John Frusciante Tone ?

Shreddy Krueger · 08-01-2012 10:39PM #1

I have an ESP KH3 which comes stock with two EMG 81's but I dont play much metal these days and im a huge fan of John's playing so im looking to replace the pickups with something that will give me a similar sound , any suggestions are appreciated !

Squidgy Black · 08-01-2012 10:46PM

Frusciante's tone was mainly from a strat, so unless you coil-tap the pickups it'll be hard to get his tone with humbuckers.

Shreddy Krueger · 08-01-2012 10:55PM

stetyrrell wrote: »

Frusciante's tone was mainly from a strat, so unless you coil-tap the pickups it'll be hard to get his tone with humbuckers.

Thought so but I do know he has had a few guitars with humbuckers ( Les Paul Custom , Gretsch White Falcon and I think he had a Jazzmaster with them) I was thinking of putting in a JB and a 59 or a Jazz and coil tapping them would be a good idea

il gatto · 08-01-2012 11:13PM

I don't know how much it would cost to get the coil tap put in, but maybe put it towards a Strat of some sort. You can pick up a nice playable Strat for €350-€400 these days. It'll probably get you closer to the sound you want.
Apart from that, an amp with a nice ringing clean channel (doesn't have to be valve) and maybe a compressor to give a bit of oomph to the clean sounds. It seems to be a fairly natural sound to me, so nothing too fancy is needed I suspect.

seachto7 · 09-01-2012 12:19AM

He used a tele a lot live too (Slane dvd)

Paolo_M · 09-01-2012 10:48AM

The older, funky stuff was mainly/all strats.
A nice valve amp (or a good modeller) and a compressor for the cleans also helps.

Remember though that about 30% of his sound is from the gear, 70% or more is from his technique.
He has a very aggressive pick style on the early stuff. Lots of muted strings and "tight as a nuns chuff" rhythms. Many of his parts were almost like a percussion track.
Lately he's been using more varied techniques like hybrid picking.

The newer stuff, Californication +, uses a variety of tones with different geetars.

Depends and which tones of his you like, I guess.

Demeyes · 09-01-2012 12:39PM

I think it might be easier picking up a cheap strat and working with that instead of trying to make your KH3 do the job. You could get a mex strat for not too much and will have all that single coil sound you'd need, I don't find coil taps can really get that sound.

hidinginthebush · 09-01-2012 12:42PM

Hey OP if you decide to change your pickups give us your 81's! Come on, you won't be needing them

...though I'd recommend getting a second hand strat

Shreddy Krueger · 09-01-2012 07:01PM

hidinginthebush wrote: »

Hey OP if you decide to change your pickups give us your 81's! Come on, you won't be needing them

...though I'd recommend getting a second hand strat

Sounds fair enough :P

Looks like I better start saving for a nice wee Strat/Tele then , Thanks for the info guys !

Frusciante · 12-01-2012 12:39AM

Speaking from experience.....
To get a close approximation of his signature sound, strat (i put mothers milk pickups into mine, they do a fairly good job) on the neck pickup, mxr micro amp turned on to boost the signal/ drive the amp and distortion pedals harder, put a DS2 and some kind of fuzz (fuzz face/big muff etc) AFTER the micro amp and BEFORE the wah, crybaby will do fine, but get the Ibanez WH10 reissue if you want to be ridiculously accurate, then a chorus pedal into a marshall with the bass fairly high, mids set about noon, and treble cut a bit, presence a bit past noon.
Then you could throw a couple of MOOG pedals, the ring modulator etc for other sounds.

Most important parts are the strat, the wah and chorus.
Best of luck, throw up a few videos if you ever record your playing!

John Frusciante Tone ?

Comments