The Fervor Advantage!

Stay tuned over the next few weeks as we continue to bring you more products and information. We are committed to helping you become more informed and enlightened, so you understand what we do and why Fervor is second to none. Also, if you have any questions or comments please email us. We love feedback.

Understanding Capacitors: The Misunderstood, Underappreciated Capacitor

One of the least understood components for enhancing electric guitar tone is the capacitor. Even for players who know what they are, capacitors are usually an afterthought. In fact, they’re one of the first things on your guitar you should consider upgrading.

What are they? A capacitor is an electrical energy device used to store energy and it can be found near the wiring controls under the pickguard or the body cavity of a guitar. Normally, guitars only have one capacitor, and there main function is to distribute stored energy equally into the capacitor.

Because capacitors can differentiate between high- and low-frequency signals, they’re used as electronic filters—and that’s how they’re used in guitars, through tone controls.

Tone controls can eliminate higher frequencies, significantly affecting the sound by resulting in a more mellow tone.

Generally speaking, the bigger the capacitor the darker the tone, and the smaller the capacitor the brighter the tone. A capacitor’s value, or capacitance, can give you an idea of just how it will affect tone, from slightly warm all the way to dark. Here are some guidelines:

A Quick Reference for Capacitor Values

Capacitance (in UNITS)	Tonal quality
.01uF / .05uF	Bright, trebly
.047uF / .022uF	Beefy, good mid-range, minimal reduction in brightness
.1uF	Bassy, a hint of brightness

Choosing a capacitor depends on your tonal preferences and needs. It’s not necessarily easy for someone to answer for you. But when I’m asked, I usually recommend a .047uF capacitor. It’s versatile, with a wide range of tone from beefy to bright, and can be easily adjusted using the tone control.

The right capacitor can transform your tone, dramatically and instantly. Before buying a new guitar, consider the much more cost-effective move of changing your capacitor.

Sunday Blues Shot: Stan Webb

Stan Webb is a British blues frontman and lead guitarist of the blues band, Chicken Shack. Initially formed in 1965, the band was composed of Webb, Christine Perfect (who later married John McVie), drummer Dave Bidwell, and bassist Andy Sylvester (who would later play with the British blues ensemble, Savoy Brown). With his first version of the Chicken Shack formed, Webb and the band played Hamburg, Germany over the next two years as Webb and his bandmates perfected their playing style. Then in 1967, they signed with Blue Horizon record label along side the fledgling band Fleetwood Mac. Throughout the mid to late 1960's, Chicken Shack experienced decent fanfare when R&B was booming throughout England. The group covered many American blues standards and they composed many hits as well. Their biggest hit and most played track "I'd Rather Go Blind", which was originally recorded by Etta James, became a modern day blues classic.

Chicken Shack has evolved over the years but Webb is still the frontman and lead guitarist. Webb is a soulful player with a tremendous passion for the blues. Check out Webb in this clip. You'll likely become a fan. fhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-sf0L8Snvs&feature=related

Only 8 Days Remain to Win a set of Fervor Classic Stratocaster Pickups

I started making pickups for one simple reason: I was searching for great tone and was continually disappointed by what was available on the market.

After years of work, I think Fervor makes the best vintage pickups sold today. But I want to hear what you think.

Enter to win

That’s why I’m asking you to enter to win a set of Fervor Classic Stratocaster pickups. These low- to medium-output pups produce a strong but polished, velvety smooth tone. What’s the catch? If you’re the lucky winner, I’d like you to install the pickups and tell us what you think. That’s it.

Entering is easy. Just click on www.fervorpickups.com and enter your email address in the lower right hand corner. Once you do that you’re entered to win. We’ll announce the winner on December 2nd. Good luck!

Geoff Moore

President, Fervor

www.fervorpickups.com

Fervor J-bass Pickup

Here is a photo of our new vintage hand wound J-bass pickups. Made w/ Alnico 5 magnets, vintage grey bobbins, and 42 gauge wire for superior tone. The neck pickups is wound to 8k and the bridge is to 8.5k. Available in vintage grey or traditional black which includes covers, the Fervor J-bass pickups are Priced at $180 a set. Installation is simple and you will be jamming in no time.

Call us today at 1-772-600-7245 and order yourself a set. Don't waste your valuable time searching for pickups when you can just call Fervor. Visit us online at www.fervorpickups.com.

Fervor Pickups, "Tone you own."

Peter Frampton Talks Tone, Technique, and Tuning

Peter Frampton said that after he won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album in 2007  he felt "validated." Many would find this comment an oddity considering Frampton's enormous success with his bands Herd and Humble Pie, and his gigantic hit album Frampton Comes Alive in 1976. However, years of side projects including the ill-fated film Sgt. peppers Lonely Hears Club Band, had taken him away from his talent as a serious guitarist and songwriter.

Hungry and energized with his Grammy win, Frampton chose to follow the album Fingerprints with the new hard-rocking Thank you Mr. Churchill, a very personal album full of amazing riffs, and some of his best guitar tones ever. "I wanted to reintroduce my singing on this album and do something completely different than Fingerprints, even though I did maintain a connection by including two instrumentals."

Frampton brings lots of beefy tones on the new album that produces a mixture of huge crunch and distortion sounds. "I got most of the sounds, especially the lead sounds, with one of two Marshall amps." Says Frampton; "I used a 70's Marshall that was modified by Jose Arredondo, the guy who modified Eddie Van Halen's amps, and a 1962 JTM-45." As if not having EVH's amp guy wasn't  enough, Frampton goes on to say, "I often just played straight through the amps, though sometimes I boosted the gain with either a Klon Centaur or Fulltone OCD pedals."

Several songs on the new album have a fat bluesy tone. "That's my Gibson 1960 Les Paul re-issue aged by Tom Murphy. I plugged straight into the JTM-45 and went for a Blues Breakers sound with an Eric Clapton sort of tone. I added a little more room ambience to get that 'everybody-playing-around one-microphone' old school blues sound."

Frampton's ability to extract tone is truly amazing and can be heard on the song "Restraint" which is a maniacal groove that uses altered tuning. With the first and sixth strings tuned down to D, Frampton is able to play normal fingerings while at the same time create an ominous tone. In addition, Frampton creates huge tones that captivate with just his Les Paul straight into his Marshall amp. "The only trick I used was that I would plug into the high-gain input [input 1] of the second channel which is the bassier one and then patch the other input from that channel of the high-gain input of the first or the more trebly channel. I'd just bring in a little of the brighter tone by turning that channel up to about one quarter, while adjusting the tone controls for the second channel. I believe that's the opposite of how most people did it."

Frampton is even more focused on his technique along with technical tricks. Frampton's deft talent to write huge riffs was significantly influenced by his former bandmate, Steve Marriott, of Humble Pie. "The riff! Steve taught me a lot about how to attack a note or a chord and also about how long to hold each note or chord an the space that you leave in between them." He continues by stating, "Steve was also a really good orchestrator of big guitar riffs. I would write big riffs too based on what he taught me, and then we would combine them into these enormous arrangements."

Another huge influence on Frampton is the great Django Reinhardt. "I think the way that Django used diminished runs, for example, is something that is visited on the current album as well as when I play live. Listening to Django all the time has influenced the way that I attack notes, which is a hugely important part of sound." Frampton concludes, "Django was an incredibly melodic player who could obviously play a string of notes from one end of the fretboard to the other in a half second, but also knock you out just by playing a single note across six chords changes. In other words, he didn't play fast all the time just because he could."

While most of us will never have the talent to play guitar like Frampton, we can learn from what he has to say. Whether it's plugging into a Marshall amp as Frampton explains above or using altered tunings, or perhaps, exploring the way you attack a riff, it's clear that even the best guitarists never stop experimenting. So take a page from a Frampton's playbook and then plug-in and experiment. Who knows, you may be very pleased with what you hear.

Bass of the Week: Fender Precision Bass

The Fender P-Bass is by far the most popular bass design in history and it's the first electric bass ever mass produced. Introduced in 1951, the P-Bass (which was in fact influenced by the Telecaster guitar) was made out of a slab of asymmetrical double cutaway ash body with a blond finish and a black fiber pickguard (clear coated with lacquer), a one piece maple 34" scale neck with a the serial number stamped on the bridge plate, and it was furnished with flat pole single coil pickups. Its most distinguishable feature, in my opinion, is its famous and impressive tuners.

Modern basses have evolved and have been received well. However, even to this very day, the P-Bass is still played by more bass players than any other bass including artists like Billy Sheehan, Duff McKagan, Duck Dunn, Mike Dirnt, Reggie Hamilton, Flea, Roger Waters, and Pete Wentz.

When Leo fender introduced the P-Bass he started something BIG! The P- Bass was and is still the top dog of the bass world.