What the Bleedin’ Treble!
In part one of this, video I explain what treble bleed is, and how to evaluate and select the right cap. I demonstrate my G&L ASAT III which has a treble bleed cap on the master volume, and I compare that with my Epiphone Riviera P93 which has no treble bleed caps (yet).
The caps I tried are (as shown left to right): Silver Mica 100pf, 390pf and 1000pf, a tiny 1000pf ceramic cap, and Sprague Orange Drop (polypropylene) 1000pf, 3300pf, and 6800pf.
The tolerances on the caps are a bit all over the place. I measured the 1000pf caps on my DMM and all were closer to 1250. The 100pf silver mica was over 250! This is assuming I can trust my Mastech DMM.
Higher capacitance here lowers the cutoff frequency of the filter, allowing lower frequencies to pass through. So you can hear more mids in the audio as I increase the capacitor value. Comparing the 1000pf ceramic, silver mica and Orange Drop, I really don’t hear much difference. I’m inclined to use the Orange Drop anyway for long term reliability, and because I have a few of them here.
The G&L’s treble bleed (shown here) uses a ceramic capacitor of only 200pf, allowing just the highest frequencies to pass. It’s a solid body guitar with very bright ceramic-magnet pickups. When the volume knob is turned down, it really cleans up well, and is extremely bright.
While the 1000pf cap really improves the brightness of the Epi bridge pickup at low volume, it’s still pretty boomy and distorted. I guess that these pickups have a hotter low-end than the G&L. In other words, I need to turn down the gain on the amp to get it to really clean up at lower volumes.
I didn’t try the resistor in parallel with the cap on the Epi, since there was already more than enough low frequencies getting through at low volumes. I did try adding a 100k and 300k resistor in parallel with the G&L’s 200pf cap, and these dramatically changed the sound, increasing the lows and mids passed through at low volume. The result was also more volume, and more distortion, so I ended up leaving out the resistors.
In the next post, I’ll show how to install a treble bleed cap.
For some more background info, take a look at Alan Ratcliffe’s article on treble bleed.
Tagged with: Electronics • Epiphone Riviera P93 • G&L ASAT III • Video
Filed under: Guitar
I’m really interested in this project of yours, and also in the Riviera and I’m probably going to buy it as soon as I can. And I’m thinking of doing the same mods you’ve done so far and I’ll keep checking this project to get some new mod ideas!
Wish you the best, and thank you for this addictive (at least for me, I know, I’m weird) and instructive project of yours that I’m following as I follow some TV series.
Vin
Thanks Vin! Let us know when you get the Riviera, and how it goes for you!
-John
I’ve had my eye on the Riviera as a cool project guitar. (I already know that I would gut the electronics and wind up a set of p-90s.) How is the quality in which the guitar is made? Hows the hardware such as tuners, and the bigsby? (I’ll probally have to replace the tune-a-matic with a roller bridge.)
Thanks
Hey Mark- you’re definitely thinking the same as me!
The fundamentals are all good. The body is nice quality, finish is good, neck is fine and easily adjustable (truss rod works great), bigsby works great, grover tuners are good.
As long as you like the feel of the guitar – the size and weight of the body, and the scale, shape and radius of the neck, then you should be able to tweak the rest to your satisfaction. Note, it’ll also definitely need a good setup, some nut filing and fret dressing.
Winding your own pickups should be awesome! I’d love to hear more about that when you do it. I ordered a set from Vintage Vibe Guitars, and will be posting all about that soon.
I also purchased a roller bridge and will be posting about that after the pickups!
My recommendation- buy it while it’s still cheap, and have fun tweaking it into an awesome guitar. And keep in touch here about how it goes for you!
-John
John, it was interesting how you compared the different types of capacitors (mica, PIO, OD etc) with your alligator clip setup to see what difference the capacitor construction might make (as well as what difference capacitance value might make).
One question: A somewhat similar and very popular “mod” out there seems to be using PIO capacitors on the tone pot to bleed off treble on pickups that are too ‘hot’ or ‘edgy’. I currently have this problem and was investigating whether changing the tone-pot capacitor would make any difference, whether it would ‘warm up’ my pickup’s sound by bleeding off the edgy treble. There is a huge ongoing debate in the forums out there as to whether the capacitor type makes any difference in that mod (as opposed to just increasing the capacitance value). There are a lot of people who swear that, for instance, PIO’s can bleed off excess treble and ‘smooth out’ the pick up’s sound much better than ceramic capacitors or other construction types. (This has let to all kinds of people immediately ripping their new Les Pauls apart to swap out the ceramic .022 tone capacitor with quite expensive PIO .022′s.)
So watching your video, I was wondering what your conclusions here might tell us. As I understand it, in your mod here you tested different capacitor types on the volume pot to bleed in and retain treble when volume is turned down. As I understand it, you concluded that capacitance value might have an affect but the capacitor’s construction (PIO, mica, etc) made little or no difference.
If you concluded here that the type of capacitor (PIO, mica, etc) made little or no difference here, then doesnt that say that it would also make little or no difference in a treble bleed off mod on the tone pot?
So are all those good people wasting their money swapping out the tone pot’s .022 stock ceramic for a .022 PIO?
Just wondering what you think… thanks! If the cap type makes little or no difference in that case too, I could save myself some money and and just get a lower output pickup instead.
Hey Jack,
Good questions indeed.
You’re right that a treble bleed cap works just like tone, except with tone controls you’re bleeding the high frequencies to ground. In my treble bleed cap tests, I couldn’t hear much difference between the materials I tried, but this shouldn’t lead to a conclusion that there’s no difference between cap materials at all. Different types of caps do indeed have different response characteristics, so I’m certain that you can find examples where the difference in sound isn’t so subtle. I’ve never tried paper in oil, so I can’t really comment on those.
If you’re trying to roll off some of the high end of excessively bright pickups, you could lower the resistance of the volume pots, lower the resistance of the tone pot, use a higher capacitance for the tone cap, change to different pickups, or use a different material for the tone cap. Of all those choices, I’d think the material for the tone cap would be the most subtle. Again, as I always say, it’s best to actually try it, rather than just reading what others say- so I’d recommend you borrow/buy a PIO cap and do careful before/after comparison with your other tone caps.
I’m planning to do a video, like this treble bleed vid, for tone. Unfortunately, I don’t have any paper PIO caps to try here. I do have several types of orange drop, some mallorys, ceramics, silver micas and some older tropical fish, etc.
Sorry I can’t give you a definitive answer. But I this helps a bit!
John
Hi john, thanks for the very clear answer. Yes, what is needed is an alligator setup test on the tone pot, with a PIO cap included in the mix.
It’ll be quite a while before I have a chance to acquire materials and set that up, I’m still in the ‘scour the internet’ phase
So far I’ve found no one who has done that comparison test and documented it (on video or otherwise). Yet, its one of the most contentious capacitor debates out there on the forums. Strange, huh? You’d think by now someone would have documented it.
Of course, I would nominate you to do that
given you’ve already got your alligator clip apparatus set up 
If all you’re missing is a PIO cap, I did find a pair on ebay for 10 bucks – and in fact I’d be happy to buy them and ship them to you if you’ll do the rest 
Seriously 
Hey Jack,
You’ve convinced me
I’ll definitely plan on trying comparing the PIO’s when I do the tone video.
-John
@bushdid911forever – the G&L just has a ceramic 200pf cap (201) on the master volume. No resistor. There’s a closeup pic of the G&L electronics at my blog at planetz. Look for my post on Sept 29, 2009. (Sorry youtube won’t let me post a link here).
I have been experimenting with treble bleeds on my all single coil strat.
I have used just a .001 microfarad capacitor, a .001 cap with a 100k resistor in series and again in parallel, and a 100 picofarad (.0001 microfarad) cap alone, in series and in parallel with a 100k resistor.
In EVERY case I have had the same problem: the volume pot simply stays at 100% until it is all the way down (at which point volume abruptly cuts out). This volume pot is a very typical logarithmic (audio) pot when not connected to the treble bleed it has a normal range of volumes.
Do you have any idea what could be causing this?? I had heard that wiring the treble bleed in parallel can cause changes to the taper of the pot, but in this case the problem persists in parallel, in series, and with only the capacitor and no resistor!
In case you are wondering I have been able to do all of these variations because I wired the volume pot to an external SPST switch so I could find the right combination without having to open the guitar every time.
I was just doing some maintenance on my blog, and found your comment from 2 weeks ago, still pending moderation. I do apologize for the delay!
Have you solved your treble bleed issue? Are you sure the you wired the bleed cap/resistor across the correct pot lugs? It should be between the center (output) lug and the pickup-signal-side of the volume pot. NOT to the ground side of the volume pot.
-John
i must say, it really helped me, but man, that epiphone sound really good with the volume turned down
John, question…if you take a cap and put it across thge two lugs, does it have any effect with your volume wide open? (More or less wouild tyhis make your pickup say brighter then say if it wasn’t there in the first place?)
@crosseyedwillie – it should have no effect with the volume all the way up. there’s a minimal-resistance path for the signal to the output, so none of the signal will pass through that cap. So, there will be no difference in brightness with the volume up.
Hi
and thanks for a great site/video. I bought two .022 caps for a treble-bleed circuit, for my SG. and 2 linear taper vol pots. I gave the guitar to my local guitar tech who fitted everything. He said the linear pots were misbehaving (no taper at all). He returned the guitar stating that he used log pots, but the problem persists. No volume reduction off the vol pots, just max or off? My bass player is a spark so could easily follow your advice —
Thanks
@ronnie9253 – A .022uF (or 22,000pF) cap is way too big for treble bleed- it will essentially allow the entire signal to bleed back through, rendering your volume pot useless. The point of the bleed cap is to only allow the high frequencies to bleed through, so you’ll need a much smaller capacitance (like 1000pF or less, as shown in this video). .022uF is commonly used for tone pots, but can’t be used for treble bleed. Make sense? That guitar tech needs to learn some basic electronics!
so simple when explained by an expert; you’re a life saver!
@ronnie9253 – no problem. For more info on how caps work, you may want to also check out my video “Guitar Tone Capacitors, part 2: How Tone Works, Selecting a Value”.
this may be a bit too specific, but would this volume treble bleed work on guitars with active electronics? Jackson’s. I’ve never liked how muffled it gets when the knobs aren’t all maxed.
@littlegoobie – guitars with active electronics should not suffer from the same loading effect of the volume control. Are you sure there isn’t something else going on? But in any case, yes, in principal, a treble bleed cap will work on any volume control – since you’re just giving the high frequencies a path through to the output, even when part of the signal is being shunted to ground. Give it a try and see what happens!
@johnplanetz i’m not sure if there’s something else going on. I’ve had this guitar about 20yrs now and it’s been that way from the beginning. bought it new. I like how it sounds with everything turned up so i don’t mind, but once i turn back the volume to clean it up. the more i back off volume, the more it sounds like switching from bridge to neck. In any case, i’m going to try this to see how it goes. I need to replace all the pots soon anyways. thanks.
This vid’s great. First time I saw it was almost two years ago when I had absolutely no idea about electronics. Now after my first tube amp build it still is as interesting as it was then, maybe even more now that understand things better. Cudos, man.
@delusgr – congrats on the amp build! I want to do that too some day
I don’t understand how does it workes that you turn volume all way down and we still hear guitar…
@anesthetized8 – i’m not turning it ALL the way down- ust most of the way down! And with the bleed cap, the high frequencies still pass through to the output, while everything else is quiet.
hi! i got my guitar’s both tone knob and volume knob on 10, but it still sounds dull. i want to know what seems to be the problem with it?? any help would be appreciated thanks
@louie0108 – see the other videos in my channel for ideas. You’ll need to experiment a bit. I’d suggest unsoldering everything, and use alligator leads to connect it back up one component at a time. Connect one pickup directly to the jack and see how that sounds. Then add in your volume knob. Then the tone, etc.
Great video I just bought a kramer 220FR with the volume bleed and you helped me figure out how to use it- thanx !
@U2wild – Great to hear! Enjoy that new guitar!
I’m doing this right now, thanks for the idea!
@vikenemesh I’m done now. sounds great, thx!
Really useful video dude, thanks!
Say it ain’t so! What happens if you solder one to a tone pot? Just curious.
@sixstringpsycho – love that song
A tone pot is typically wired in parallel with the guitar signal, as a capacitor in series with a variable resistor (pot) to ground. Adding a cap across the two lugs of the tone pot would give a path for the high frequencies directly to ground, thereby rolling off some treble, even when the tone cap is up full. See my videos on tone caps for more examples, and explanation of the circuit.
I thought it was just as simple as my tiny amp not handling max guitar output and giving out distortion.
Guitar giving ten but not letting the amp give more than five so it would cut the info.
Thees are very useful video, thanks!
Hi John
Wont the treble bleed result in, that you cant turn the volume all the way down?
Best regards Esben
@Esbenmad – No, when you turn the volume all the way down, the full signal takes the easiest path to ground.
Ok thanks for the answer:-)
I have one more question: What do you prefer, just a cap, a cap and a resistor in series or a cap and a resistor in parallel?
And what value do you prefer?
Really depends on the pickups and electronics. You can see some examples in Alan Ratcliffe’s article “Electric Guitar Volume Pots 2: Treble Bleed Mods”. I recommend you use alligator leads and experiment, and choose what YOU like.
Guys, Something weird happened after I soldered 560pf Cap & 300k resistor in my HSH Volume pot 500k. The treble bleed works fine until I roll down all the way off and instead of NO SOUND guess what, it sounds OUT OF PHASE! Haha! Kindly advise
.
Not sure what happened there! You wired up the cap/resistor on master volume pot, between the center and side lug (the signal and output side, not the ground side)?Double check for short circuits, no accidental contact of the metal leads, etc. I recommend you experiment with alligator leads before soldering to make sure it works right- and it lets you easily try out other cap/resistance values, with/without resistor and parallel/series variations to find what you like.
Hmm…I’m sure that I wired correctly & there was no short circuit & it works perfectly once I remove the capacitor, back to normal. I m not electronic expert just know basic soldering.
perhaps I should change new pot & new switch & try again later. Thx for your advise. 
Hi Guys, I’ve installed the 0.001uf capacitor for my humbuckers equipped guitar, 500k pots, but its kinda weird that when I turn down volume to 1 it actually sounded BOOSTED like out of phase sound, at 2 silent and all the way works fine. Does that sounds normal pls?
Hi John,
Thanks for the very informative videos, they have really helped with my understanding of a guitars electrical system, or maybe helped me to understand a little bit more than I did.
I’m installing a humbucker into the bridge position of my strat and as always, I’m trying to get the best of both worlds. I have 250k vol and tone pots and the tone pots have .022 caps.
My problem is, the humbucker sounds a bit muddy with the volume turned down. I’ve been advised to fit a treble bleed kit but would this also make the single coils sound to bright. Would it be better to fit a 500k volume pot and have a higher value cap on one tone and use this for the humbucker, or is it the other way round?
At the moment I don’t have a tone pot wired to the HB. It would be nice to have a brighter sounding HB and then have the ability to turn the tone down to taste.
My pickups are Seymour Duncan APS1′s neck and middle and Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates in the bridge.
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Hi Paul,
It is a bit of a juggling act, isn’t it!
A volume pot with higher overall resistance will brighten up the sound a bit, because it reduces the load-to-ground on the pickups.
A higher capacitance tone cap will make the sound a bit darker. You can install a push/pull to switch out the tone cap, using ideas I showed here:
http://www.planetz.com/?p=1037
or mod the pot to be no-load as I demonstrate here:
http://www.planetz.com/?p=262
It’s always instructive to experiment with alligator leads. Connect your HB directly to a jack and hear how it sounds with no other electronics. You can’t get it any brighter than that
I show an experiment like that here:
http://www.planetz.com/?p=98
Then you can experiment with adding in your other components using alligator leads, try different value pots and caps, and see how it sounds.
Hope this helps,
John
hi johnplanetz i’d like to ask what’s the warmest tone capacitors? i have an HSS configuration pickup on my guitar and i shielded the electronic cavities with copper tape, sounds cleaner now with a lesser hum but the problem is the sound is too bright and thin.. Eric Johnson is using .1uF capacitor and always have a warmer tone, you think its applicable to my guitar? HSS 1 tone, 1 vol, 5way switch. thanks
any more vids like this?
say it aint so by weezer, best example haha
Holy fuck. This is quality quality shit. Thank you for your enthusiasm and willingness to share. It blows my mind how great the youtube community is for the most part, thanks to people like you.
hi i have a stratocaster with HSS pickups and planing to install a treble bleed…so what value of caps and resistor for this hss pickups thank you
If you install treble bleed and you already have a No Load tone pot, do u still get the qualities of the no load as well as the treble bleed on the volume or does the no load get cancelled out in any way?
The no-load modification on the tone pot won’t affect the treble bleed behavior on your volume pot.
are you playing Interstate Love Song?
No, it was Say It Ain’t So.
just move the the wire coming from the tone pot to the center lug of the volume pit, no muddiness when volume is rolled off, better sweep on the volume and tone control. learned this after 40 years of modding guitars, it’s the 50′s style wiring.
Yes- that’s something I realized soon after making this video
That’s how the G&L is wired, as are most 2-pickup Les Pauls, ES-335s, etc. With that wiring, there’s a constant load on the pickup when turning down, so there’s no treble loss. However, when the pickups are mixed in the middle-switch position, there’s an interaction when one volume is turned all the way down, the other also gets turned down. (continued in next comment…)
That’s ok for 2-pickup/2-vol guitars since you have a switch to isolate individual pickups. But on this P93, the only way to turn off the middle pickup is to turn its volume down. So they had to use independent volume wiring, which connects the pickup wire to the side lug of the pot- this has terrible treble loss when turning down. I’ve been planning to add a push/pull on the middle pup, and change it to non-independent volume wiring, and do another video about it, but haven’t got around to yet.
Oh yes, I can see how the Riviera can present a challenge, a push pull pot on the middle with master volume would be a good solution. I have a 3P-90 guitar, a Dean Palomino, but it’s wired ala Strat, 5 way with master tone and volume. Looking forward to your next video on this, the reason I never bought a Riviera was the wiring scheme, looks like you have it sorted out!
Very useful and informative videos. Thank you for all the work you put into your videos. On my humbucker equipped guitar (Dimarzio Norton and PAF Joe) I put in a 0.001uf ceramic disk cap. It kept the highs just fine but was a little “spikey”. SO I put a 100 kohm resistor paralleled in the circuit and it blended the frequencies perfectly. Plus it slightly affected the taper of the pot. But in a good way. Smoother taper IMO. Thanks again.
This was so useful to me! Thank you a lot!
With respect to a treble bleed cap: If I am wiring the pot with the pickup connected to the center lug, and the output(hot) wire connected to a side lug, would the treble bleed cap still be connected across these these two lugs?
Thanks,
Bert West
Yes. The cap allows the high frequencies to bypass the pot’s resistance between the two lugs- so even if you have the pot turned so there’s high resistance between signal and output, the signal’s high frequencies will still pass through the cap to the output.
John
I knew lower capacitor values was making tone brighter. For example 0.022uf is brighter than 0.047uf. Am I false? But I’m not sure is it working on Treble Bleed mod. I’m using 50′s style wiring. By the way, I don’t know too much information about that. I need to learn truth.
It depends on how the cap is used. A cap passes through high frequences and blocks low frequencies. The cutoff is determined by the capacitance value. If the cap is wired to ground, it rolls off the high frequences. In a treble bleed circuit, it shunts the high frequencies across the signal lugs so it actually passes the high frequencies through so you hear them, even when the rest of the signal is being cut out but the volume. See my video on tone caps for more info: watch?v=rR4maqK_IhQ
Good vid, thanks. Does anybody know what exactly will allow you to have the quality that the G&L does, where it totally cleans up when the volume is down? It seems to be more than just the type of vol pot doing that.
The Riviera is wired for independent volumes, which results in a changing load on the pickups when turning the volume pot. The G&L (and other one and two volume guitar circuits) use non-independent wiring (pickup wired to side lug instead of center lug of pot). This results in a constant load and much better behavior when turning down. That combined with the 200pf treble bleed cap in the G&L results in nice bright sound when turning down.
Ah ha… Thanks for the info. The guitar I want to configure like that has the pots mounted on an active board, so I’m not sure if I can change that.
If the PCB has surface mount components, they tend to be very small so it can get tricky. But if you have the schematic and you’re good with a soldering iron, you can still modify the PCB as necessary.
Thanks John… I’ll see what I can do.
“Say it ain’t so” by Wheezer. Nice playing.
is it possible to do that with a volume pot? I bought a used guitar that seems to have that mod, but on my volume knob, which seems to give a tad more volume and when i hooked it to my little alligator volume pedal, it bled a bit when i was trying to do volume swells. but it works great when i am soloing, but have to roll off a tad when i do rhythm.
Treble bleed caps are only used on the volume pots. It may result in slightly more volume when the pot is turned down (compared to without the cap). But when the volume is up full, it shouldn’t really sound any different or louder.
Thanks for doing the dirty work! I had seen your other videos, but not this one. I was trying to find the differences when you change the caps and resistors for the volume mods. Have you added a resistor in parallel or in series with your caps?
If it gets excessively bright when turning down with the treble bleed cap, adding a resistor (around 100k) allows some of the bass to bleed through as well. If you put the resistor in parallel with the cap, it’ll also tweak the taper of the pot a bit. Use it in series if you don’t like the taper change. I generally don’t use a resistor.
You should put a resistor in series with that capacitor. In layman terms, it “lessens the effect of the treble bleed capacitor,” so some people claim the effect is the same as choosing a smaller capacitor value. However, the resistor actually does quite a bit more than just that, including alleviating the problem you described here somewhat. It also helps the problem of the sound becoming harsh as you lower the volume, since the cap comes into play more as you lower the volume.
By “problem described here,” I meant the issue in your third video.
Thanks for the suggestion. It turned out the main difference between the G&L and the P93 was the the G&L volume pot is wired with the pickup connected to the side lug and the output at the center lug. So the pickup sees a constant load-to-ground throughout the range of the pot, so it maintains its brightness. The P93 is wired for 3 independent volume controls with the pickups connected to the center lug and output at the side lug- so they have variable load and get very dark when turning down.
does the voltage matter on the resistor? I see 150v and 250v at mouser, dont see a 100v they are obsolete.
say it aint sooooooooooooooo oh oh oh ohhhhhhh
i recon your right . just a 1000pf is right the 100k ris they use does let more low end in. but! it can sound ok i recon on strat pups. gibo pups are mega out put, i got a tony iomi special it read 17.7 k. blows the input well. just a 1000pf works a treat on it.
I don’t know if this has ever happened to anyone else, but if someone can help, please reply! My volume pot on my epiphany sg special has been very much messed up…then, I pulled the pot up, and the part that you turn completely came off. When I tried to put it back in, it wouldn’t go. Then when I shook my guitar I heard a slight rattling sound in the pot…PLEASE HELP
If you mean that the knob came off the pot, that’s easy to push back on, over the shaft. If you mean that the entire shaft separated from the pot, then you probably need to replace the pot. With an SG, it’s very easy to open it up and look inside- have a look to see what’s loose in there- maybe it’s just the wires rattling.
On my weak 5.7k single coils on my strat with 250k pots just a light reduction in volume the sound goes muddy,, which is bad as i want my rythm sound to be bright and cutting witout the volume and when I am add max volume, the teh same sound or slightly less bright for lead,, so a treble bleed is nessecary if you want to control volume from the guitar.. Some of my favorite players have this,, Thomas blug, andy timmons, etc.
awsome videos can i please ask you this i want to have my volume when turning down clean up and not lose any trebile or bass i call it the eddie van halen tone can you guide me what to do
If you hear treble loss when turning down volume when playing through a clean channel on your amp, then you’ll want to consider a treble bleed cap as described in this video- or you may be able to rewire your volume pot for non-independent wiring (pickup signal wired to vol pot side lug instead of center lug).
If you don’t have treble loss and you’re playing through an overdriven channel and wanting to get a cleaner sound when turning down, you’ll need to experiment with your amp/drive settings.
your heart is good i appreciate you doing what you do god bless
your heart is good i appreciate you doing what you do god bless
Helpful video.
Thank you ! Amazing !
Love every your lessons !
PJ from Taiwan
You are becoming Mr Cap (every time i look up any thing to do with Caps and Guitars i fall to you) any way, Nice Showing of the different Caps.
Is there any way you could show the different caps with different PicksUP, sort of standard designs, Rail, Hum, Single, Lipstick, Rail Hum, Single/Rail etc
because im guess with the different types you will need different bleeds
It will also depend on the Volume Pot you are fighting with as its in PAL with the Bleed around the Volume
You’re right that the volume pot and pickup types- as well as the overall circuit configuration- will affect the need-for-bleed and the resulting sound. The best thing to do is just experiment in your own circuit to find what works well for you.
why im planning on a Cheap Strat with just Volume for each and a Master Volume, 3Way Blade type switch and a Toggle for the Middle, the Volume Pots for each will be Push/Pull so i can flip the Coils.
Figured that would make a good base and every thing else i can try, ever your method Card or a little black box type ;P
Plywood archtops are “far superior” to a carved top in real club and stage music situations.John and Bucky Pizzarelli haven’t played Benedetto’s for years because of feedback and just awful uncontrollable rumble at high volume.Chet Atkins sent his solid top D’Angelico back to have a plywood top put back on so that it was utile for stage work.I can give you many more examples.Nothing like a carved top in ones living room but horrible guitars,for anything else but low volume playing.The ES 175(design)is still the number 1 rated jazz guitar design).Look it up it’s “all over” the web.You have been duped my friend.You won’t be the last either.One knows things by experience(been playin’ all styles of music for over 50 yrs).Saw Les Paul in a club in ’68,about 5 miles from Les’s house).Guess what He walked in with?An ES 175.So enjoy staring at your living room guitar.
Thanks for weighing in Ty! Nice to hear from a voice of experience. I’ve never seen or played a carved-top hollowbody electric, but I know I’ve played some outstanding ES series plywood-top guitars.