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The Tonestyler Is Coming To The Nor-Cal/Nor-Nevada Roundup

Ric12String
July 24th, 2009, 01:07 PM
The Stellartone Tonestyler Comes to the Gretsch Northern California / Northern Nevada Roundup!

http://stellartone.com/images/imagemanager/Gretsch_and_ToneStyler_JAZZ_Jr.jpg

Have you ever seen the advertisements in one of your favorite guitar magazines for the Tonestyler tone control replacement and wondered how they worked? I have seen that device advertised in Guitar Player each month and often thought that I would love to get my hands on a guitar which was equipped with a Tonestyler to see how they actually sounded.

The great news for all persons attending the Gretsch Northern California / Northern Nevada Roundup (September 12-13; see the complete thread about the Roundup here: http://www.gretsch-talk.com/forum/gretschtogether/8779-2009-gretsch-northern-california-northern-nevada-roundup.html) is that we will have a couple of guitars with the Tonestyler tone control installed on them at the Roundup and available for anyone to try out. And, if the stars align correctly (which I am very confident they will), Don Ayers, the Tonestyler’s creator, will be present to give us a demo presentation and to answer any questions about the device. He may even select someone or two from the group to come up and participate in the live demonstration!

The Tonestyler is a replacement tone control which connects to 14 separate capacitors, each of which are designed to gradually allow the roll off of high tones while retaining the mids and lows. The key here is the retention of the mids while the highs roll off incrementally. Most tone pots roll off both the highs and mids, leaving you only with the lows. This results most often in unusable mud (for the mud switch lovers, don’t despair – I believe that there is a full-on mud setting too!). From my reading, the Tonestyler’s retention of the mids permits much of the sparkle of the mids to remain despite the gradually reducing highs. This should make a guitar’s tone control much more useable!

After having consulted with TV Jones about the best options, Don is going to have his Gretsch Pro Jet at the Roundup equipped with a Powertron neck pup and a Classic Plus bridge pickup. This should give us a pretty good idea of what the capabilities of the device are on a Gretsch. He will also have one or more other guitars there to allow a representative sound with other pickups.

So, if you are looking for a great time hanging out and playing music with fellow Gretsch enthusiasts, as well as some informative presentations that guitar players of all skill levels will learn from, please plan to attend Gretsch Summer Camp at the Gretsch Northern California / Northern Nevada Roundup, September 12-13, 2009 at the Clair Tappaan Lodge, located on the Donner Summit in California’s northern Sierra Nevada mountains.

I spent my summer vacation at Gretsch Camp -- what about you?

Hot Rod Michelle
July 24th, 2009, 02:09 PM
Sounds cool

Ric12String
July 28th, 2009, 12:05 PM
Great news for all those planning to attend the Gretsch Northern California / Northern Nevada Roundup!

Don Ayers, of Stellartone, has informed me that he intends to give away some Tonestylers at the Northern California / Northern Nevada Roundup. If you have a solid body guitar, he can even install it for you on the spot in about five minutes. Hollow body guitars, with their more complex control system, take a bit longer to install and he may or may not have sufficient time at the Roundup to install them, but can certainly provide installation instructions with the device so that you can have it installed by your local luthier.

Just one more reason to be certain to attend the Gretsch Northern California / Northern Nevada Roundup on September 12-13, 2009, at the Clair Tappaan Lodge on the Donner Summit in the beautiful northern Sierra Nevada!

If you haven't yet made your plans to attend the Roundup, now is the time to get started. PM me for answers to your questions or see the Round up thread http://www.gretsch-talk.com/forum/gretschtogether/8779-2009-gretsch-northern-california-northern-nevada-roundup.html for more information.

Sarah93003
August 27th, 2009, 12:13 AM
This should be very cool!