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 NS tone on melody strings 
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Post NS tone on melody strings
Hi everybody,

For those of you who process the melody strings through guitar effects, how do you get a good tone out of the higher strings on the NS? I am aware that I won't ever get a Les Paul sound (different pickups etc.), but the high strings' basic sound is very trebly and nasal. There seems to be a pronounced bump in the high mids. Maybe the equipment I have been using adds to that as well (Boss GT-3). Even when played in mono without effects, the different tonal characteristics between bass and melody side are quite apparent, especially if you play a line that incorporates both the D and G string. Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks mucho!


Mon Feb 10, 2014 2:46 pm
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Post Re: NS tone on melody strings
Hi Evil1603.

What strings are you using?
Are you using strings from SE?

I did an experiment about a year ago where I restrung the bass side EADG and the kept melody side GCFBb... so there are two G strings in the middle.
I found that the G string felt a little light to give a good solid bass tone. The G string is great for melody side tuning.
My playing style is to play each side separately so I went back to standard tuning.
I wonder if Emmett decided on strings assuming that most players will play each side separately and chose strings which work best for each side... verses... players who play the whole instrument as a single instrument.

I could be totally of base on this...

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Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:40 am
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Post Re: NS tone on melody strings
Hey Dean!

Yes, I am using the standard strings, and usually play each side separately. I have one magnetic shim on the neck pickup under the G string to even out the volumes of the melody strings a little bit. If I play a gig where I play mostly bass parts in mono I take off the shim to bring up the volume of the G string again.

How do you EQ your melody side?

Nice Hendrix video btw ;)


Tue Feb 11, 2014 11:54 am
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Post Re: NS tone on melody strings
evil1603 wrote:
Hey Dean!

Yes, I am using the standard strings, and usually play each side separately. I have one magnetic shim on the neck pickup under the G string to even out the volumes of the melody strings a little bit. If I play a gig where I play mostly bass parts in mono I take off the shim to bring up the volume of the G string again.

How do you EQ your melody side?

Nice Hendrix video btw ;)


I play with everything straight up. middle on the eq and middle pickup selector. Volume all the way up.
My NS is the proto so there may be a little bit of difference. There are a couple tiny switches inside the back panel in mine. I don't know what they do... and I don't see them on the current NS manual so I don't know if the current model has it...

Do you have a picture of the shim you mentioned?
I'm not quite sure what you mean by shim...

Thanks for the nice comment on my video. I am working on a new song and hope to have a video up soon. Very different song and I am singing...

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Wed Feb 12, 2014 11:26 am
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Post Re: NS tone on melody strings
Skydiver wrote:
evil1603 wrote:
Do you have a picture of the shim you mentioned?
I'm not quite sure what you mean by shim...

I think he might be talking about the little "dampeners" on the pickups which are placed under the two loudest strings to help even out the volume. On Greg's "Meet the Pickups" video he refers to these dampeners as shims.

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Wed Feb 12, 2014 11:55 am
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Post Re: NS tone on melody strings
Yes, Luc is correct. You have a prototype? Great, how did you come across that one if I may ask? I am indeed unaware of any tiny switches inside the back panel in mine.


Wed Feb 12, 2014 2:31 pm
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Post Re: NS tone on melody strings
evil1603 wrote:
Yes, Luc is correct. You have a prototype? Great, how did you come across that one if I may ask? I am indeed unaware of any tiny switches inside the back panel in mine.


It was just by luck a guy in California was selling the sister to Don Schiff's NS/Stick. He has the other prototype. There is another one before either one but Don and I probably have the last proto before going into production.

I will open mine up tonight and take a look at the switches. They may have been put in to decide on the bass/treble adjustment points. I'll play with them a little tonight.

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Thu Feb 13, 2014 4:54 pm
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Post Re: NS tone on melody strings
I had the same concern when I started out on the NS/Stick. The 2 band eq knobs on the stick didn't quite do the trick so I ended getting a Fulltone GT-500. It has two switches on it; one for a boost/OD, which also has a two band eq on it, and one for distortion. I rolled off the highs on the boost switch and it turned the tone in to a completely different sound! I turn it off when I want a lead tone that cuts through the mix a bit more. The GT-500 was a great buy in my opinion but I'm sure there's plenty of pedals that do pretty much the same thing.

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Fri Feb 14, 2014 12:03 am
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Post Re: NS tone on melody strings
Yo, thats the only thing I tweak on my ns pickup. pretty much I just raise the neck pickup on melody side and lower the bridge melody height, because I want that jazz tone like a neck pickup, but I need some more crispyness and uniformity from the ns string tone as a unified sound. Like when u slap and the bass pickup is in middle its perfect tone, but if you slap with the melody's neck selection its a drastic tone diff and the 'snap' isnt there. Or for soloing I just need a unified tone. So now my tone is in middle position for boss sides but the melody side is way more neck sounding, and it makes it less umm brite and warms it up without losing the main snap. I turn the bass on the melody side all the way up and treble less than midway. I wonder if any ns peeps here muck around with the pickup heights? I know you can get into trouble and its probably ideal as it is but I seem to have found a good mod, alas with some volume loss tho that indeed sucks since I lowered the bridge melody pickup. ITs all easy to mess with so I feel like no harm done as long as I can get back to normal settings that is sometime.
Now if im walking bass and playing chords then I use the neck melody and the bridge bass or middle bass. Thats sick of course, I just talking bout more hybrid play

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Fri Feb 14, 2014 8:29 am
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Post Re: NS tone on melody strings
So there is inside the back panel of my NS/Stick.

To the top right side of the pot you can see there is a micro switch. THere are two little switches on it. I don't know if this was used on the final version or not...
I played with these and there is a change in sound. I didn't play around much and I'm not sure if it's changing the mid section or changes the frequency selection where the shelf for the bass/treble. I'm thinking the latter because I heard it when I had the EQs boosted and moved the switches.

Can someone show what the inside of theirs looks like? Just curious... :?


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Dean Kobayashi
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Started 11/24/2012

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Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:51 am
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