Author Topic: strat bridge/neck pickup blender knob? (Read 28718 times)

Philly Q · « **Reply #15 on:** August 16, 2007, 06:20:51 PM »

Quote from: dave_mc

I know one of the yamaha superstrats (i think it was a yamaha) had a switch on it, which, regardless of what setting your pickup selector and volume and tone pots were at, could select the bridge humbucker at full whack- that seemed like a really cool idea to me.

Yeah, Tom Anderson guitars have the same thing - the "blower switch". :D

maverickf1jockey · « **Reply #16 on:** August 16, 2007, 06:26:58 PM »

why does that grin make it seem so seedy? :?

Philly Q · « **Reply #17 on:** August 16, 2007, 06:35:43 PM »

Could've been seedier with one of these - :P

PDT_003

Elliot · « **Reply #18 on:** August 16, 2007, 07:22:27 PM »

Why don't you just buy a Rothwell Neck Adder - its a blender pot that allows you to add as much neck as you want - I find 50% to be about right.

Alternatively the Hot Little Knob allows you all those sounds and more . . .

http://www.rothwellaudioproducts.co.uk

WezV · « **Reply #19 on:** August 16, 2007, 07:42:03 PM »

the neck adder switch is similar (in priciple) to the volume pot mod we described in the previous posts

_tom_ didnt like it because it takes longer to switch from just neck pickup to just bridge pickup, because you need to alter the volume and flip the switch to do it.

Elliot has confirmed that thi sis not an issue on the Rothwell neck adder so using one of these pots and converting the other tone to a master tone would be a worthwhile mod.

a normal pot could be customised to go open at the end of its travel in the same way that tone pots can by set to have a bypass position. i have outlined how to achieve this in another thread
http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9305

WezV · « **Reply #20 on:** August 16, 2007, 08:37:27 PM »

see above

WezV · « **Reply #21 on:** August 16, 2007, 09:02:50 PM »

i am going to try it out in my guitar with an extra bridge volume tomorrow and see if it functions as expected!!!

will let you know

Elliot · « **Reply #22 on:** August 16, 2007, 10:36:14 PM »

Sorry Wez your mistaken, I have a Neck Adder - its not a volume pot, it replaces the middle tone pot and you wire the neck tone pot as a master tone pot. It doesn't take any time at all, or interfere with the volume: there is no switching - you just roll it to zero to turn it off, or up as far as you want to go to blend the neck into bridge or middle-bridge as much as you want.

WezV · « **Reply #23 on:** August 17, 2007, 08:09:14 AM »

Its good to know that it doesnt have the switching implications that using a stock pot will thankyou for clearing that up for us!

For most people its probably just worth handing £15 over to Rothwell but personally i wanted to see exactly how the rothwell pot worked because it looks so much like a stock control.

the main advantages of the rothwell over a stock pot are the improved taper and the bypass to make sure it doesnt affect switching. A nomral pot can be modded for the bypass as i detailed in another thread.

They have obviously experimented to get a pot with a taper that will give a gradual increase in volume - i havnt so it may be that all the adjustment on mine is at end end of the pot. it will still do the same sounds but possibly be slightly fiddlier to adjust

WezV · « **Reply #24 on:** August 17, 2007, 10:15:26 AM »

just tried it and it works as expected. with the new pot turned down you have normal 5-way switch operation and dont have to fiddle with volumes to switch between pickups.

Turn the pot up and it gradually adds the chosen pickup to the other combinations.

The taper of the pot wasnt perfect as most of the volume difference was in the second half of the pots travel so that hopefully would justify the £15 for the rothwell adder - mine was still very useable and not to difficult to get a good blend between the pickups but hopefully the rothwell will have the same effect spread over the whole of the pots travel. Remember that mine could be done free as i could have just modified the existing pot!

it was two wires installed just like the rothwell but i also modified the existing tone pot so that you have master tone rather than just a tone for one pickup. i will do some wiring diagrams to put in the other thread i started fot this mod!

Elliot · « **Reply #25 on:** August 17, 2007, 03:00:52 PM »

Ok - I recommended an easy to install and effective product to Tom in response to his question. I use the product and passed this on in good faith as is common on these boards: I was reply to Tom's question.

WezV · « **Reply #26 on:** August 17, 2007, 03:31:32 PM »

I decided to try this mod because after looking into the rothwell pot a bit more i could see them talking about a bypass to prevent this issue, which i will confess isnt something i had considered till i read it and then remembered an old trick for adding a bypass to pots that could be used to make this work with a normal pot... it works on the normal pot because i have tried it.

The rothwell will perform better because of the taper of the pot but the mod i have provided instructions for can be done for free. There are up and down side to both of them.

The bypass is a great idea and thankyou for pointing the way to the rothwell product. After modding a pot myself that way my main guitar now has easier and quicker switching than it did before.
the Rothwell pot definately seems like it would be a good thing to buy for £15 especially since not everyone wants to be taking potentiometers apart

What i have tried to do here is raise questions about a product. They are questions i have managed to answer with the help of elliot and a bit of experimenting on my part and i feel the product is better than my initial thoughts suggested.

Elliot · « **Reply #27 on:** August 17, 2007, 06:18:50 PM »

Wez - I've edited my post to take out anything that might be offensive to you - sorry if I offended you in any way :D

Peace, love and guitars.

WezV · « **Reply #28 on:** August 17, 2007, 06:37:32 PM »

also edited my side to keep it informative rather than hot-headed

I have also changed the sentence:

Quote

the neck adder switch is very similar to the volume pot mod we described in the previous posts

to

Quote

the neck adder switch is similar (in priciple) to the volume pot mod we described in the previous posts

this was merely an observation about the product that perked my interest and i wanted to investigate it. It was not meant to dismiss the neck adder suggestion from elliot - it does indeed seem to be a good, easy to fit option for only £15

I apologise for not being clearer in my posts

_tom_ · « **Reply #29 on:** August 19, 2007, 02:11:47 PM »

Well I feel like a bit of an idiot now :lol: After playing my LP the strat just sounds weak/thin in comparison, especially on the bridge position, so I think I might actually just go HSS and not worry about how it looks :oops: