Blend pot instead of sliding pick-up selector?

RadsRock

RadsRock

New member
I'm considering something like this instead of a 3-way switch for HH project guitar with 2 P-Rails.

Anyone done this? (not necessarily with P-rails of course) If so, how did you like it?

Anybody else see Pros/Cons?

Thanks

RR
 
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Re: Blend pot instead of sliding pick-up selector?

I don't understand... limiting in what way?

Maybe I need to say more because of the P-Rails. What I'm talking about for the blend pot here would be selection of bridge/neck/both only. Switching for HB, rail, P90 for each PU will be separate. I'm strictly considering the blend pot instead of a standard 3-way PU selector.

Then with just a master volume, the 2 pick-ups can be mixed to degrees, rather than only both full on, as it would be with a 3-way.
 
Re: Blend pot instead of sliding pick-up selector?

In that case, you would only need a normal audio taper pot. Wire this pot, after the on off on switch, with the input of its pickup soldered to the center lug and the output on the left lug, with the right lug being grounded. This will allow for a master volume and a "Blend" pot with no center detent. It simply blends in or grounds out the pickup. Leaves you with a master volume, blend and master tone. Costs you nothing useing the existing pot.
 
Re: Blend pot instead of sliding pick-up selector?

I have blend pots in a couple guitars, to act a volume control for the neck & middle PU's They work very well. There's a middle detent where both PU's are at equal volume, and turning the knob one way or the other reduces one PU.

I would think that a creative guitarist could find other uses too, like replacing a 3-way toggle, spin-a-split (unbalanced coils), etc. Bascially anything you want to mix from 2 sources.
 
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Re: Blend pot instead of sliding pick-up selector?

I use a blend pot to combine the neck and bridge pickups in every three pickup Strat I own.

Only drawback is it's much faster to do it with a switch.

But the blend pot allows me to blend them so one pickup can be louder or quieter than the other.

You do need a real blend pot or no-load pot. You can do it with a regular pot but a regular pot will not turn the pickup completely off - some signal will always leak through.

So a no load pot that breaks the connection completely works best.
 
Re: Blend pot instead of sliding pick-up selector?

Lewguitar said:
I use a blend pot to combine the neck and bridge pickups in every three pickup Strat I own.



But the blend pot allows me to blend them so one pickup can be louder or quieter than the other.

You do need a real blend pot or no-load pot. You can do it with a regular pot but a regular pot will not turn the pickup completely off - some signal will always leak through.

So a no load pot that breaks the connection completely works best.
Click to expand...

Lew, I find that a no load pot makes noise throught the amp when it goes out of the circuit and the regular pot does not. Yes you can tap the pickup poles with a metal object and get a minimal signal with a normal pot, when it is all the way down, but no sound from the strings passes to the amp.

Now if this load of the regular pot when off, affects the circuit it is very negligable IMO. You still fade the pickup in or out.

What is the harm in doing it this way? The Brent Mason Teles use this right?

I appreciate your wisdom and will heed your advise. Thanks
 
Re: Blend pot instead of sliding pick-up selector?

MultiCaster said:
Lew, I find that a no load pot makes noise throught the amp when it goes out of the circuit and the regular pot does not. Yes you can tap the pickup poles with a metal object and get a minimal signal with a normal pot, when it is all the way down, but no sound from the strings passes to the amp.

Now if this load of the regular pot when off, affects the circuit it is very negligable IMO. You still fade the pickup in or out.

What is the harm in doing it this way? The Brent Mason Teles use this right?
I appreciate your wisdom and will heed your advise. Thanks
Click to expand...

There's no harm at all if you're happy with your tone. I only use blend pots in my Strats with three pickups and I can hear a little diff in tone if the blender pot doesn't turn one pickup completely off. It's not a bad tone but there's just a little diff in tone between a single pickup and that same pickup with even a little of another pickup added to it.

And if each pickup has its own volume and/or tone control remember that you're also combining the volume and tone controls, which means that if you have 250K pots, when you add two together in parallel you now have the tone of a guitar with a 125K pot. (Sort of....)

A little off topic but: My Strats all have a master volume, master tone and a blender pot.

But in a normal Strat with a volume and two tone pots, when you combine the neck and middle pickups each has it's own tone pot and you're also combining the two tone pots and resulting in a tone as if you had a 125K tone pot. That low value allows treble to leak to ground and dulls the tone.

BTW, the blender pots I use work in reverse: you turn the pot down (not up) to blend the pickups.
 
Re: Blend pot instead of sliding pick-up selector?

Hey, well in that case, I may have to cut the trace to make my own no load pot!

Thanks
 
Re: Blend pot instead of sliding pick-up selector?

MultiCaster said:
Hey, well in that case, I may have to cut the trace to make my own no load pot!

Thanks
Click to expand...

You can also paint the end of the horseshoe shaped "trace" with finger nail polish which will insulate the end of the trace so that when the pot in turned all the way up the "wiper" will not be able to make contact at the extreme end of its travel and the circuit will not be completed.



Lew
 
Re: Blend pot instead of sliding pick-up selector?

Is it possible to create a volume blend circuit with one pot that goes across three pickups, or is two the max?
 
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