Multi necks - do you play all on or individually?

[Tim Whitlock]

Multi neck players (particularly T8 and Quads) - do you keep all necks on when you're playing or do you switch back and forth as needed?

I like to keep all three necks on my T8 Stringmaster on so I can jump around during the song. But I find the output is lower and there is more noise to signal. Thoughts?

[Erv Niehaus]

The only neck I have on is the one I'm playing.
ERv

[Ethan Shaw]

I really like the idea of having multiple necks on at once, but it significantly changes the tone, and to me isn't worth it. But plenty of great players still sound great with multiple necks switched on. Nobody can argue with Noel Boggs' tone. And you sound great, Tim, so if that's what you've been doing, it works!

[Erv Niehaus]

If you have the other necks on you can pick up string noise from the other necks, especially if you happen to brush the strings with your shirt sleeve.
Erv

[Tim Whitlock]

Buddy Merrill seems to do quite well with all necks on his quad. I don’t hear any hum even though his amp probably has the old two prong power cord and is not well grounded. With all necks on, the output drops and you have to turn up a notch so you would expect to hear some hum.

https://youtu.be/xcipRLzk4zM

[Joe A. Roberts]

Reposting from a previous thread: https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewto ... 9796d38307

On Fenders there is definitely a loss of tone/volume in my experience. The Custom and Dual Pro have the selector switches in a much more accessible position vs. either of the Stringmaster push button or slide switch variants which are both behind the bridge. (Jody Carver also prefers them for this reason, along with the trapezoid pickups richer tone. He switches necks often and even retunes in the middle of songs on his must-listen “Hot Club of America” LP.)

Though i switch necks often (for the bridge of a tune, etc.) I only occasionally use the all-neck switch, because I get a lot of sympathetic vibrations, seems like Buddy did not have that issue!

Before the electronic solution of a switch was invented, the early Gibson Consoles had a mechanical mute that you could flip onto the strings of the opposing neck. I believe other early two necks had an independent volume on each neck as the only means of “switching” as well.

If I had a quad, I think it would be cool to have neck selector switches on a foot pedal to quickly and smoothly switch between necks mid-song.

I think once read a post of Basil Henriques’ where he described some way to boost the signal when multiple necks are on (a pre-amp maybe?) but I can’t remember the specifics or where I saw that!

[Tim Whitlock]

Thanks for the reminder of the earlier thread Joe. I had forgotten it. The nice thing about the Stingmaster is you can dial in more neck pickup to compensate for the thinning of the tone when you switch on all of the necks. Seems like that may have been a consideration when Fender designed the Stringmaster as a replacement for the trap guitars. The sympathetic vibrations are only a problem for me in my practice room where I am closer to the amp. It's never been a problem for me when playing live.

[Jim Fogarty]

I think once read a post of Basil Henriques’ where he described some way to boost the signal when multiple necks are on (a pre-amp maybe?) but I can’t remember the specifics or where I saw that!

Not Basil's idea, but if you want to use both necks on, maybe set it that way all the time, and just dial your amp in appropriately for the "both necks" setting. That's what I would do.

Or, if you use a volume pedal, just give yourself extra headroom, and nudge it up when set to both necks.

I prefer to switch, though, because of the sympathetic vibrations issue.

[Stephen Cowell]

Thanks for the reminder of the earlier thread Joe. I had forgotten it. The nice thing about the Stingmaster is you can dial in more neck pickup to compensate for the thinning of the tone when you switch on all of the necks.

On an SM, unless you change the wiring, you can only dial in more *bridge* PU. The fader shorts out the neck pickup.

Buddy Merril's tone on South is very tinny... not sure if he's going for that tone, but it doesn't sound good with all necks on. You do hear the boo-wah more with tinny tone.

On my T8 the 'all on' switch broke... so I took it out and wired an output jack in its place. I have it normalled so it works with nothing plugged into it... but when I plug in an amp there the third neck goes to that amp only. Useful for bass or distortion etc. I never have more than one neck on, hate the tone that way.

[Tim Whitlock]

Buddy Merril's tone on South is very tinny... not sure if he's going for that tone, but it doesn't sound good with all necks on. You do hear the boo-wah more with tinny tone.

I think Buddy's tone is fantastic. Bright but with a full rich bottom end. Ear of the beholder I suppose. I'd love to know what amp he is using. Tweed Fender I'm sure.

[Landon Jarrel]

I use two if not three at almost all times on my tripleneck, but as noted above the tone becomes more shrill with more necks due to the increase in impedance when more pickups are in the circuit. I prefer to learn a song entirely in one tuning and use the other tunings for solos or rhythmic accompaniment as needed. There is rarely an instance where I feel I need a full chord when there is the opportunity to get two or three "core" notes of the chord in passing and therefore avoid any neck hopping (a bit of the Swing rhythm guitar theory transcends into steel for this).

[Mike Harris]

My Stringmaster is currently a D-8 with no switch, so both necks are hot all the time. Sometimes the sound from the sympathetic vibration is noticeable. I like being able to jump from one to the other without having to mess with a switch each time. I guess a foot switch would be ideal.