No diagram available HHH with Blender

MrZen

New member
Hey all.

I've got a Fender Strat with a set of three SD single coil-sized humbuckers (brand new JB Jr. bridge, and vintage 2-wire Lil 59 and Duckbucker in the middle and neck respectively). I had it working fine before but I put in a pre-wired blender kit from Emerson and now I can get it working right.

Basically what is happening is that the Middle pickup isolates perfectly in the 3rd position, 2 and 4 play everything (not ideal), and 1 and 5 play their respective pups allowing for the blender to bring in the opposite (so when the neck is selected you can blend in the bridge as well, and vice versa)

BUT, and here's the big ol BUT... the blender will not zero out the pickup that is not selected when the blender pot is turned all the way off. This applies to either the neck or the bridge. So in other words, there is no way to isolate the bridge or the neck.

The owner of Emerson was kind enough to spend some time on the phone with me but that's not panning out. I think his kit assumes SSS vs HHH in single coil size.

So long story short, SD doesn't have a wiring diagram for this scenario. Any of you able to help me out with a diagram?

Again, I am working with 1 vol, 1 master tone, 1 blender tone, 5-way Fenders-style switch, and 3 single-coil-sized SD humbuckers. It has a treble bleed as well.


thanks in advance
 
Typically, a blend pot is wired as a 2-terminal device, thus, a rheostat, or variable resistor, rather than a potentiometer, which is a voltage divider. A potentiometer controls voltage, while a rheostat limits current. Since the current from a pickup is microscopic, ( in the range of a millionth of an amp), it takes a lot of resistance to shut it all down.

So . . . you should either use a very high value, (like 1 meg), or better yet, use a no load pot. The best way to do this is remove the cover, (carefully), and put a dab of nail polish or paint on the "land" where the wiper rests when all the way down. That removes the pup from the circuit.

I'll try to post a pic in awhile.

I'm guessing you repurposed one of the existing Strat 250k pots, which isn't enough to shut her down.
 
I'm probably going to have a million questions when I start playing with these blender pots next month.
 
Ok . . . I just looked at Emerson's kit. They don't mention anywhere if their blend pot is "no-load", which is essential for this to work properly. Perhaps the OP could call them back and just ask them. "Is the blender no-load?"

Secondly, they're using the "wrong" terminals. (IMHO) Turning the pot "up", (CW), turns the blended pup "down." That seems counter-intuitive to me. But if it's a no-load pot, you can't "correct" the situation by moving a wire. The low wire, (red arrow), should be connected to the high terminal, (green arrow). But you can't just move the wire if it's no-loaded the wrong way.

So that's the crux of the problem. You need to know if it's a no-load blend pot. If it isn't, it's a bad design.

Emerson prewired SSS blend pot kit (corrected).png
 
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