For a typical Strat, why 2 Tone knobs?

[rauchman]

Greetings,

Just picked up a Screamin' Deals Black Korina Strat body that I'm salivating working on. As my mind contemplates possibilities, regarding the pickups / controls....

Typically, Strats have 1 master Vol and 2 Tones, and neither of them touch the bridge pup. I'm thinking of just having a Master Vol and Master Tone. Any downside to this? What am I giving up by not having 2 Tone controls?

 

[db82]

It's totally preference. Personally I'd rather have one knob that does the the one thing and I don't ride my tone knobs, so it's not a big deal for me to have only one (or none in two of my strats). I also think people frequently agonize over controls/configurations while neglecting what you can accomplish by investing time in adjusting pickup heights.

Using only one you "lose" :
1) The ability to "set and forget" independent knobs so that when you hit the selector switch it's already rolled off where you want it relative to the positions that the control is active in.
2) Using different values for different pickup combos. With two tones you can independently tweak how each control behaves, i.e. use two different cap values.

But it's an opportunity to gain something else if it helps you get what you're after in using the instrument - a cap value selector, a blower or a kill switch, using a high pass/low pass style control set, etc... or just put a dummy pot in the third hole and tell your friends "that's where the toannnn comes from."

 

[supertruper1988]

For a typical strat I will wire the bridge to tone 2 instead of the middle. I then roll it off to about 7 and it improves the sound of a the strat bridge pickup quite a bit.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Because 72 years ago, Leo Fender didn't know any better.
My 1990 Fender American Standard Strat came from the factory with the middle Tone control wired also to the bridge pickup.
The early Strats had 3-way selector switches (not 5), so you wouldn't have two tone controls in parallel like in the #2 and #4 positions.

Personally, I have no use for a Tone control on the neck & middle pickups. If I had a single Tone control, I'd wire it to the bridge pickup only, which is what I am doing on my Tele build.

 

[cuthbert]

The reason of that wiring is that amplifiers of that era lacked high end, therefore it made sense to Leo to wire the bridge pickup without tone.

More modern wirings have the bridge pickup sharing the second tone with the middle pickups, while most superstrats have just a master volume and a master tone.

 

[Strat Avenger]

The reason of that wiring is that amplifiers of that era lacked high end, therefore it made sense to Leo to wire the bridge pickup without tone.

That really makes no sense. If amplifiers lacked high end, why would amyone want to roll off the highs on neck & middle positions which produce more low end than the bridge?
I think it was just the style of music at the time that the cutting bridge position was popular.

 

[cuthbert]

That really makes no sense. If amplifiers lacked high end, why would amyone want to roll off the highs on neck & middle positions which produce more low end than the bridge?
I think it was just the style of music at the time that the cutting bridge position was popular.

That is the explanation Tavarez gave in a famous publication.

Neck and middle were discussed as "rhythm pickups" therefore they were supposed to be adjustable. Bridge was used just for soloing and cutting edge.

 

[rauchman]

Appreciate the info. Aesthetically, I like the 3 knobs balanced with the 3 pickups. To me, having 2 tone knobs doesn't make sense.

Which then begs the question, what function would you give to the 2nd tone knob?

 

[cuthbert]

Appreciate the info. Aesthetically, I like the 3 knobs balanced with the 3 pickups. To me, having 2 tone knobs doesn't make sense.

Which then begs the question, what function would you give to the 2nd tone knob?

Woman's tone, like on a Les Paul.

Neck PU with tone at 4-5, switch to bridge at 10...think about Sweet Child O' mine.

The Jaguar and Guild Thunderbird circuit of the 60s were also developed to allow to have two preset tones and switch them in just one passage.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Appreciate the info. Aesthetically, I like the 3 knobs balanced with the 3 pickups. To me, having 2 tone knobs doesn't make sense.

Which then begs the question, what function would you give to the 2nd tone knob?

Wire it like Eric Johnson (which is how my Am. Standard is wired now) with one Tone control wired to the bridge, the other to the neck, and nothing to the middle. 'Only difference is I have "No-Load" Tone pots.

 

[stratamania]

Appreciate the info. Aesthetically, I like the 3 knobs balanced with the 3 pickups. To me, having 2 tone knobs doesn't make sense.

Which then begs the question, what function would you give to the 2nd tone knob?

You can do a master volume and tone and then for the third pot, use a blend pot to blend neck and bridge pickups.

 

[Hodgo]

You can do a master volume and tone and then for the third pot, use a blend pot to blend neck and bridge pickups.

This is the way. Gives you access to a quasi-Tele middle position tone without adding a switch

 

[rauchman]

You can do a master volume and tone and then for the third pot, use a blend pot to blend neck and bridge pickups.

I dig this idea. Will have to investigate how to do this wiring.

 

[TBurst Std]

It’s how I have my Gilmour inspired Strat set up.

 

[PFDarkside]

I like tone 1 on the neck and tone 1 on the bridge. Middle wide open, I only use it for 2/4. If you have tone on n/m and b, when you use the m/b notch the double tone can be a little dark even up at 10. Also, that way I don’t forget to roll both up for that one notch tone. Or I can have the bridge darkened a bit and switch to the wide open neck.

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

1 is the optimum number of tone controls in a strat. For me it requires a balanced set of pickups with an overwound pickup in the bridge.

I don’t mind the Malmsteen approach where the tone controls are disconnected when 3 hot stacked humbuckers are used.

 

[Tretgeraet]

On my strat copy the middle pickup tone pot broke someday, maybe 20 years ago? I don't even know. Never replaced it, 'cos I never used it anyway, I haven't used the middle pickup much at all!

I think if I'd build a strat and wanted it to have the classic 3 pus & 3 controls layout, I would do it with a master-volume, master-tone, a 3-way switch for bridge, bridge/neck and neck and a blend control that dials in the middle pickup.



"Buchse" means jack. Seen this years ago on the Rockinger page and always found it interesting. The middle PU is "on" when the pot is on "0", the author found that more logical.