Thanks for that post, HighPlains. It was sorta lonely out here thinking I was the only one left who lived through the reed era.
My first "multi channel" was a CG T-5, with matching receiver. The throttle scheme that I used involved a Hillcrest servo. The Hillcrest was a motorized device that went 'round and 'round continuously through 360° if you held the transmitter button down. The engine throttle was a home made flapper over the intake which caused the engine to run very rich at low throttle. If you held the throttle button down, the flapper slowly cycled from full open to full closed. Thus, the pilot pressed the transmitter button in short pulses and listened to the engine to determine how much power he was putting out.
Regarding the adjustment of servo centering by messing with the centering board. I don't know if that worked on the older square Bonner servos, but the Duramite style swept the board in an arc. There was a screw on the outside of the Duramite/Transamite which loosened the circuit board inside and allowed adjustment for greater or lesser deadband. Among the flyers in my area it was common to set the rudder deadband quite loose for the initial flights on a model. That way if the model was out of trim, the pilot's first reaction was to hit some rudder to level the wings. The servo would remain slightly off center from that first input and help the out of trim situation. After landing, one could note the rudder direction and adjust the pushrod length to better trim the airplane. After a couple of flights and postflight pushrod adjustments (Who got 2 flights in one day ?), the deadband of the rudder servo could be tightened up for accurate centering.
Pretty sure I still have that Hillcrest servo.
Dick