Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted May 19, 2017 Moderators Share Posted May 19, 2017 Sean's been sniffin glue again ye'll be sayin, but bear with me I'm gonna build a LP Specialish type of guitar. Slab body, set neck, 2 P90s, ebony board, flame maple neck binding and possibly double bound body....and I'm using all black Korina. I've had these two pieces for years, a customer brought them in, asked if I could use them. So.....the conundrum. Jazz Bass - Two pickups, independent volumes, master tone, pickups can be played individually or blended Les Paul - Two pickups, volume and tone for each pickup and pickup selector. So slightly different but essentially similar. Having played many LPs, I've never raelly felt as though I NEED a tone control for each pickup...I appreciate there is a tonal oddity that some like. I do like the PRS, ESP 2 x Vol 1 x Tone, easy, practical to use, but still has the pickup selector. I'm so tempted to wire this up like a Jazz bass and just use the 2 Vols to blend the pickups. Opinions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badpenguin Posted May 19, 2017 Members Share Posted May 19, 2017 I'm a traditionalist. I grew up Gibby, so believe a guitar NEEDS 2 vol 2 tone. If you are looking at the visual appeal, then go for a stacked tone control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted May 19, 2017 Share Posted May 19, 2017 You'd be giving up the whole "woman tone" thing by getting rid of the second tone control, but if that's not an issue for you, I'd suggest option 2 - pickup selector along with two volumes and a master tone control. Blending pickups sans a switch isn't my idea of a good time - I want to be able to get to the blend I want quickly (which means pre-setting it) and be able to get to the sound of either pickup singly quickly too - and that means using a switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted May 19, 2017 Author Moderators Share Posted May 19, 2017 I get you Phil...."Woman Tone", not required. However I am essentially a bass player, and for me the JB blend is pretty natural on the fly, I find the three knobs in a row quite comfortable, ala ESP....although I suppose I could go 1 x T, 1 X V and a selector ala PRS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jtr654 Posted May 19, 2017 Members Share Posted May 19, 2017 Flying V has 2 x Vol. and 1 Tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted May 19, 2017 Members Share Posted May 19, 2017 No feelings either way about the controls, I tend to follow "standards" and IMHO the Gibbie four pot layout is the standard. However, whatever you decide, I am very interested in the build - please post pictures as you go along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted May 19, 2017 Author Moderators Share Posted May 19, 2017 I'll try, but I'm not brilliantly patient at pulling myself away once I commit to a set neck these days. I find them quite stressful to build, although that's for other people. I'll do my best FK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted May 19, 2017 Members Share Posted May 19, 2017 A set neck guitar is a wonderfully frustrating exercise in multidimensional geometry. All the more reason to document your build. I have an old digital camera that I keep out in the shop - every now and then I'll just stand back and snap a picture. Back to your original question - I'm not much of an electric player but I tend to adjust the tone controls for each pup and leave them, but when I watch the jazz player that I built the 335 for he is always tweaking the tone pots, even when he has the switch in the middle position. Also, as you know, there is a wiring mod for LP's (you can certainly do it with one tone pot) that makes it so when you are blending the pups and turn one of them all the way down it doesn't kill the other (like a standard LP does). I don't see any downside so thats how I wire them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted May 19, 2017 Share Posted May 19, 2017 So do some Hamers IIRC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted May 19, 2017 Author Moderators Share Posted May 19, 2017 Oh if I was using humbuckers then yes to Woman Tone and 50s wiring. I don't find that LP wiring has any great benefit for P90s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted May 19, 2017 Members Share Posted May 19, 2017 If it was mine I'd do:1 volume, 1 tone, coil split switch, pickup selector I don't have a need to adjust the blend between the pickups - I just use the above to shape my sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted May 19, 2017 Author Moderators Share Posted May 19, 2017 Coil split? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted May 19, 2017 Members Share Posted May 19, 2017 hahaha - don't mind me. I've got HBs on the brain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Into Nation Posted May 20, 2017 Members Share Posted May 20, 2017 Two vol, master tone. That's how I modded my SE Soapbar. Honestly it's just easier than having to play with four pots, plus middle switch and just rolling back neck gets you into a variable lead territory, and roll back full on for rhythm. Keep the switch and go full on brash lead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Snambo Posted May 20, 2017 Members Share Posted May 20, 2017 For the Bass - Personally, I find a sound and don’t change much. Having a selector and individual tone controls is overkill for me (that’s what I currently use). Two volumes and a master tone with no selector seems ideal (to me). If you play a wide array of styles live, then you’d might want the ability of all the bells and whistles. If this is for home use, then keep it simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted May 21, 2017 Members Share Posted May 21, 2017 I live comfortably with single tone, single volume, pickup selector (and a coil split FWIW) on guitar and the J-Bass layout on my bass. Is there a possibility for single tone, single volume, pickup balance? I see the balance control on basses sometimes. Don't recall seeing the same thing on a guitar but I'd think it should be possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted May 21, 2017 Moderators Share Posted May 21, 2017 I'm for the 2xV, 2xT w/switch...traditional Gibson layout. My P90Tele even has that layout...being able to shape the blend, maybe not 'woman tone', sometimes just for a little less 'twang', sometimes to keep the tone between the two p-ups identical and being able to set the volumes for quick switching lead to rhythm is imperative if you are the only guitarist in a band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted May 21, 2017 Author Moderators Share Posted May 21, 2017 Hmmm, like the sound of that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted May 22, 2017 Members Share Posted May 22, 2017 Any time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted May 23, 2017 Members Share Posted May 23, 2017 I live comfortably with single tone' date=' single volume, pickup selector (and a coil split FWIW) on guitar and the J-Bass layout on my bass. Is there a possibility for single tone, single volume, pickup balance? I see the balance control on basses sometimes. Don't recall seeing the same thing on a guitar but I'd think it should be possible.[/quote'] I had a balance control on my Telecaster for a couple of years.I liked the idea of dialing in the tone but I later went back to a switch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted May 23, 2017 Members Share Posted May 23, 2017 Cool pic! What kind of car? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted May 23, 2017 Members Share Posted May 23, 2017 Thanks, it's a '48 Chevy coupe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted May 23, 2017 Members Share Posted May 23, 2017 Cool. It was too good an idea to be original. Since mrbrown already asked about the car, what's the engine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted May 23, 2017 Members Share Posted May 23, 2017 the engine is a 1969 Chevy 327 that I built years ago. Can you tell I was a big Stray Cats fan ?I noticed that the balance control made the tone slightly darker which I compensated for with a no-load tone pot. But I also lost a slight amount of volume . I tried 250k and 500k and liked 250k better (the other pots are 250K as well.). The switch was fun but it just gave me one more thing to fiddle with so simplicity won out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted May 24, 2017 Members Share Posted May 24, 2017 Freeman,The wiring scheme you mentioned is very interesting. I was all set to go to work rewiring my 335 type but it seems that treble loss is even more f a problem when the pickups are wired backward. Do you use a treble bleed? https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/21106-mod-garage-decouple-your-les-pauls-volume-controls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.