In addition to what Joe wrote, I'll add that a no-load pot will work best for this application. In October 2016, PG's Contributing Editor Joe Gore wrote an excellent article on this subject called “ The Fabulous Focus Knob." You simply must check it out. Other companies, such as G&L, Music Man, and Reverend, offer similar technology on some of their instruments. Rickenbacker also used a similar idea-on the 4001 bass, for example-calling it a “Treble Tone" circuit. These circuits usually centered around a bass-cut capacitor. In fact, such rhythm/solo switches were widely used on guitars in the '60s- especially on German brands, such as Hofner, Framus, and Klira, but also instruments from the U.K., U.S., and Japan. This used a bass-cut capacitor to filter out some low frequencies. In the mid '50s, DeArmond equipped their floating Rhythm Chief 1100 single-coil with a “Rhythm/Solo" switch on the pickup's control box. Guitar manufacturers have been exploring this idea for decades. Studying Yamaha's materials, it became clear that this is a type of passive bass-cut filter. Intrigued by the description and chart, I decided to peek under the hood. This description is accompanied by a chart that illustrates how engaging the switch lowers the bass frequencies approximately 4 dB, relative to the highs, starting at around 3 kHz. And because it's a filter circuit, the Dry Switch works on both humbuckers and P-90s for a totally unique, usable tone. Using a passive filter circuit painstakingly designed to give the perfect frequency response, the Dry Switch filters out low frequencies to give the punch and clarity of a single-coil pickup minus the inevitable hum and hollow tone often associated with split humbucking pickups.
YAMAHA THEME FOR WINDOWS 10 SERIES
I recently came across a Yamaha ad for their Revstar guitar series that mentions a “Dry Switch" function, which Yamaha describes on their website like this:ĭesigned especially for Revstar, Yamaha's proprietary Dry Switch gives you the versatility of a coil-split, but with a tone that's miles ahead.