simple SS + Blend pot wiring.

[chriscrob]

I have a tele and I basically want to replace the 5 position rotary switch I could never get to work with a simple blend pot that will do exactly what the three way selector does on a stock tele.

All bridge in the back... all neck in the front...all both at the center detent.

I've got a blend pot coming in the mail. I'm just sort of inept at this wiring thing without a diagram to follow. Has anybody seen a diagram for such a blend pot?

[ChrisK]

Blend and Pan Pots, know the difference

Stewmac Blend PAN Pot Wiring

If you bought it from virtually any guitar parts supplier, you bought a PAN pot (used in mixers for panning a signal from one channel, to both, to the other, at equal total loudness), which will be disappointing in that it will not BLEND two pickups together (one it full-on while the other is gradually blended out).

Even a PAN pot that is 250K will have 40K Ohms of resistance from each pickup to the common output node when in the center detent position. One could use a 25K PAN pot (where the resistance will be about 4K, but this is still too much and the blended out extreme positions will only have 25K for less than meaningful results.

In order to realize the true interaction between two pickups, they have to be connected with none to little resistance. In order to eliminate the interaction between two pickups, they have to be isolated with at least 100K resistance


Why couldn't you get the rotary switch to work? (we do have some experience with them here........)

This pertains to the 4P6T rotary from StewMac, but the 4P5T is most similar.

[chriscrob]

I bought it from ebay:
The description:
"One 500k mini electric gutiar control pot. Audio, for blend control from one source to second source - both full at the centre click"
It describes what I want but I guess we'll see when it gets here.

Thanks for the diagrams...donno how I overlooked that one when I was looking through those diagrams.

There isn't enough room to get the rotary in well. Its an incredibly tight squeeze...I could get it in but it developed a new problem every time I got it in. The most recent problem was a completely anemic sounding bridge pickup that I just couldn't get fixed.

[lpf3]

chriscrob .... ihave a 3-way rotary pot that i took out of a 2-pup squier strat that has a control cavity like a tele & should fit in your guitar. its not a blend pot but has 3 clicks ... neck both or bridge & worked fine before i changed it out. you are welcome to it if youre interested PM me with your adress & ill mail it to you

[ChrisK]

It's a switch. (Squier '51, eh?)


Let us know how the blend pan whatever potentiometer works.

[lpf3]

Sounds like you know more about this guitar than I do . Ive never seen one before , but it plays & feels great . Its about to undergo major cosmetic surgery , judging by the quality of some of the parts[ like the nut & frisbee ....er pickguard ] I dont think Im hurting a future vintage collectors piece. Anyway more on that later & Ill be sure to post before & after pics.

[lpf3]

P.S. if I am hurting a future vintage collectors piece , now would be a good time to yell STOP !

[newey]

lpf-

no yelling "STOP!" around here!

Since one can never know what might, under some unknown future circumstances, become collectable, worrying about that would lead one to never modify any guitar.

Talk about gear to any guitar guy over about age 40 and you'll hear a story along the lines of "IF ONLY I hadn't sold/modded/trashed my vintage (insert name here) . . . "

Yeah, and if my aunt had wheels, she'd be a Buick.

[lpf3]

Well, newey, youre right. Ill never see 40 again ......and I still miss that old Silvertone archtop....just wait till Im done with this strat.......

[chriscrob]

You were right (why don't I read stuff before I buy...).

The volume is actually lowest at the center detent. Ghai.

I've still got some serious problems with my bridge pickup. I think I'm just going to buy a new one. Its considerably quieter (not just a little bit) than my neck pickup...even when its panned all the way to the bridge.

I have a rio grande tall boy in the neck and a fender texmex in the bridge...the guy i bought them from (i trust him) said they mixed well. I think it was either damaged coming out of his guitar or going into mine.

[ChrisK]

The volume is actually lowest at the center detent.

You may have it wired GeFooey, however,

I have a Rio Grande tall boy in the neck and a fender Tex-Mex in the bridge...the guy i bought them from (i trust him) said they mixed well.

Sure, just like sex between Walter Mitty and an orangutan.

The Tall Boy is a rude(r) Texas dude and the Tex-Mex are fairly polite. Raise the bridge and lower the neck.

It may be broken, measure the resistance of both alone and post the results (20K Ohm scale).

Yo, here's a clue to an easy way.

Just read the first few sentences. Plug a cord into the output jack on the guitar, select each pickup separately, set the volume to full-up, and measure the resistance at the other (un)plug(ged) end of the cord.

[ChrisK]

lpf3,

The Squier '51?

P.S. if I am hurting a future vintage collectors piece , now would be a good time to yell STOP !

Uh, yeah, sure, ok. ;D

Hmmm............these were street at $149, and when no one bought them, they were $99 for aboot 4 months until they finally sold all of them.

However, these are BASSWOOD bodies for a middy mahogany- like sound.

Be careful, basswood is soft and will explode in a soft, gentle way if abused (it's a real soft wood).

I don't know if these are much, but a lot of folk are trying to make them into something..........(it's an inexpensive platform to try mods on].

[chriscrob]

Bridge = 131.6
Center = 126.5
Neck = 6.60

The one bad thing about autoranging is it doesn't let me know what units I'm dealing in which i guess is fine for this application but annoying for general learning. (I finally broke down and bought a multimeter...i've been meaning to pick one up for a long time)

What does this mean?

[ChrisK]

On an auto-ranging meter, there is usually a range/range lock button that will keep the units consistent.

I can't tell what your numbers mean. 6.6 K Ohms is a good value for a neck pickup, probably.

Bridge = 131.6 K is just wrong if it's K Ohms.
Bridge = 13.16 K is probably too high for a Fender Tex-Mex.
It should probably be around 7 K Ohms. Reviews on harmonycentral indicate around 7K.


Center = 126.5 (?) seems to indicate that the bridge of 131.6 (?) is in parallel with 3,264.2 (?) of the same unknown range of units. This means nothing to me.

If the bridge pickup was open, I would expect that both the neck and middle selections would read the same.

Check the manual. Look for the units indicator on the LCD display.


Oh, wait a minute. You have the pan pot in there, don't you?

The above would apply to a guitar without one. I'll leave it in the post for those therewith.


Due to your indication that the volume is actually lowest at the center detent, I suspect that you have some additional wiring issues. I believe that you need to measure the resistance of each pickup directly, without the involvement of any other circuitry to determine their conditions, and then we can proceed with a wiring analysis.

[chriscrob]

I got 7.1 K on the neck but I couldn't get a reading on the bridge. It just sits there with no change whether the probes are touching the wire or not.

I left the pickups in the guitar...I just removed the wires from their solder and measured them that way.

[chriscrob]

Its been awhile...i ended up waiting until i could afford to order a Rio Grande Dirty Harry for the bridge. I wanted that p90 tone.

lpf3 (who is awesome) hooked me up with a squier 51 rotary switch.



I found this image and constructed a poor replica of how i THINK i'm supposed to use it.




I've already got the tone pot and volume pot wired stock tele style i think.. i put "to volume" on there but i dont remember if i go volume or tone pot first.

With the black lead from both the neck and the bridge going to the outside of the volume pot and from there to the ground on the output.


Would this work (if you can tell what i'm thinking)? Sorry, I'm a little ignorant about how this wiring stuff is supposed to work.

[chriscrob]

been thinking about it and 1, 2, 3 etc are already connected to pole A. duh.

so i would just come in to 1 and 2 etc and go out from the pole. if i went to the pole it would be always connected and negate any function for the switch.

wow. that was dumb.

[chriscrob]

I guess my rear pickup was screwed up. I used the three way that lpf3 so graciously sent me and bought a rio grand dirty harry for the bridge. it sounds good.

What sucks is that I may have had the ludicrous 5 way wired right in the first place. Dang it. Oh well. Its not worth the effort...I'm just happy to have my tele back in working condition.

Thanks!!

[lpf3]

Chris - Cool! I know that switch is happier with you than it would be sittin in my tool box. Be sure to raise it right , teach it some rude habits & play one for me ;D Glad yer tele works-lpf3