Who's picking vol knob locations on these "metal" guitars?

[gnoll]

I've had a problem with this too when I play superstrats. I find that if I spend time with a guitar I will adjust my technique accordingly but it takes pretty long and I will still change volume by accident every once in a while. And if I'm away from superstrats for some time and come back to them the issue is back.

I agree on tone knobs too, seems like a pretty useless thing on metal guitars. But like others have said, you can turn them into something else or remove them.

 

[Konfyouzd]

What I usually see is there are a couple common types of holding the pick. Some people make an "OK" sign with three fingers (middle, ring, pinky) kind of spread out. Others (myself included) tuck these three fingers in making a sort of loose fist.

A lot of players I admire use the former, but one advantage to the latter is that you do not generally bump into knobs.

I rock the OK sign and people tell me it's "wrong"...

I can't imagine why there are so many opinions on where to place a volume knob...

Customs for everyone!

 

[protest]

The only guitar I have an actual issue with is the volume knob placement on a strat. It's basically on the pickup.

I'll actually take the layouts shown so far over the "metal" control layouts like on the Merrow Schecter where the pickup selector and volume feel like they're 3 feet away.

 

[Aso]

Real metal guitars have no tone or volume knobs. Just the input jack wired straight to the single bridge pickup. I really want a guitar setup like this but I agree that the placement sucks. Every one of my customs (Jackson, ESP, Sully) have the volume knob moved back out of the way. The stock spot Jackson uses is terrible.

 

[Cynicanal]

I agree on tone knobs too, seems like a pretty useless thing on metal guitar.

What is with all of the Celtic Frost haters in this thread?

 

[xzacx]

I've seen Jackson players complain about this forever, but I've never found it to be a problem. I'm not sure what type of wild right hand movements people are using where this is an issue—it's never once crossed my mind while playing.

 

[Kaura]

I'm probably the only guy on this forum who has to complain about the pickup selector getting on my way while playing but that's what you get playing a single coil Mustang.

The volume knob location issue I can understand but better not touch my tone knob. Metal guitar or not, I like my guitars versatile and tone knob is an easy solution to add more tonal range to your guitar. If you hate it. Get a custom guitar.

 

[Fenriswolf]

Personally I've never had that problem except with strats, where it's even closer to the bridge pickup.

IMHO, the volume knob on a strat is in the perfect place. One of the things I learned from my dad was working the volume knob for different parts of a song. On my strat I can roll the volume up and down while I'm playing instead of my other guitars where I have to reach for it.

As far as the tone knob thing, I look at that the same way as frets. I don't play that many songs that go up to the 22nd fret, but I don't want have to grab another guitar when I do want to go that high. Plus on single pickup guitars you can get a little of that neck pickup sound with the tone rolled down some.

 

[Konfyouzd]

I've seen Jackson players complain about this forever, but I've never found it to be a problem. I'm not sure what type of wild right hand movements people are using where this is an issue—it's never once crossed my mind while playing.

^

 

[AdenM]

I've played hevy stuff on a variety of guitars mentioned, including ESP and PRS. Can not fucking STAND the placement on a Strat though.

 

[jephjacques]

Yeah the Strat knobs definitely require practice if you're not used to them.

 

[NeglectedField]

They're pretty close to the bridge pup on Ibby RG's but strangely I find it nowhere near as bad as with Strats. Had to have my pre-loaded BKP pickguard wired so one vol one tone in the middle and third holes and the first one empty.

 

[PunkBillCarson]

I was told that I was picky on the Schecter thread just because I didn't like Fishman's being in every single guitar. I need to remember who that person is and show them this thread.

 

[Descent]

You know this thread has made me realize that I haven't used any tone controls on my current guitars live, it is all the way up. I am also not doing much with the volume or pickup selector.

Since we're talking tone controls, how about pickup selectors? I've always had a problem how when you solo you can go either front or back, the ones in the middle are really hard to place in a hurry. There was an innovative wiring scheme that Music Man introduced few years back where you can put any pickup in any position, I thought that was super cool.

As far as tone controls for the most part I have to say that the 4 knob 3pos switch on Gibsons and traditional Fender has probably been the best for me. I don't particularly like these guitars much but I always end up doing something creative with it. For example how you can blend the two pickups on Les Paul and even tone adjust them, and control the level of how much one pokes out of the other in mid position...or kill the top pickup and use the 3 way toggle as kill switch.

Then on the Strat you need to watch someone like Jeff Beck or Ritchie Blackmore in his electric guitar days and how they manipulate the sounds.

With that in mind, I bring one of my favorite guitars, the MM Steve Morse, 11 distinctive sounds if not mistaken. This one is a joy to play in any style.

 

[DrakkarTyrannis]

If anything, I think I'd be more annoyed with guitar makers pigeonholing metal players into a bucket where it's assumed we don't need versatility or standard guitar things. Just one bridge pickup (probably an EMG), and no knobs at all 'cause EVERYTHING AT 11 ALL THE TIME, right? Also flat black, everything pointy.

Okay...whatchu NO gon do is call me out. Lol.

I happen to like my pointy satin black bridge pickup guitars.

 

[laxu]

If you have issues hitting the volume knob, focus on your technique or do some simple fixes to the pot itself. Put a piece of felt under the knob as it will make it harder to move or replace the pot with something with a stiffer feel.

 

[Andromalia]

issue fixed:
https://www.deanguitars.com/products/karl-sanders-the-black-v-trans-black

 

[JoeyJoJoJrShabadoo]

Check out this offender.

I'm a die hard ESP fanboy, and this annoys me so much. I've taken the tone knob out of my Horizon and put the volume in the tones place. Blocked the volume hole with a christmas tree clip. Looks clean, and is now well out of the way.

 

[GuitarBizarre]

I like being able to volume swell while playing. Close to bridge volume locations allow that.

As for the tone knob... sorry, I guess I'm just not enough of a tryhard br00t4l methul poser. I like having one. It makes it easy to change the feel of a sound without a lot of effort. Wanna go from a precise technical sound to something that you can play sludgy AIC riffs with? Tone knob. Done.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

i can't stand switch placement on a lot of guitars (les pauls, my jackson star, jazzzmasters), but volume placement isn't usually an issue for me. I like to do volume swells or roll off the vol knob to clean up the sound, so it makes sense to have it within reach of the bridge for me. i guess it'd be more annoying with a trem, but it works for me. also fuck all yal'll that don't like tone controls