Gibson style guitar controls

ICBM

jamjarman said:

I have two polar opposite tones that I use a lot: 
- Bridge Pickup, Tone Full, Volume Full, British Amp Crunchy Level Gain (Similar can be achieved with clean amp and a tube screamer).
- Neck Pickup, Tone Backed Off a little, Volume also backed off a little, Clean American Amp Soaked In Reverb (Some times dirtied up a little by pushing the volume full).

normula1 said:

Having said that I don't mind a bridge tone especially where the pickups are the same model to tame the bridge a touch, but on balance I'd ideally have one vol and one tone.

That's exactly why I like a PAF-type neck pickup and a hotter modern bridge pickup - they do that naturally with all knobs on 10, without having to faff around.

I suppose that's why I have two PRSs and no Gibsons now .

Crazyblue1779

I’d be happy with 2 volumes and 1 tone on something like a Les Paul as the only time I’ve ever used a tone control is on a strat to try and make it sound less brittle. 

I’d not want a single volume control though because I like to blend the middle position sometimes. 

Funkfingers

Individual volume pots are useful for blending when both pickups are selected. Great for slide sounds with Firebird pickups!

Grumpyrocker

I do find Gibson controls a bit of a faff. But what's more annoying is the controls on my PRS SE 245. Four pots, but not in the same position as my Les Paul. 

ICBM

Grumpyrocker said:

I do find Gibson controls a bit of a faff. But what's more annoying is the controls on my PRS SE 245. Four pots, but not in the same position as my Les Paul. 

And Rickenbackers! I love the guitars but hate the controls. They're in the wrong places, and the volume pots are wired wrong so they kill the tone when they're backed off, and buzz when they're turned right down. Luckily I never use them. But rewiring them doesn't work with the stereo outputs...

LastMantra

I use them all but I rarely use the middle/both pickups position. Id be happy enough with a two position switch. 
I also rarely have any of the controls fully open. I set things up with the knobs all in the middle somewhere so I can boost as well as "roll off".

merciful-evans

Yes lots of players use 4 knobs for blending etc.
Personally I rarely touch any of them. I wouldn't much care if the guitar didnt have any knobs.

When I get a new guitar I fine tune the signal processor EQ etc. to its neck pickup and never touch it again.
When gigging I keep it simple. I only use the neck pickup and leave the guitar controls full on all the time. Volume is adjusted with its expression pedal.

Lestratcaster

Sometimes if playing clean stuff I'll roll off the neck tone just to make it less bright and harsh. Have toyed with the bridge tone but usually just end up leaving it on full.

CarbonCopy

Usually, I would agree that I barely touch the volume control on the bridge pickup. However, on my 335 rolling down both the bridge and neck volumes and selecting the middle position on the switch gives a lovely clean, almost single coil neck tone. It doesn't work on all my Gibsons though so perhaps it's those particular pickups (I think they're called MHS).

Roland

Blending is useful for recording, but in the heat of a gig I like to keep things simple