what to do with this extra pot on my guitar?

[windycityblues]

I have an lp style guitar but I only need one tone control. Im looking for other interesting things that I can turn the other potentiometer into (passive electronics only please!). I was thinking something like a presence control or something that will increase the bite. im open to anything. Ive looked around on google for this kind of stuff but as you would imagine, its not easy finding info about unconventional wiring mods. Im mostly interested in some sort of presence control, but if I understand correctly, I would need a power supply (in this case a 9v) and I would prefer to keep this all passive. Any suggestion are appreciated! -Alex

[Brad1]

Maybe a "blend" pot, to vary the amount of bridge-to-neck pickup signal? I'm not sure if you could leave the pickup switch so that it selects only bridge, only neck, and then, both with the blend...or if you'd have to disconnect the switch?

Someone here could probably answer that. Anyway, you could probably get a lot of variation with a blend pot, from a biting mostly-bridge w/ a bit of neck fullness, or a mostly full neck w/ a bit of bridge bite...and anywhere in between. You really wouldn't NEED the switch, because you could turn it to either 100% bridge or 100% neck, but if there was a way to also incorporate the switch, it would be much faster to switch from bridge to neck, and then maybe even have the blend pot "preset" to a different tone combination with a quick flip of the switch to the middle.

Anyway, that would give your "both pickups" setting more versatility.

Just an idea.

Brad1

[Mark Hammer]

I recommend something like a Tone-Styler ( Stellartone - HOME ); a rotary switch that will modify what it is your single tone control controls.

That doesn't mean you have to buy an actual commercial unit (though people have good things to say about them). You could, for instance, install a readily available 2P6T (two pole, 6 position/"throw") rotary switch that uses one pole to enable/disable different tone cap values, and a second pole to do things like add a Fender-style bypass cap to the volume pot. So, let us say that position 1 breaks the ground path for the tone cap (disabling the tone control), and adds a 1500pf bypass cap to the bridge volume pot. Turn down the bridge volume a bit and you get a thin and bright sound. Position 2 lifts the bypass cap and inserts a .01uf tone cap. Position 3 gives you a .022uf cap. Position 4 gives you a .047uf tone cap. Position 5 gives you one cap+inductor midcut, and position 6 gives you a different cap+inductor midcut.

That's a LOT of tonal flexibility.

[Chuck H]

How about a mid control. This would seem almost like presence on clean tones because the top end stands out bet the guitar remains full sounding since the bottom end is still there. Great for doing clean to distortion with no pedals and great for simulating single coils with an LP.

[ansil]

I have an lp style guitar but I only need one tone control. Im looking for other interesting things that I can turn the other potentiometer into (passive electronics only please!). I was thinking something like a presence control or something that will increase the bite. im open to anything. Ive looked around on google for this kind of stuff but as you would imagine, its not easy finding info about unconventional wiring mods. Im mostly interested in some sort of presence control, but if I understand correctly, I would need a power supply (in this case a 9v) and I would prefer to keep this all passive. Any suggestion are appreciated! -Alex

well i had posted this schematic at projectguitar.com some time ago but i couldn't find the link so here is the schematic

essentially it was originally done on a lespaul with p90 pickups for one of my former clients. neck pickup has a high pass filter on it and a small tone control. and the bridge pickup has dual capacitors hooked to a blend pot. the pot at its extreme setting will give you a bright chicken pickin tone and when you put it with neck pickup you get a nice acoustic fat tone. roll it down you get a juicy meaty sound. very flexible a similar one was put in my buddies guitar with slightly different cap values [the formula i devised has to do with the inductance the total resistance in the circuit and all sorts of stuff for every guitar is different] that gibson was drooling over

[olddawg]

Rather than going hog wild with something you may never use, I would suggest a coil tap (for single coil operation) switch. If you use only one volume control and one tone control, you could put in a coil tap switch and and kill switch button. Maybe consider one meg pots.

[ansil]

Rather than going hog wild with something you may never use, I would suggest a coil tap (for single coil operation) switch. If you use only one volume control and one tone control, you could put in a coil tap switch and and kill switch button. Maybe consider one meg pots.

I am confused wouldn't he need a multitap pickup to do that? Or did you mean coil cut? I was just wondering if anyone still did taps on their pickups anymore. I saw an old tele like that
But never a humbucker

[olddawg]

I am confused wouldn't he need a multitap pickup to do that? Or did you mean coil cut? I was just wondering if anyone still did taps on their pickups anymore. I saw an old tele like that
But never a humbucker

Most production humbuckers nowadays are set up to be coil tapped. Normally you just use one coil in the humbuckers so it is effectively a single coil pickup. The output is reduced of course. I have an early 80s LP Custom with a factory coil tap switch.

[ansil]

Most production humbuckers nowadays are set up to be coil tapped. Normally you just use one coil in the humbuckers so it is effectively a single coil pickup. The output is reduced of course. I have an early 80s LP Custom with a factory coil tap switch.

ah see i always get that confused cause i learned from a bunch of ole timers and they used to have multi tap pickups ie pickups with multiple leads on them as that is where the term came from. i always call that coil cutting since effectively you are removing one of the coils from the circuit but i guess one could argue that its splitting hairs. i would like to see some multi tap humbuckers though that would be cool

[Steve A.]

How about a mid control. This would seem almost like presence on clean tones because the top end stands out bet the guitar remains full sounding since the bottom end is still there. Great for doing clean to distortion with no pedals and great for simulating single coils with an LP.

I agree! Here is the dual mid-cut/mid boost-cut control I've been using for 12+ years. The big advantage with using a push-pull pot for this is that there is no neutral position in the mid boost-cut circuit- it is supposed to be around 7 but an A/B test will show a noticeable loss of signal level. When cranked up to 10 you get a nice boost of mids (of course since it is a passive circuit that means that it cuts the treble and the bass to simulate a mid boost.) The mid-cut circuit when set to 10 is fairly neutral.

I have rewired some of my LP's with the mid-cut circuit grafted on to the stock 300k or 500k tone pot. I would not go so far as to say that it gives me single coil tones but I think that it really cleans up the signal for crystal clear tone.



http://www.blueguitar.org/new/schem/_gtr/dual_mid.pdf

Steve Ahola

[Steve A.]

i would like to see some multi tap humbuckers though that would be cool

George L makes a tapped humbucker for steel guitars with a 6 position switch that uses the black wires for full coil and the red wires for the tapped coil. There is even one position with a 120pF capacitor inserted between the two coils of a typical humbucker linkage. (I experimented with different values and prefer a 220pF capacitor.) Another position has the black lead of one coil connected to the red lead of the other.

Steve Ahola
P.S. Here are scans of the drawings that come with the pickup:

[tedmich]

I forgot what the extra pot on my guitar was for

[Mark Hammer]

The colour scheme sort of threw me there or a second, and then I finally clued in when I looked a little more closely at the "pattern".

Nyuk, nyuk .

[Austin]

I was drawn in by the title of this thread, I wanted to help you out with the extra pot you have but looks like the others were eager to help you out already.