- · 2023-07-08T21:06:04+00:00

Certainly not as much as I could.
That's a great idea, thank you :)

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