newbie Super Sonic questions

stephen · Post by **stephen** » Mon May 28, 2012 12:19 am

Hi all, I discovered a machineheadless Super Sonic on the Cincinnati Craigslist about 2 months ago, which the seller was happy to ship to me (St. Louis). I put Sperzel graduated tuners on it, and now got my first shortscale guitar for around $400.

After a month of playing it, I had had some basic questions that I could probably figure out if I researched more, but:

It sounds muddy-ish. No value judgement there, just don't know how else to describe it. Is this the "shortscale" sound?
It feels spongy. Is this how it's supposed to feel? I got 10-52's on it now.
The pickup selector is in an awkward spot. Anyone ever moved it to the bottom horn of the pickguard? Do you all just learn not to hit it (previous owner broke it off, and frankly its less in the way like that).

I've wanted this guitar since they came out (my first bass was a baby blue Vista Series, and I currently own a Venus), and I love owning it. I'm just wondering what if anything would make it play better (though maybe I subconsciously mean "play more like a regular scale guitar...").

Sorry, no pictures yet. You can imagine what it looks like. Are there any silver sparkle super sonics that have benefited visually from a pickguard color change?

~Stephen

death2yun · Post by **death2yun** » Mon May 28, 2012 12:32 am

If you want it to sound good, sell it to me.
pics first though.

mixtape · Post by **mixtape** » Mon May 28, 2012 4:04 am

stephen wrote:It sounds muddy-ish. No value judgement there, just don't know how else to describe it. Is this the "shortscale" sound?

No, that's the stock Super-Sonic pickup sound. If you decide you don't like it, you might look into replacing them.

stephen wrote:It feels spongy. Is this how it's supposed to feel? I got 10-52's on it now.

That's more of a shortscale thing. Strings that would feel normal on a 25.5" neck feel noticeably floppier on a shortscale. If you don't care for the sponginess, try moving up to 11s.

stephen wrote:The pickup selector is in an awkward spot. Anyone ever moved it to the bottom horn of the pickguard? Do you all just learn not to hit it (previous owner broke it off, and frankly its less in the way like that).

An easier fix is just to rotate it 90 degrees, so even if you bump it while you're strumming, you won't knock it into a different position.

stephen wrote:Sorry, no pictures yet. You can imagine what it looks like. Are there any silver sparkle super sonics that have benefited visually from a pickguard color change?

I put a black one on mine (also silver sparkle) and think it looks pretty snazzy. All a matter of taste, though.

And hey, welcome and congrats on the Super-Sonic. I wouldn't give up on it just yet. A few tweaks and it's a real gem of a guitar.

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Mon May 28, 2012 3:32 pm

Here's mine. Upgraded pickups (SD JB bridge/Jazz neck), black pickguard, and black comp stripes.

wadeaminute · Post by **wadeaminute** » Tue May 29, 2012 3:08 pm

I have five of these. Switched out the pickups on all of them. I honestly don't remember what the stock ones sound like anymore.
If you want to keep humbuckers on it, I suggest the Dimarzio Tone Zone for the bridge and a Dimarzio PAF for the neck. That's what I have on my white one. My silver one has P-Rails, which are super cool. My blue one has Fender Custom Shop Fat 50s. My black one has a single Dimarzio YJM stacked humbucker. My coral one (used to be silver) has a Seymour Duncan BG1400 stacked humbucker for a tele plate. All of them are amazing.

I moved all of my switches down south. Four of them have side jacks now, and the switches have been relocated to the control plate where the jacks were.

I like the white pickguards on silver, but the black above looks sharp, and I've been considering tortoiseshell.

wadeaminute · Post by **wadeaminute** » Tue May 29, 2012 5:04 pm

Strings - I used 10-52s on these for more than a decade, but I'm slowly switching them back to 9-42s. Billy Gibbons plays 7s on Gibson-scale guitars, and he sounds just fine.

jims357 · Post by **jims357** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 1:51 am

i've got my first supersonic on the way to me right now. gets here tomorrow! so excited.

mixtape · Post by **mixtape** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 2:11 am

Congrats! I'm looking forward to pics.

jims357 · Post by **jims357** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 3:00 am

i'll def post some pics when it gets here!

jims357 · Post by **jims357** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 2:19 pm

Got the supersonic! Blue sparkle. plays great. The neck is awesome. I think I like it better than the Venus neck, which is a great neck as well. It reminds me of my old mustang neck. Super solid feeling guitar. It's pretty killer.

jagsonic · Post by **jagsonic** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 12:43 pm

I play 11 strings. the neck pu was changed to a sd invader. sounds great in this very cool guitar.

mezzio13 · Post by **mezzio13** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:35 pm

wadeaminute wrote:

'MAZIN

newbie Super Sonic questions

newbie Super Sonic questions

Re: newbie Super Sonic questions