Would you buy/play a guitar with no tone control?

[IntenseJim]

I'm thinking about a Sadowsky superstrat-style HH with no tone control; only a volume control and pup selector switch. Of course it's not my only guitar and all my other guitars have one or more tone controls.

I suppose I can always have the tone control added and the guitar drilled
later on at my expense if I change my mand.


I find I use my tone knob quite a bit on my Les Pauls and Tele, occasionally on
my strat, and rarely on my superstrat style guitars.

 

[ACShreds]

I never use my tone knob so yes. I always have mine set at max and leave it there.

 

[Marshall Law]

I have had and do have plenty of guitars with VOLUME only

 

[Tawlks]

Lots of people you'll find don't use them. If you look at signature guitars, many many artists ask for their guitars without it.

I use my tone knob when I'm playing jazz/blues but rock/metal/whatevr I don't really. I'm used to using it alot on my bass though I guess.

 

[tekbow]

I think a tone Knob does less for a guitars verastility than a volume knob does, so yeah i would and do

 

[Code001]

I usually disable mine.

 

[Heritage Softail]

straight wire thru the tone knob and then use an MXR 10 band stomp.

 

[Shask]

I never use mine either. They just turn the tone into dull lifeless crap.

 

[Les Zombie]

I owned a few guitars without a tone control and it was never a issue for me.

 

[droptrd]

Never use it. I have one guitar without one too that I play often

 

[Vrad]

I only play guitars without a tone control. If they have one, I usually disconnect it.

 

[JakeAC5253]

I never use mine either. They just turn the tone into dull lifeless crap.

To you and all the others saying they never use tone controls, there are lots of things that you can do to make the tone circuit more useful. You can use a smaller capacitor and that will shift the resonance of the circuit so that it's much more subtle and pleasing. Standard tone caps are around .022 - .047 my tone cap is .010, and you can go even smaller than that. I don't use it too often because I usually play crank it to 11 metal, but it can warm up a clean sound pretty well.

To the OP, you can mod your volumes to simulate a tone knob. You can put a capacitor across the pickup connections and it will passively roll off some highs. This is passive and not controllable, you will have to de-solder it to remove the effects. For a more traditional tone use, you can get a push-pull pot and wire it so that in the pull position it functions like a tone cap and is bypassed in the pushed position.

 

[billboogie]

Same here, never use them. +1 on the tone mush. I will add that I used a friend's Tele and found it useful for that guitars neck pickup. I believe that Tele has a 1Meg volume pot (stock)

 

[Juggernaut]

3 out of 4 of my guitars are "one knob jobs"

 

[billboogie]

I usually disable mine.

Can you explain the process? I would love to try that. I've read that will open up the natural sound of the pickups and I would like to find out for myself. Thanks

 

[gbsmusic]

I'd rather have a tone knob but I'll take just a volume.

 

[JakeAC5253]

I usually disable mine.

Can you explain the process? I would love to try that. I've read that will open up the natural sound of the pickups and I would like to find out for myself. Thanks

Depends on the guitar and wiring scheme.

 

[headlessdeadguy]

What's a tone knob?

 

[Tawlks]

I usually disable mine.

Can you explain the process? I would love to try that. I've read that will open up the natural sound of the pickups and I would like to find out for myself. Thanks

Unsolder the tone pot, wire it so it doesn't go through the tone pot and just goes to the next step in the wiring scheme, take the pot out and plug it.

I would assume anyway.

 

[Random Hero]

I use mine, I'm surprised so many don't! Granted, I don't use it as much as my volume knob but I'd rather have one than not, personally.