Y'all Are Gonna Think I'm Nuts. . .

[cielski]

Pretty much, it's a blend of Aztec ritual, Spanish culture and Catholicism.

That's what I always thought myself as a Catholic. I just wondered if there was more to it. Seems like each nation has their own take on RC rituals. We Poles don't do much for Mardi Gras, for example, but have our big celebration over Easter and the days after.

 

[TV the Wired Turtle]

Isn't DDLM the same as All Souls Day? The day after All Saints Day?

getting a tad technical.
Dia De Los Muertos is not celebrated or sanctioned at ALL by the Catholic Church. DDLM is a celebration of life that has passed, not mourning the death of a family member or praying them out of purgatory. Strictly DLLM is a mexican/south american folklore tradition.
FWIW.... I was just appreciating the pageantry, the art and cultural rituals.

 

[BrickwallJackson]

That's what I always thought myself as a Catholic. I just wondered if there was more to it. Seems like each nation has their own take on RC rituals. We Poles don't do much for Mardi Gras, for example, but have our big celebration over Easter and the days after.

Baptized and confirmed. Dad’s fam is RC. Mom’s people were Quakers and Whiskeypalians. Made for a diverse upbringing but I enjoyed it

getting a tad technical.
Dia De Los Muertos is not celebrated or sanctioned at ALL by the Catholic Church. DDLM is a celebration of life that has passed, not mourning the death of a family member or praying them out of purgatory. Strictly DLLM is a mexican/south american folklore tradition.
FWIW.... I was just appreciating the pageantry, the art and cultural rituals.

Ain’t a damn thing in the world wrong with that, my bruthaaaaaa.

 

[ruger9]

getting a tad technical.
Dia De Los Muertos is not celebrated or sanctioned at ALL by the Catholic Church. DDLM is a celebration of life that has passed, not mourning the death of a family member or praying them out of purgatory. Strictly DLLM is a mexican/south american folklore tradition.
FWIW.... I was just appreciating the pageantry, the art and cultural rituals.

A fantastic word that isn't used enough! Bravo!

My wife was in Mexico on business on a DDLM day. She said it's insane how big it is there- EVERYTHING is decorated, it's like our Christmas.

 

[BrickwallJackson]

I love me some Dia De Los Muertos. I have a hand tooled leather strap comin' w a sugar skull, although I tend to be celebrating all saints day amid the hispanic culture of DDLM

Pictures when you get it!!!

 

[BrickwallJackson]

Very cool. Can you do stacked pots, or maybe a control through the f hole and under (like the Chet axe) or through (Billy Bo) the pickguard?

All of that sounds pretty cool! For now I’m gonna keep it simple but for sure that would be doable.

 

[BrickwallJackson]

I decided to go with chicken knobs until I decide what kind of knobs I wanna use…

 

[ruger9]

I think the chicken heads LOOK great, but I have found them not-as-easy-to-use while playing, not as easy as grabbing a round knob (without looking) and adjusting it a bit.

But you could get some vintage-looking cream round "radio" knobs... or even the standard Fender cream round amp knobs...

 

[BrickwallJackson]

I think the chicken heads LOOK great, but I have found them not-as-easy-to-use while playing, not as easy as grabbing a round knob (without looking) and adjusting it a bit.

But you could get some vintage-looking cream round "radio" knobs... or even the standard Fender cream round amp knobs...

Yeah I'm not digging them all that much. I would prefer to have the standard Gretsch knobs.

 

[Pops]

Yeah I'm not digging them all that much. I would prefer to have the standard Gretsch knobs.

How about some silver skulls?

But seriously, glad you're getting the tone you wanted.

 

[BrickwallJackson]

How about some silver skulls?

But seriously, glad you're getting the tone you wanted.

Hey thanks Pops! Okay so the latest . .

I actually hated the way that the Centralabs sounded, so I swapped them out for my trusty old standby: Bourns. Seriously, if y'all are looking for excellent sounding pots, Bourns kills the competetion.

I know, I know. Centralabs are made by angels and sprinkled with Billy Gibbons' ball sweat. I get it. Except, I don't. I think they sound muddy and I've hated them in TWO guitars at this point...both Gretsches. For the life of me, can't hear what everyone is so in love with but whatever. I'm just glad I didn't pay much for them because they really suck.

So I'm holding off on putting in a mud switch at this point, but that might be in the cards if this setup still needs a little "padding". I have two other guitars with mud switches and they just sound "right". So far, so good!

 

[ruger9]

Hey thanks Pops! Okay so the latest . .

I actually hated the way that the Centralabs sounded, so I swapped them out for my trusty old standby: Bourns. Seriously, if y'all are looking for excellent sounding pots, Bourns kills the competetion.

I know, I know. Centralabs are made by angels and sprinkled with Billy Gibbons' ball sweat. I get it. Except, I don't. I think they sound muddy and I've hated them in TWO guitars at this point...both Gretsches. For the life of me, can't hear what everyone is so in love with but whatever. I'm just glad I didn't pay much for them because they really suck.

So I'm holding off on putting in a mud switch at this point, but that might be in the cards if this setup still needs a little "padding". I have two other guitars with mud switches and they just sound "right". So far, so good!

I admire your impartial ears! No going along with the crowd for you!

Now lets talk about "directional cables" and "frequencies traveling at different speeds"

 

[BrickwallJackson]

I admire your impartial ears! No going along with the crowd for you!

Now lets talk about "directional cables" and "frequencies traveling at different speeds"

And plastics. Did you know that Japanese plastic sounds better than Chinese plastic?

 

[Pops]

The best tonewoods are Italian...

 

[Brew Drink Repeat]

Individual volume controls with a treble bleed master

Sorry if this is a dumb Q, but I'm trying to understand how these things work (I've never had a guitar w/ a master volume before I got into Gretsch):

Why wouldn't treble bleeds be required on the individual volume pots? If I turn down the bridge pickup and it doesn't have one, wouldn't that lose treble before the signal gets to the master?

 

[Emergence]

Sorry if this is a dumb Q, but I'm trying to understand how these things work (I've never had a guitar w/ a master volume before I got into Gretsch):

Why wouldn't treble bleeds be required on the individual volume pots? If I turn down the bridge pickup and it doesn't have one, wouldn't that lose treble before the signal gets to the master?

Yikes. You ask tough questions.

Treble bleed allows one to roll down the volume without removing high frequencies (treble). Without a capacitor and a resistor, treble bleed on the cap, rolling down a volume control removes treble along with volume. Treble bleed on the master volume allows it to function as a pure loudness control.

Personally, I think treble bleed on individual volume controls is a good idea if your guitar has a master tone control. On Gretsch guitars with a tone switch on the upper bout rather than a rotary tone control, the switch, sometimes referred to as a mud switch, regulates the rate at which treble is rolled off on each individual pickup as its volume control is rolled down. My G6118T Anniversary is wired that way. There are sounds unique to Gretsch accessed that way. I found the circuit challenging to say the least until I understood how it works but it’s all good now.

Treble bleed on individual volume controls on guitars equipped with a master tone control is a matter of personal preference. I have a Gibson SG with TV Jones Classic and Classic Plus pickups with treble bleed on each volume control but no master volume. I get all of my “Gretsch” sounds on it by varying volume and tone settings. A clean boost can work in place of a master volume control for those who need it.

Control sets vary between manufacturers and within each manufacturer’s product lines. I always suggest learning to manage what your guitar came with before changing something. I’m not against change but I’d caution anyone against changing something they don’t understand to replace it with something else without having a good idea of everything that change will affect.

G-T is a great place to gain knowledge about your guitars and to exchange ideas with folks who’ve already done what you’re thinking about. I hope this helps. The Search function is your friend.

 

[BrickwallJackson]

Great question! Logically, it should work but I have to tell you. . .it depends on the guitar!! Lemme splain:

So I have a Malcolm Young signature that I did up to look like an original 62 Jet Firebird. On that guitar, I've got three 500K reverse audio taper Bourns pots with .0022 uF bleeder caps on all three volume controls. That guitar is a flamethrower and arguably my favorite of all my Gretsches.

On my 6120, I have an original late 50's wiring harness with 500K audio taper Allen Bradley pots which actually read dead on 550k. On THAT guitar, I only have a .001 uF bleeder cap on the master volume. As hollowbodies go, that thing sounds freaking AMAZEBALLS.

On my Black Phoenix, the subject of this thread, I have three 500k audio taper Bourns pots which read between 490-550k. That guitar doesn't have the mud switch (yet) and I only have one .001 uF bleeder cap on the master volume (the cap reads about .0011 uF on a tester.

On both of my Dynasonic guitars, I have 1Meg reverse audio Mallory pots in them, and they have no bleeder caps at all. They both sound FABU.

So. . .I hate to tell you this but you're going to have to experiment. Don't worry about the wire, either. There are many claims about "this wire is better", etc. The original late 50's Gretsch harness in my 6120 uses this stuff that is basically the thickness of RCA cable and it sounds amazing. You're going to get more mileage out of your pots and caps.

NOTE: Remember the following:

You are dealing with a reactive circuit that only ever passes a couple hundred MILLIVOLTS through it. ANYTHING you put in a low voltage circuit like that is gonna affect the sound. What do I mean...

#1 - If you put a cap in there that is rated at say, 600 volts, you will hear a dampening effect on the sound. It will dampen highs. You might not mind, and that's okay. But it's there. Note that most vintage guitars use caps rated for 150 volts or below. I can't quote frequencies, but I have seen it measured and you can note that there is a difference.

#2 - The older Gretsches used way more wire than the new ones. Why? Well, because on both Filtertron and Dynasonic equipped models they wired the pickups to the switch first, then to the volume pots, then to either the tone pot or mud switch (depending on the model), then to the master volume, then to the output jack. This does affect the sound. Again, you might not like it, you might like it, and you might not care, but it's a thing.

Guitar pickups are inductors, which means they convert physical energy into current. In this case, that's the vibration of your strings. The guys who designed these things "back in the day" were really artists and they spent time figuring out what worked best. Of course, some of that was driven by the music of the day, and what people wanted to hear. What we think today is markedly different in some ways.

Bottom line: experiment and have fun with it and do what works for you and your setup. If it pleases you, then it's right and that's a win!