Eastman Thumbwheel arrangement

[fabiansey]

Hello,
I own a nice eastman archtop with a floating pickup and two thumbwheels.
Is it normal that the thumbwheel which is closer to the pickup is for tone and the other one, farer away for volume?
Is there a general rule for the arrangement?

[Cunamara]

Hello,
I own a nice eastman archtop with a floating pickup and two thumbwheels.
Is it normal that the thumbwheel which is closer to the pickup is for tone and the other one, farer away for volume?
Is there a general rule for the arrangement?

On most guitars, the knob closest to the pickup(s) is the volume knob; the knob farthest from the pickup(s) is the tone knob. If there are three knobs, usually the closest one is the volume knob and the other two are a tone knob for each pickup. If there are four knobs, usually there are two volume knobs and two tone knobs.

There are some exceptions to this. And sometimes an individual player might reverse the knobs for personal preference.

BTW, the word "thumbwheel" in most cases refers to the thumbscrews on the bridge that adjust the height of the strings; sometimes it is used to refer to small volume and tone controls mounted on the underside of the pickguard.

[sgosnell]

Yeah, a thumbwheel is a wheel that is generally turned with a thumb or finger. There are many types. On a guitar, the wheel closest to the neck is the volume, the one closest to the bridge is the tone. It's certainly possible to wire them opposite that, but I've never seen nor heard of one that was.

[fabiansey]

Thank you!!!
So it seems that Eastman does its own thing or at least did on my guitar.

[KirkP]

Thank you!!!
So it seems that Eastman does its own thing or at least did on my guitar.

Early Eastmans lacked a tone control. If yours is older it’s possible a previous owner added it.

[fabiansey]

It s from 2015 and was bought new, so it came from the factory like that.
really Great guitar, with interesting volume and tone wheel.

[Woody Sound]

It s from 2015 and was bought new, so it came from the factory like that.
really Great guitar, with interesting volume and tone wheel.

Can you take a picture of the "thumbwheels" so we know for sure what you mean? Or even a link to an identical looking model?

[fabiansey]

The two wheels. The one closer to the pickup is for tone, the other one for volume

[sgosnell]

Well, that's wired backwards. The wheel closest to the pickup should be volume, the one closer to the bridge should be tone. That wouldn't be the first wiring error that I've seen from Eastman, though. My T145 came with the pickup wired incorrectly, at least according to the Armstrong wiring diagram. I removed the pickup because it didn't sound good, and installed another. I decided to sell the guitar and while reinstalling the original pickup, I discovered that it was miswired. When I wired it correctly, it sounded so good I pulled it from Reverb. It's been back and forth a few times, because I decide to sell it, and when I play it, I decide to keep it. If I hadn't discovered the wiring error, it would have been gone long ago.

[fabiansey]

The guitar sounds fantastic, plugged and unplugged.
so i guess i see it as a feature rather than an error?
But maybe Eastman does this uncommon thing on all of its newer Archtops with floating Pickups.

[Cunamara]

Hey, if it works and sounds great, who cares if it's wired unconventionally. Obviously you figured out which control does what and it seems to be working out fine for you. Enjoy,

[sgosnell]

If it all works, that's the most important thing by far. One can learn to remember which wheel does what, and which direction to turn it. If you're happy, it's all good.