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Topic: TONE CONTROL useage......................... |
Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 20 Apr 2013 6:32 pm |
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Do any of you folks use your tone control for various aspects of your playing in addition to varied adjustments for a specific tone used for the majority of your playing?
I'm attempting to refer to the kind of stuff that Speedy West, Noel Boggs, JERRY Byrd and others did over the years.
Just curious whether or not its use is still in vogue these days......... |
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Dave Grafe
From:
Hudson River Valley NY
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Posted 20 Apr 2013 9:25 pm
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I've seen Russ Blake show off in that regard  |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 20 Apr 2013 9:39 pm
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Unfortunately the "boo-wah" tone control effect is not doable on most modern steel guitars (or modern regular guitars) because the tone sweep from bass to treble is gradual. It's not the instant bass-to-treble tone sweep that was in the older guitars. Just a slight turn of the tone control with the little finger would produce the 'doo-wah' effect. I don't know if it's the pot, the capacitor, or what... but most modern guitars don't do that. I guess they call that progress, or maybe not? 
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James Klotz
From:
Georgia, USA
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Posted 21 Apr 2013 4:14 am
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| Doug Beaumier wrote: |
| Unfortunately the "boo-wah" tone control effect is not doable on most modern steel guitars (or modern regular guitars) because the tone sweep from bass to treble is gradual. It's not the instant bass-to-treble tone sweep that was in the older guitars. Just a slight turn of the tone control with the little finger would produce the 'doo-wah' effect. I don't know if it's the pot, the capacitor, or what... but most modern guitars don't do that. I guess they call that progress, or maybe not? |
Interestingly enough, a lot of folks over on the Telecaster forum mod their guitars to do just that. It's called the "cocked wah" mod. Seems a lot of guys who have esquires (a single pickup tele basically) in particular, like to do this. Fender came out with a circuit called "the grease bucket" a decade or 2 ago, which was the time when guitars seemed to go away from the "cocked wah" traditional circuit (from what I remember). Reason being that with the cocked wah, the guitar lost treble when you rolled off the volume, and folks wanted to be able to pull back the volume without loosing top end. Not that you were asking about 6 strings.... |
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Jerry Jones
From:
Franklin, Tenn.
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Posted 21 Apr 2013 5:01 am
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In the 50's, Danelectro used a modified potentiometer to achieve a short stroke on/off switch. Basically, the pots had an indentation somewhere around the outside edge that would restrict the rotation to about 1/8 of full.
No reason why the same method couldn't be used to get that quick on/off sound for the tone control. 
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Jerry Jones |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 21 Apr 2013 9:01 am
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Yeah, Chris Scruggs is awesome with this technique and many other Kayton-Speedy-Jerry techniques. He's really keeping the vintage sounds alive! 
Regarding the doo-wah tone sweep on tone controls... I don't know exactly when guitars changed over to the more gradual bass to treble sweep, but my 1975 Emmons (with tone control) has the doo-wah tone effect. The tone control on my 68 telecaster also goes from bass to treble instantly. I had a couple of teles from the mid-80s and they did not do that. So it seems that the changeover came sometime between the mid-70s and the mid-80s, as far I know.
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25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel |
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Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 21 Apr 2013 12:31 pm TONE CONTROL affects....................
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Enjoyed seeing/hearing the You Tube clip of Chris Scruggs. He did do just about everything!
There's also a clip by Buddy Merrill and Speed West on their somewhere that is worth one's time if interested in this technique. |
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Joerg Hennig
From:
Bavaria, Germany
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Posted 22 Apr 2013 1:36 pm
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| I just love to use the tone control/Speedy West/boo wah effect on my Stringmaster. Our girl singer goes wild every time I use it. |
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Aaron Jennings
From:
Montana, USA
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Posted 22 Apr 2013 7:48 pm
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I am in love with this sound. Unfortunately my Erickson doesn't have a tone knob. I'm handy with a soldering iron, what would be the proper approach to creating my own boo-wah?
I only have two knee levers currently, I can see throwing this on a vertical knee for kicks, as I don't see myself adding extra changes for quite some time.
How would one go about recreating the effect in a simple (see affordable) way? |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 22 Apr 2013 9:40 pm
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| Aaron Jennings wrote: |
How would one go about recreating the effect in a simple (see affordable) way? |
1megohm pot and .05uF capacitor. One side of pot to hot lead, center of pot to capacitor, other side of capacitor to ground. With the wiper at the top, you'll have the dull tone... within 1/8 of a turn it will go bright again. Choose lower ohms pots for less effect (more turn before dark).
Parts available at your local Rat Shak.
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Aaron Jennings
From:
Montana, USA
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Posted 23 Apr 2013 4:27 pm
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| Thanks Stephen, that is exactly what I needed. I might make this happen soon! |
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Mike Cass
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Posted 25 Apr 2013 5:50 am
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Ive found that the tone control on my Emmons guitars as factory installed is more than sufficient to produce the desired effect, or Boo-Wah. Its just a little difficult to get my chubby little finger in there between the neck and knob. I also use the tone control as Buddy E. showed me to round off the sound of notes on the C6 tuning. This is accomplished by switching the circuit on and leaving the pot wide open.."its just enough to take the keen off it"...his words.
What Im wanting is a momentary or cut-out switch. Love how Speedy, et. all used that! |
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