Originally posted by PonyOne
See I'm the type of guy that likes things simple. I don't like having more than 3 knobs and 2 switches on my guitars; I stripped the the 4 knobs off my Gretsch and have them all going to one concentric pot. I mean i could definitely memorize all the locations of everything, it's just easier to have it in one or two places.
The more knobs you have the more problems you'll have tone-wise... the more things the sound has to feed through to get out the more dulled it gets. It's not a HUGE difference but it's enough to annoy me, especially if it's a really sweet sounding guitar. On my Aria hollowbody, which has four pots, i left all four in but only wired two, so it looks stock, but sounds way nicer... especially with its old crappy pickups.
I've had my DC for 9 months now, but soon will be moving on, to the Gibson Les Paul Custom (or standard, maybe). The tone on the DC is good, but it doesn't sustain as long as the Standard/ Custom, doesn't have as good a tone as the standard/ custom, and overall, it just feels right to move on to the custom or standard.
About the simplicity making it sound better; This isn't true, if you use a Unity Gain Buffer with a 9 Volt battery powering it. You have to realize that these electronic schematics are not used on traditional guitars, it would sound like crap on the average guitar. These schematics are used on 13 pound guitars already chock full of tone, full of Cocobolo, Purpleheart, vermillion, and all kinds of exotic woods inbetween. My Gibson Les Paul DC has one master volume, one master tone; I like Master Volume, i'm with you there; but I DO NOT like Master Tone; When I'm singing/playing rhythm, rhythm pickup on, tone at 6 (perfect rhythm tone for this guitar), once the verse is done, i have to switch pickups, raise tone, and raise volume, just before the solo. With my articulate plan, I can have the tone already set to 10 on the bridge pickup, I can already decide if i want it coil tapped or not, so all i have to do is raise the volume to an appropriate level.
I believe what you are thinking is that it would take up so much room to hollow out for the cavity, that it would suck tone. On a normal guitar, yes i would have to agree. But not on the guitar I'm talking about (its not a fairytale either).
I recall about 6 months ago, i talked about Treble Boosting, Bass Boosting, etc. I found some guitars that had that (made by Alembic), but by the time i found them, i decided that wasn't for me.Basically, I'm a nut for options.
About the hollowbody thing; I totally agree with you on hollowbodies, though; Keep it simple, its like an acoustic guitar almost...
But I question why you don't sometimes wonder "Hm...If i had TRS outputs and the effects came through 100% volume, regardless of amp volume/guitar volume, and i could control it all with my tone control on my guitar, and in a moments notice, flip it off for rhythm parts..."
Can you see why it solves several hassles? Sure you can switch channels on a floorboard, but what if you miss, hit the wrong channel? This is easier, just a flip of a button,
fool proof. Envelope filter, think about this; The amount of the "Wah" and the tone of the wah changes depending on your playing style, right? so if you pick two notes lightly, then slam one note, it sounds out of place. with the TRS, every note has the same 'tone' for wah. Its all about consistency, and all "Wah" notes will sound much more full than they would on a standard guitar.
I can understand your simplistic ideas though; You don't want to get caught up in the electronics, just want to play music. "Keep it Simple, Stupid" as the saying goes.
Who's the self proclaimed king of long winded posts now;)
:D:D:D
haha