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The Tone knobs

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(@coolnama)
Prominent Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 590
Topic starter  

What are they for? If I have two, how should I pair them ? And answer any more questions you can imagine somebody having about this, thank u very much!

I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)

You gotta set your sights high to get high!

Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.

( wise stuff man! )

Its Kirby....


   
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 Nuno
(@nuno)
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Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 3995
 

What guitar do you use? It depends on each guitar but they modify the tone of pickups. Usually Les Paul models have two tone knobs, one of them for each pickup. For Strats, it depends on the exact model but usually they are for the neck and middle pickups (they are for neck and bridge pickups in my Strat).

Change the knob positions and listen the result. :wink:


   
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(@ricochet)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 7833
 

A tone knob on a guitar does one thing: As you turn it down, it takes away higher frequencies from the pickup's output so it sounds less "bright." Play around with it and you'll see. Or rather, hear.

"A cheerful heart is good medicine."


   
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(@coolnama)
Prominent Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 590
Topic starter  

What guitar do you use? It depends on each guitar but they modify the tone of pickups. Usually Les Paul models have two tone knobs, one of them for each pickup. For Strats, it depends on the exact model but usually they are for the neck and middle pickups (they are for neck and bridge pickups in my Strat).

Change the knob positions and listen the result. :wink:

I have a Squier, two tone knobs, but I usually just leave em somewhere like 5 or 6 both of them.

I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)

You gotta set your sights high to get high!

Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.

( wise stuff man! )

Its Kirby....


   
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 Nuno
(@nuno)
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Joined: 17 years ago
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Well, play around with them, experiment. Probably tone knob nearer to the volume is for the neck pickup. The other will be for the middle pickup. The bridge pickup is very bright, you use it when you want that tone, it doesn't need a tone knob.


   
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(@coolnama)
Prominent Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 590
Topic starter  

Hmm, another question, the 5 way switch, how do I know which one is the first position and which one the last, I'm not sure If I will ever know what pickup I am using atleast with this guitar.

I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)

You gotta set your sights high to get high!

Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.

( wise stuff man! )

Its Kirby....


   
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(@outlaw-pete)
Eminent Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 18
 

I would have though it was relative to the guitar, so the selector position closest to the neck would be the neck pick up and nearest the bridge the bridge pick up.


   
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(@frankyl)
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Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 44
 

Hmm, another question, the 5 way switch, how do I know which one is the first position and which one the last, I'm not sure If I will ever know what pickup I am using atleast with this guitar.
On my Squier Strat, the position all the way to the left (as Outlaw Pete said, closest to the neck) is the neck pickup only. Next position is neck and middle, next position is middle only, next is middle and bridge, last position (all the way to the right) is bridge. Note - "left" and "right" aren't perfectly accurate, as it's on a bit of an angle, but they get the point across. I suppose you could also say that the neck pickup is the "highest" position and the bridge is the "lowest," with everything else in between in a pretty instinctively correct way.

Since you asked about them first - the middle knob (next to volume) on the Squier Strat controls the neck pickup (getting less bright as you roll it lower, as others have already said), and the bottom knob controls the middle. If you're in the left-most selector switch position, only the middle knob will change the guitar's tone. If you're in the second position, both tone knobs will affect the tone; third or fourth position, only the bottom knob; and in the right-most position, the tone knobs do not affect the tone at all.


   
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(@coolnama)
Prominent Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 590
Topic starter  

Ahhh thats why I never eard any difference, I always used only my bridge pickup because its a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails, the other ones are pretty crap pickups, but now I can experiment with them, thanks all :D

I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)

You gotta set your sights high to get high!

Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.

( wise stuff man! )

Its Kirby....


   
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(@scrybe)
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Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 2241
 

Best way to figure out how the tone controls operate (as diff. guitars, even diff. strats, can be wired differently) is to turn both tone controls down to 0. Then, put the pup selector switch in position 1 and play, turning up the tone controls, one at a time, and noting any diference made to the tone by using them. Then move the pup switch to position 2, and repeat the exercise (starting with both tens at 0 and increasing them, or both at 10 and decreasing them). Working through each switch position doing this, you'll know how they affect your particular guitar. Might wanna make a note of which switch positions they affect though, or you could forget.

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