Hey everyone,
I have encountered a problem with my tone that's driving me crazy. I get these really shrill, piercing overtones or harmonics when I play clean on the higher notes (high B and high E strings). Others here have already posted about something similar, but my problem doesn't quite match the description in this thread here: https://surfguitar101.com/forums/topic/16250/
Guitar Set up: AVRI '62 Jazzmaster, stock pickups, Mastery bridge. DIY Telecaster w/ GFS Vintage spec tele pickups.
Amp Set-up: 1978 or 1979 Silverface Twin Reverb, 130 watt, stock speakers. Orange Crush CR20Rt.
Sound sample: https://soundcloud.com/user-664724274/shrill-harmonic-overtones
I've attempted a few solutions to this.
1. Rolling down the tone pots. This seems to eliminate the issue only when the tone pot is rolled all the way down. This muddies up the sound way too much. Playing with the tone pot rolled off a bit does help a little, but these overtones still pierce through.
2. Trying a different guitar. The same issue shows up when I play on my telecaster with vintage spec pickups and 250k pots. (However, it's not as bad/shrill to my ears.)
3. Trying a different amp. The sound still shows up when I play through the Orange Crush 20, but it's less noticeable/overpowering.
4. Muting/dampening the strings above the nut and below the bridge. Muting the strings with my hand below the bridge did not change the sound much. Muting above the nut with a piece of fabric did not change the sound either.
5. Adjusting the amp EQ: this didn't change much without going to unplayable extremes (e.g. bass all the way up, mids and treble all the way down).
Solutions I have not tried:
1. "Darker" speakers on the Twin Reverb
2. Changing tone pots on the Jazzmaster (down to 250k or 500k)
3. EQ Pedal
4. "Darker" pickups
As far as I can tell, there's nothing loose on my guitar. The nut is solid and I play with a mastery bridge on my JM. I have a Wilkinson Bridge on my tele that seems solid as well. Minimal to no fret buzz on either guitar.
More experienced Jazzmaster/Jaguar players: have you encountered this issue in your playing before? Is it just a part of life? Am I hearing the classic "Jazzmaster chime" as something undesirable? Is there something going on with my amp that I need to get checked?
Or is this all in my head?
Thanks for any input!