Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

[henryr]

Hi all,
I put this at the end of another gruopp of posts then noticed there hadn't been any activity since 2013 except for mine and one unrelated post after mine so I thought I should put it somewhere else on this forum.

I'm new to electric guitars...never owned or played one until about six months ago when I bought a 2008 PRS Allender. About 2 months ago I bought a 2014 PRS SE custom 24 and want to upgrade the electrical components. The tone pot is a push pull and has a lot of wiggle in either position and the knob is so smooth it is very difficult to pull it up. I almost have to get my finger nails under the edge to pull it up. The volume knob also has some wiggle. I would like to get a complete package including volume and tone pots, hi end capacitors and everything wired and ready to drop in and just solder the pup and ground wires. Can anyone recommend a quality setup?

Thanks,
henryr

 

[75lespaul]

Re: Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

Hi Henry. Sometimes there are things like this on eBay, or at certain guitar supply shops. More often for Les Pauls, but sometimes you'll catch one for your PRS.

 

[henryr]

Re: Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

I just removed the electronics cover to see what brands of parts were used in my SE custom 24. I'm amazed the guitar sounds so good considering the parts are about as cheap as they get. The volume pot is a $2 Alpha, the 3 way blade switch is a $4 Alpha and the push/pull tone pot has A500k printed on it so I'm guessing its also a cheap Alpha part. The parts in the PRS store for core guitars are much more expensive and the SE parts are not much lower. A 3 way blade switch is over $30, a volume pot is $7 and a push/pull tone pot is $16. Would these expensive parts really improve the sound of my SE? Also almost all of the solder joints have that dull grey look that is usually the sign of a cold solder joint. Does that have a negative effect on the sound?

Thanks,
henry

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

If the thread gets long enough you'll probably end up getting enough different opinions that you'll conclude that you will have to find out for yourself. There is no rule saying that you have to buy pots from the guitar manufacturers store. Lots of dealers carry CTS, Bourns and others for less than PRS. Check Mojotone.com

 

[henryr]

Re: Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

Thanks for the replies. My PRS SE custom has two splittable humbuckers. I want to replace the push/pull tone pot with a non push/pull. I would also like to not have the volume drop when I switch to single coil. Can that be done with a 5 way blade switch, one volume pot and one tone pot? I would also like to include a treble bleed. Does that make sense and if so who can make a complete quality drop in harness with those capabilities?

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

Unfortunately, outside of active circuits, you can't eliminate volume drop when splitting coils.

The rest of your requirements are doable, but to get it in a drop in harness, you'll likely have to have someone make one for you as a custom order, which isn't cheap. Probably around $75-100 IME.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

You could always switch the push/pull to a push/push so you don't have to worry about the slippery knobs. Otherwise there is a great seller of wooden volume and tone knobs on ebay. On my one guitar that I use a push/pull instead of a push/push on I use wenge knobs. No slip at all.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

You could always switch the push/pull to a push/push so you don't have to worry about the slippery knobs. Otherwise there is a great seller of wooden volume and tone knobs on ebay. On my one guitar that I use a push/pull instead of a push/push on I use wenge knobs. No slip at all.

shoot yeah
thats what I did on my RG4
to split the humbuckers

unfortunately one must remember this when changing knobs
if its in and you pull up on it to remove knob
you'll need another switch

buy two

love them
push once its up
push again its not

no pull
no pull for you


EDIT
oh and I got them from Mojotone

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

shoot yeah
thats what I did on my RG4
to split the humbuckers

unfortunately one must remember this when changing knobs
if its in and you pull up on it to remove knob
you'll need another switch

buy two

love them
push once its up
push again its not

no pull
no pull for you


EDIT
oh and I got them from Mojotone

My buddy did that to a push/push once too. It's a lesson some of us only need to learn once for sure!

 

[Demanic]

Re: Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

Thanks for the replies. My PRS SE custom has two splittable humbuckers. I want to replace the push/pull tone pot with a non push/pull. I would also like to not have the volume drop when I switch to single coil. Can that be done with a 5 way blade switch, one volume pot and one tone pot? I would also like to include a treble bleed. Does that make sense and if so who can make a complete quality drop in harness with those capabilities?

Why not use the push/pull to make the pickup change from series to parallel wiring with itself? That way you get a thinner, more trebly sound out of it when it's in parallel without the same volume drop and still no hum.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

^ parallel has the same volume drop as split.

 

[henryr]

Re: Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

This is all very new to me and i'm confused. On my 2013 PRS SE custom, if I have the 3 way blade in the center position and the push/pull pulled out, am I combining one coil from the neck pup and one coil from the bridge pup? Is that the same as running in parallel ,which is said, to reduce the drop in volume?

Thanks,
henryr

 

[henryr]

Re: Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

I was just told, by PRS, that with the 3 way blade in the center position and the push/pull tone pot pulled out, I would have the split neck and bridge pots in parallel, resulting in reduced volume drop. Does that make sense and are there any other benefits to a 5 way blade with a non- push/pull tone pot?

Thanks,
henryr

 

[Demanic]

Re: Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

^ parallel has the same volume drop as split.

Not from my experience.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

I was just told, by PRS, that with the 3 way blade in the center position and the push/pull tone pot pulled out, I would have the split neck and bridge pots in parallel, resulting in reduced volume drop. Does that make sense and are there any other benefits to a 5 way blade with a non- push/pull tone pot?

Thanks,
henryr

Yes, that makes sense. The push/pull must split both pickups, therefore if you are running both in the middle position of the three way, you would probably have both inside coils (or outside, I can't recall) running parallel together, thus sounding like a single large humbucker wired in parallel to itself. If you have two push/pulls, one for each pickup, wired for series/parallel for each pickup, you would have the option of running either of them in series/parallel with themselves, the parallel being used for a more single coil like sound, the series setting for the full humbucker, and with the middle toggle position for the pickups themselves, you could get combinations of each.

 

[henryr]

Re: Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

Slippery knob problem gone. I put the knob in a small lathe chuck and cut a channel, into and around the outer diameter, centered about 1/8”, below the top of the knob. The channel is about 3/32“ wide X 3/64“ deep. I put a 3/32“ thick X 13/16” inner diameter soft rubber O ring, which is a snug fit, in the channel. This leaves a little more than half, of the O ring’s thickness, sticking out of the knob and now it is very easy to pull up.

I was thinking about this mod after I posted it above. It struck me that I like having an easy to use push pull instead of a toggle, for coil splitting, plus a tone control. I think making changes is faster and easier with one control. Some may think having more knobs and switches is cool, but to me simpler is better. I am. however, considering a 5 way blade switch to allow coil splitting either in parallel or series.

The simpler is better train of thought made me think of an unrelated topic. Why do guitars have frets? Jaco Pastorius was fantastic on fretless electric bass. Violins, cellos and upright basses are fretless. Does anyone know of a fretless guitar or player?

 

[Artie]

Re: Slippery push pull knobs and ugrades

Unfortunately, outside of active circuits, you can't eliminate volume drop when splitting coils.

Actually, you can, but it's not a very elegant solution. You use a DPDT, or push-pull, to switch an L-pad into the circuit when in humbucker mode so that you're bringing the HB'er mode down to the same volume as the split mode.