locating controls on an acoustic - what's your preference?
Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 7:43 pm
I don't know where exactly to put this, so this area seems as good as any.
I'm building a parlor guitar and installing a JJB pickup set that has a volume and a tone control. I've seen these with a thumbwheel just inside the sound hole, but there's not a lot of space on this size of guitar. So I'm thinking instead of three options:
1. putting the control knobs on the soundboard itself, like the usual electric guitar setup. The downsides are that the knobs may interfere with fitting the guitar into a hard case, and that the soundboard is so small that I don't want to put anything there that might deaden the sound, especially since I'd have to mount the controls on some sort of reinforcing plate. (Plus they look kind of tacky there, IMHO.)
2. Putting the controls on the upper bout on the bass side, just above the waist, mostly recessed and using thumbwheels instead of knobs.
3. Like #2, but on the flattest part of the lower bout, just below the waist.
I'm thinking that #2 and #3 would present the least problems with fitting it into a case, assuming that I can get a hard case for this beast.
If this were your guitar, where would you most likely want the controls to be?
I'm building a parlor guitar and installing a JJB pickup set that has a volume and a tone control. I've seen these with a thumbwheel just inside the sound hole, but there's not a lot of space on this size of guitar. So I'm thinking instead of three options:
1. putting the control knobs on the soundboard itself, like the usual electric guitar setup. The downsides are that the knobs may interfere with fitting the guitar into a hard case, and that the soundboard is so small that I don't want to put anything there that might deaden the sound, especially since I'd have to mount the controls on some sort of reinforcing plate. (Plus they look kind of tacky there, IMHO.)
2. Putting the controls on the upper bout on the bass side, just above the waist, mostly recessed and using thumbwheels instead of knobs.
3. Like #2, but on the flattest part of the lower bout, just below the waist.
I'm thinking that #2 and #3 would present the least problems with fitting it into a case, assuming that I can get a hard case for this beast.
If this were your guitar, where would you most likely want the controls to be?