New Williams

[Ben Michaels]

Jon,

Thanks for the explanation. I would love to hear how that guitar sounds!

[Pete Burak]

That is a great looking Steel. Congrats, Jon!
The pickup looks cool with those two big rails.
Do you have a Tone knob?

[Jon Light]

Thanks Pete.
Not a tone control. I considered one but with the Freeloader at my fingertips, I've got that covered -- and covered better than a simple treble cut tone control.

This is a volume control, post-fx pedalboard. The signal returns from the pedalboard, is tweakable by the pot and is sent to the amplifier.

From the first day I used a dirt pedal when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I have struggled to set the stompbox output volume so that I could hit it with full volume pedal but not blow the house down. No matter how carefully I set the stompbox (at home or sound check), in the heat of battle I would end up having to back off the volume pedal onstage and ruin the OD tone. Now all I need to do, rather than dive for the fx volume control or the amp, is tweak the pot. While of course I could put the whole fx board pre-VP, then I would have to have a more complex setup with the delay coming post VP (because I detest pre-VP delay & reverb).

I have been using this system onstage for the last year with an outboard leg-mounted box. It has worked brilliantly and I swear by it. "If you could have one control by your fingertips....?" For me, this is it.

I had Williams machine me two holes in the endplate and I installed this on the new guitar. It can be totally ignored and run thru the single output cord if I wish. It is not dissimilar to the OBEL on Jerry Garcia guitars, but I believe it is at a different point in the signal flow.

[Pete Burak]

That is great idea, Jon!
I know exactly what you are talking about. I have a Phred-Instruments JG Guitar with the OBEL (OBEL = On Board Effects Loop).

[Ian Rae]

This is the one I bought last summer. I chose this colour from the website because I wanted a vintage look and I knew I'd be happy with it, but when I opened the box I was stunned by the quality of the finish. When I'm too old to play it it'll still be a fine piece of furniture.



I was also impressed by the underneath - nothing fancy, just very solid and beautifully presented. This is essentially the same instrument as Jon's but in its most compact realisation.

[Jon Light]

Yep--that's a beauty, Ian. Keyless would have been perfectly consistent with my program of reducing the size and weight of my gig haulage but....I lacked the courage. It has always been a leap I just can't quite make.

[Ian Rae]

It didn't take courage for me - it was necessity. I wanted a uni 12 long before I could afford to buy one so I built my own. I couldn't figure out how to make a roller nut so I came up with my keyless nutless tuner design and it worked perfectly. I've never looked back.

[Mike Flick]

Hey Jon, nice guitar(an understatement). Any chance of some underneath pics? I was thinking of adding an additional LKR to my Williams. Thanks regardless, Mike.

[Jon Light]

Yeah, I'll be glad to, Mike. I'll get at it in the morning.

[Wayne Quinn]

Beautiful guitar Jon you must have had some training on the 747 to fly that girl upright Jon with that set up wow.

[Jon Light]

Thanks Wayne. I figure I could walk into the heliport and fly whatever is idling on the tarmac at the moment out of there.

Mike -- I just shot a general series. Let me know and I'll be glad to do a more detailed shoot of whatever you need to see.

[Mike Flick]

Those shots are perfect. Thanks Jon.