So, you’ve just received a brand spanking new electric guitar but you may be wondering a few different things; what gauge of strings should you go for? How do I best take care of it?
You may also be wondering, what do all of those controls do? Well, the answer to this question will depend on what type of guitar you have, as each model and brand tend to do things a little differently. Although the volume control is pretty self-explanatory, some guitar models resemble a pilot’s cockpit with a plethora of less intuitive controls. These models incorporate an array of additional controls that might not be immediately obvious
On top of that, each player will utilise the controls differently; some will be very hands-on with the controls to add extra dynamics and feel to their music whilst others will turn everything up to 10 and forget about them – some go as far as taping their controls down so they don’t move during a gig!
So let’s take a look at some of the usual suspects and straighten out what does what, we’ll also look at some more esoteric models that you might not know about. Ultimately, by the end of this blog, you’ll hopefully be a little more confident in what your guitar’s controls do and how to use them to suit your playing style.
If you’re feeling a bit lost in the maze of fancy terms and guitar gibberish, fear not! We’ve got a FAQ section down below – it’s like the superhero of clarifying confusion!
Telecaster controls
Starting off with the humble Telecaster. After a few early iterations, the Telecaster was Fender’s first mass produced solid body electric guitar. Guitarists love the Telecaster because of its no nonsense approach. A Telecaster delivers that unmistakable single-coil spank and punch, and guess what? Its control setup follows the same no-nonsense mindset! Just like its sound, the controls keep it refreshingly straightforward. Unless stated otherwise, you’ll have a single volume control knob – the one closer to the neck – and a tone control knob – the one closer to the bridge. Easy peasy.
A Telecaster style guitar will also have a pickup selector switch. This selector switch will cycle through your guitar’s different pickups and depending on position the switch is at, will determine what pickup is in use. In Position 1, you’ve got the bridge pickup, while Position 2 (in the middle) activates both pickups simultaneously. Then, in Position 3 (towards the neck), you’re rocking solely the neck pickup.
Stratocaster controls
The Strat takes things up a notch and you have a few more configurations to play with. If you have a Stratocaster style guitar, then you’ll likely have 3 different control knobs. The control knob closest to the guitar strings will be your master volume. Moving towards the bottom of the guitar you’ll encounter tone control knob 1. This will control the tone on the neck and middle pickups. The following one is the tone control knob 2, this will exclusively control the tone coming from the bridge pickup.
The selector switch on a Stratocaster-style guitar has a total of 5 positions, as follows: position 1 – bridge pickup only, position 2 – bridge pickup and middle pickup together, position 3 – middle pickup only, position 4 – middle pickup and neck pickup together, position 5 – neck pickup only.
Les Paul/SG controls
Moving onto Gibson-style guitars and this time around you’ll typically find a few more control knobs. If you have a Les Paul or SG style guitar you’re going to find two volume control knobs and two tone control knobs. The type of guitar’s typical pickup configuration is a humbucker in the bridge position and a humbucker in the neck. Each of these pickups has its own dedicated volume and tone control knobs instead of an overall master volume and tone, hence the reason you’ll find one extra compared with a Strat or Tele style guitar.
However, the pickup selector switch on a Les Paul or SG-style guitar is quite similar to the Telecaster. There are usually 3 positions; rhythm position, which is your neck pickup, the middle position, which is both pickups together, and the treble position, which is the bridge pickup. Pretty straightforward, right?
Generally speaking, most guitars with a HH pickup configuration are going to have a pickup selector switch that works in this manner. So, if you have a PRS, ESP, or Gretsch guitar featuring two humbuckers, it’s probable that the selector switch functions in this way
Jazzmaster controls
Perhaps the most straightforward of the offsets, the Jazzmaster introduces a different control beyond the conventional selector switch and volume and tone knobs. Although it does have a master volume control knob and master tone control knob, the rhythm/lead slider is where things get a little different.
When the rhythm circuit is not activated, the Jazzmaster will operate as standard, meaning the master volume and tone knob will be in control. Also, the 3-way pickup selector switch operates as you’d expect; position 1 is the neck pickup, position 2 is both neck and bridge pickups and position 3 is the bridge pickup. When you are controlling the guitar in this configuration, it’s typically called the ‘lead circuit’.
The lead circuit is active when the slider located above the pickups is pointing down towards the floor. When you slide that switch up, you will have activated the rhythm circuit. This is a totally separate circuit with separate controls. The two wheels located next to the slider then take over, one being a volume and the other a tone control. When in the rhythm circuit, the lead circuits’ controls will be totally inactive and vice versa
Jaguar controls
The Jaguar is where it starts to look a little more space age. Following on from the Jazzmaster, a traditional Jaguar also has a rhythm/lead circuit, which is activated with a slider switch above the pickups. In the lead circuit, there’s also a master control knob and a tone control knob, but the Jaguar’s quirk lies in the 3-way slider situated underneath the pickups on the scratchplate.
Although it looks a bit daunting, it’s actually quite a straightforward setup. The slider switch closest to the bridge pickup is a mid-tone cut, which as the name suggests, cuts the mid-range frequency across both pickups. The middle slider switch controls the bridge pickup – otherwise known as the lead pickup on a Jaguar – either turning it on or off. Lastly, the slider closest to the guitar’s horn controls the neck pickup – otherwise known as the rhythm pickup – turning it off or on as desired.
FAQs
Q: What does the tone control actually do on a guitar?
The tone control on an electric guitar is pretty straightforward: at maximum (10), it unleashes all the high frequencies, while dialling it towards 0 reduces the amount of high-end signal reaching the amplifier. Turning down the tone knob gradually tames the treble, making it a helpful tool, especially when using excessively treble-heavy guitars or amplifiers.
Q: What is coil splitting?
You may have heard the term ‘coil splitting’ before, perhaps you’ve recently purchased a guitar with such a function, but what actually is coil splitting? Well, coil splitting is a term that relates to a humbucker pickup. To understand what it does, we need to know the anatomy of a humbucker. Simply put, a humbucker pickup consists of two coils of wire and two magnets. Having two of each reverses the polarity and ‘bucks’ any unwanted hum and results in a higher output which tends to sound thicker than a traditional single coil.
If you have a coil-split control on your guitar, this will disable one of those coils, leaving one in operation. The idea behind such a control is versatility. A guitar with a coil-split is able to get both humbucking and single coil tones thanks to this feature.
Q: What is coil tapping?
On the other hand, we have coil tapping. Although coil tapping and splitting are quite similar, they are also a little different. Coil tapping particularly refers to single coil pickups, as opposed to humbuckers. When you tap a coil, you are taking the signal from a different point in the coil, as opposed to the end of it. The desired effect is similar to coil splitting and the overall output will be diminished.
Coil tapping isn’t as popular or as common as splitting and is usually only found on single coil pickups which are much hotter in output than a standard single coil.