Bypassing the Tone Pots in a Strat

[sonicstun]

Hi all,

I have a doubt:

Is it possible to bypass completely the Tone Pots circuit just letting the sound signal travel from the pickups to the switch, volume control and jack directly?

Like this (the grey goes away):



I think it would improve the sound a little bit and as i don't use it anyway...

Do you think i have to change the volume pot value?

[gfxbss]

sonicstun

id like to start off by saying welcome to GutiarNuts2.

what is it about your sound that you dont like? bypassing the tone pots wont do much to change it.

you would only need to change the value of the volume pot if you are looking for a differents sound. depending on the sound, you can choose another value.

Tyler

[johan]

sonicstun said:

Hi all,

Like this (the grey goes away):

that's the way

sonicstun said:

I think it would improve the sound a little bit and as i don't use it anyway...

I'm affraid not, or maybe a hardly noticeable bit. Measure the resistance when the pots are fully open, if it's 0 Ohms, it won't make a difference.

sonicstun said:

Do you think i have to change the volume pot value?

no, don't think so

j

[sonicstun]

gfxbss said:

what is it about your sound that you dont like? bypassing the tone pots wont do much to change it.

you would only need to change the value of the volume pot if you are looking for a differents sound. depending on the sound, you can choose another value.

Thank you Tyler and Johan,


My only problem now with the sound is the noise but i'm doing the Quiet the Beast modification. I hope it removes the hum!

In relation to the Pots:

As i just don't use them i might as well remove them. In theory would gain a little volume because the pots even in the zero position have a small resistance (i and the wires themselves have a resistance, variable in lenght, volume and material. Don't know how much this will change the sound though...

Changing the volume pot changes the sound in what ways?

Will do the modifications and then check back to say if there were any changes.

[gfxbss]

sonicstun said:

In theory would gain a little volume because the pots even in the zero position have a small resistance

just to give you a heads up, the the pot is on zero then it is at full resistance. what you meant is that when volume is on full there is still a bit of resistance.

as far as the pots go,

i am going to assume it is a strat. meaning it probably has 250K pots in it. if you move to 500K pots, you should hear a slightly brigter sound.

250K- makes your axe sound a bit darker which is why they are used w/ single coils.

500K- a bit brighter sound, which is why they are used w/ humbuckers.

some people even go up to a 1M pot. which will produce an even brighter sound.

Tyler

[sumgai]

sonicstun,

First, to the steambath we call the GuitarNutz2 forum!

Next, I'll confirm what johan said, you've outlined the correct components to remove. But watch out, there's more to it than just doing the snip-and-clip routine. Take a gander at this topic:

Removal of pots

In that thread, note particularly the discussion on how this mod affects your final tone, and what do to about it.

HTH


sumgai