COVERING THE TONAL BASES BY PAUL “TFO” ALLEN
One of the questions people ask me the most is,
“Which guitars should I have
to cover the tonal bases as a
working musician?” While there
is not one universally accepted
answer, I’ll discuss some of the
guitar tones I use on a regular
basis, as well as the guitars I
select to achieve those tones.
In the studio and touring community, producers and bandleaders often request a “Strat sound.”
One of the first things I associate
with the Stratocaster is its clean,
funky voice, like the rhythm
guitar on Michael Jackson’s “Billy
Jean.” I play a Fender ’ 62 Hot
Rod Stratocaster and use the neck
and middle pickups together
through a clean amp to get that
“chanky” sound. The ’ 62 Hot Rod
Strat has a reverse-wound middle
pickup, which, when you use it
with the neck or bridge pickup,
helps cut down on the noise that’s
commonly associated with single-coils. The other thing I really like
about this particular Strat is that
the fretboard is relatively flat, so
I can bend the strings as far as I
want. On a lot of Strats (especially
those with a vintage-style fretboard
radius), notes will choke after you
bend the string beyond a certain
point, because the string hits the
peak of the fretboard’s radius
curve. A great modification for
any Strat is to wire one of the tone
controls to the bridge pickup,
which enables you to easily adjust
its brightness. This feature is
already included on the ’ 62 Hot
Rod and helps keep the sound
from becoming shrill and piercing.
Another great guitar for clean
funk is a Telecaster. If you want
a guitar that covers the most
extreme end of the brightness
spectrum, it’s hard to beat a
Telecaster with a maple fretboard.
For clean funk tones on a Tele,
once again I use the neck and
bridge pickup together and roll the
tone knob back a bit. I usually like
to make Telecasters a little more
A rich sonic palette (left to right): Schecter Robin Finck signature model, Paul Reed Smith Custom 22, Fender ’50s
Road Worn Tele, Gretsch 6118T-LTV, Duesenberg Mike Campbell, Paul Reed Smith KL 380, and a Fender ’ 62 Hot
Rod Stratocaster. Photo by Paul “TFO” Allen
full sounding. To do that, I swap
out the stock saddles for thicker
saddles. This adds body to the
sound without sacrificing twang.
When it comes to brightness and twang, Gretsch guitars
are a great option as well. On
Gretsches, I install a Tune-o-matic bridge, because I prefer the
bridge saddles to have a sharp
edge where the string leaves the
saddle. This gives the notes more
definition, and I can really feel
the differences in how the strings
behave with a Tune-o-matic. I
also pin the bridge to the top
of the guitar. If the bridge isn’t
pinned, it can very easily get
moved when you’re playing or
when you’re changing strings.
If this happens, the intonation
will be thrown off. Also, I prefer unbound f-holes on hollow
guitars, because the guitar feels
more responsive and vibrant.
The 6118T-LTV is great because
it already sports all my favorite
features straight out of the box.
Now let’s move on to rock
tones. My PRS Custom 22 is
my workhorse guitar—I can
use it for everything. Guitars
are tools to help us do our job
of playing music, and to me,
PRS guitars are like a Swiss
Army knife. It’s always good to
have one with you to assist with
anything you may encounter.
My Custom 22 is loaded with
57/08 pickups, which are great
for Led Zeppelin-inspired rock
sounds, as well as heavier mod-
ern rock. For stripped-down,
raw rock tones, I use a PRS
KL 380. The KL 380’s P-90-
style soapbar pickups are great
for getting a Green Day-style
crunch. The great thing about
P-90s is that the attack will
have some crunch, but the post-
attack bloom will be clean, so
you can clearly distinguish every
string. When you double this
tone in the studio, its sounds
huge and can be turned up
really loud in the mix.
PAUL “TFO” ALLEN
is a multi-instrumentalist
who has worked with
Big & Rich, Sebastian
Bach, 112, Jake Owen,
Montgomery Gentry, Larry
the Cable Guy, and many
others. He also has his own project called
Ten Finger Orchestra, and can be reached
at tenfingerorchestra@yahoo.com.
