Volume Swells on a Strat

[Rhino Madness]

Here's something from a different thread but that I wanted to pursue as its own topic .

 

Originally posted by A String:

Originally posted by Rhino Madness:

One thing I like to do on electric is to fade in the notes by picking with the volume rolled off and bring in the sound with my pinky wrapped around the volume knob: it gives an attack somewhat similar to that of the violin.

I heard Eddie doing that in Cathedral and was really impressed, then I started hearing it pop up everywhere. Chet Atkins uses it all the time. I was so inspired, I ran out and bought a special volume knob for my guitar. (It's a tiny bit taller and much looser then a regular knob.) Makes the volume swells ten times easier then with a regular Strat knob.

So Craig, what were these knobs and where did you get 'em? I find particularly interesting that some knobs could be made looser on purpose (I thought that it was just based on variations within production tolerances and that knobs became looser with time and use).

 

Also, the volume knob on my strat has some play at the beginning of its range where it has no effect (the volume appears at 1 or 2 on the dial); anybody knows if and how that can be fixed so the dead space is removed ?

 

And I, too, realized it was everywhere when I saw a bluesman (Coco Montoya) using that same technique.

[Guitarzan]

i am big on volume swells.

problem is most guitars do not have the ideal location as a strat does.

when i had my Japanese fender i grew comfortable with the location of the volume.

as for loose pots. i have seen some that all you do is give it a little touch and it will spin from 0 to 10.

to get a good swell it has to have the proper taper.

i wish i knew the technical specs for the strat pot i had because it was perfect.

organ stuff is cool if you use chords.

i used to do the intro to "Jump" by swelling the chords.

[Guitarzan]

i have often wanted to track something using a guitar to do cello and violin parts by swelling the notes.

[Ricardo.]

I'm a huge supporter of getting all your sounds out of the guitar, but to get really complex stuff going, wouldn't it be simpler to use a volume pedal?

[Guitarzan]

i find my hands more capable to doing what my mind wants in regards to switching and volume.

i don't get the same feel with my foot.

could be just me personally.

[Dr. Ellwood]

I use the volume peddle for that... chello swells .. works very well.

[Guitarzan]

my feet are not as smart as yours Lee.

[Justus A. Picker]

I can't get the feel right with a volume pedal either. I picked up the volume swell thing from Keaggy back in the Glass Harp days. He used his fingers, so that's how I learned it. He also uses a volume pedal with an e-bow to get some really nice violin/cello sounds.

A little Keaggy/Glass Harp improv:

http://glassharp.net/Media/music/southbend/openingimprov.mp3

[The Geoff]

Hank Marvin (a Chet Atkins fan) was doing that back in the late 50s before using a (Schaller, I think) volume & tone (2 plane) pedal.

 

G.

[Rampdog]

Didn't Dickie Betts use the volume knob for effects?

[Dr. Ellwood]

Originally posted by Guitarzan:

my feet are not as smart as yours Lee.

That's because my feet went to a Swell University

[A String]

Originally posted by Rhino Madness:

So Craig, what were these knobs and where did you get 'em? I find particularly interesting that some knobs could be made looser on purpose (I thought that it was just based on variations within production tolerances and that knobs became looser with time and use).

What happened was, my volume pot was getting dusty. crackling and cutting out. I went to the local music store and told the repair guy, I needed a new volume pot. As we were talking, I jokingly said, "Hey, do you have anything that will let me do volume swells like Eddie on Cathedral?" he said "Certainly do." and handed me a volume pot. There was no name that I recall.

 

I installed it and it works great. It's loose enough to turn easily but not stupidly loose.

 

I'm sorry that I can't remember the brand name...

[Rhino Madness]

Like Guitarzan and Justus, I like using the volume knob better than a volume pedal but either can work if you don't mind carrying an extra pedal.

 

As far as the looseness of the knob, unless the knob rotation is really stiff, that doesn't bother me too much. It would still have been cool to know how to get a looser one but don't sweat it .

 

However, the extra dead play at the beginning of the rotation makes fast volume swells a pain to hit just right. It's the second pot on that Strat that exhibits the same problem: anyone knows if it can be related to some other component on the circuit that would kill the signal at the beginning of the pot rotation?

 

The volume pot on my Ibanez is just right so I'll check if it's the same value as the one on my Strat and I may swap them since I use the Strat a lot more.