Jump to content

Can anyone explain Gretsch pots?


Bizman62

Recommended Posts

I just visited my brother-in-law who had bought a Gretsch, looks a lot like a G2622 Streamliner™ Center Block Double-Cut with V-Stoptail but it has chrome knobs on pots. He had got it for steal as both he and the vendor had thought there was something wrong with the pickups. I tried it and there was no hum or anything like that, it just sounded different. LOTS of boomy bass!

The pots puzzled me. I have never studied how a Gretsh work so I just tested to try to figure out what they do. Well... I found out that around the F-hole one was the volume for the bridge pickup and another the vol for the neck pu. The third one seems to be a linear volume for both as it works sort of like an on-off switch.

On the horn there's a logarithmic volume pot, again for both pickups. This one seems to smoothly change the volume.

So four volumes but no tone??? Can anyone explain the logic behind that?

Also, as I previously said, the sound is very bass dominant. I wonder if that's a bug or a feature. It works well for palm muting bass lines in the style of Scotty Moore but if that's intentional it seems like a one trick pony.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gretsch Streamliner product page says the three controls by the F-hole should be one master tone and an independent volume for each of the pickups, and a master volume near one of the cutaways. Indeed, the product manual is written very generically, covering multiple different models, so perhaps the 3+1 control arrangement is just their 'thing'?

 

2 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

both he and the vendor had thought there was something wrong with the pickups

...

the sound is very bass dominant. I wonder if that's a bug or a feature

Sounds to me like a faulty tone control. I'd certainly be focusing any attention on that area first.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, curtisa said:

Sounds to me like a faulty tone control.

Thanks! I saw the product page but couldn't find that information - maybe the 8 hours ride from a friend's funeral had affected my eyesight.

So, the "on-off" pot that acts like a secondary master volume is actually a tone. I'll tell my inlaw.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...