Eliminating the Volume Pot

[coreysan]

For a humbucker attached to a 500K pot for volume, what do I do to simply remove the pot itself and hardwire the pickup so that its always at 100%? I'm a real novice at wiring, but I wonder if there's a simple way to just chuck the pot altogether. For that matter, the tone pot too! Is there a schematic for hardwiring the pickup so that the guitar effectively has no variable pots at all?

Any reaction would be greatly appreciated!

[JohnH]

Hi coreysan - welcome to GN2.

Zen-like minimalism! we need you here, as you'll see when you read some of the stuff we toss around on GN2.

What you ask is very easy. Are there two such pickups or just the one?. Also, might I ask why do you wish to do this?

cheers

John

[coreysan]

Thanks for your response. I appreciate your help. I *never* use the volume pot on a guitar - I always attenuate through the amp! If I can get rid of the pot, I'd like to replace the pot with either a coil switch, or some other gizmo.

I have a typical 2-HB pickup setup on a Lucille Model guitar.

[CheshireCat]

coreysan said:

Thanks for your response. I appreciate your help. I *never* use the volume pot on a guitar - I always attenuate through the amp! If I can get rid of the pot, I'd like to replace the pot with either a coil switch, or some other gizmo.

I have a typical 2-HB pickup setup on a Lucille Model guitar.

Either a selector and an on/off toggle, or two on/off toggles (one for each pickup). Either way, you're gold.

[coreysan]

IS there any kind of a schematic I need, or is it as simple as taking the + and - off the pickup wires and soldering it to the posts of a on/off switch?

[JohnH]

OK, so therell be a 3 position switch to select the pickups. How many pots do you currently have, just one volume and one tone, or two of each?

Basically for what you suggest, the pickups hot wires will end up wired to the outer lugs of the switch, then the inner switch lug goes to the jack tip connection. The ground wires of the pickups will go to the lack ground (sleeve) connection.

[coreysan]

John,
Thanks so much. I think this confirms what I thought. Tell me if this is right: the variable pots are used for attenuation, but if you simply want the pickup 100% hot all the time, you simply remove the pot, and send the pickup lead wire right to the plugin jack,
with no resistance at all. did I get that right?

If I do that, do I need a tone pot, or will this hardwiring produce the net effect of the tone pot also being at 100%?

Again, thanks so much for your "input," pun intended.

[UnklMickey]

hi coreysan,

John is the one of our best, on stuff like blenders etc.

but i think i can fill in for him on this one.


removing the tone pots and caps will be like running with them at 10+.

there is a tiny bit of treble cut even when they are at 10.

volume controls load the pickups slightly, so without a volume control, the sound will be a bit brighter.


remove the tone controls, easy.

just disconnect them.

remove volume controls, almost as easy.

take the wire from the left terminal^* of the volume pot, and the wire that goes to the center terminal of the volume pot and connect them together.

that will leave the selector in the circuit so you can still switch between bridge, both, or neck.


or did you want just one, or both hardwired to the jack, and defeat the selector too?



unk


EDIT:

^* looking at the rear of the pot, with the terminals pointing down.

[coreysan]

I appreciate your advice. I wish I knew what you know!
I'm hoping to hardwire both pickups on my guitar such that there will be no pots at all on the guitar, just empty holes. Can this be done?

[UnklMickey]

coreysan said:

.... I wish I knew what you know!...

thanks for the compliment.

but be careful what you wish for.....it's both a blessing, and a curse!



should be no problem eliminating the pots.

do you want to keep the 3-way switch? or just hard-wire the pickups to the output jack.

either can be done, which way do you want to do it?




unk

[coreysan]

I'l like to keep the 3-way switch, and that's all!

Coreysan

[UnklMickey]

okay then,

i forgot to ask if you had more than 1 volume, and more than 1 tone.


but, i'll describe what to do if you have only 1 volume and 1 tone.

if that is the case, you will have one wire coming from the selector switch, going to a lug on the volume control.

looking at the back of the volume control, with the lugs pointed down, it will be the lug on the left.

you will also have a wire on the center lug of the volume control going to the output jack.

disconnect those 2 wires from the volume control and connect them together.


next we need to figure out the grounding.

the grounds from the pickups might be connected to the frame of the 3-way switch.

they might be soldered to the cover of the volume or tone pot.

they might be wires, or the outer braid of a shielded cable.

the point is, we need to make sure that we have a connection from the ground of the pickups and the ground of the output jack.

you will probably be able to figure this out on your own.

but, the safest way to proceed, would be for you to post a picture of drawing of the wiring you have now.




and if you have more than 1 volume and/or more than 1 tone, that will be wired quite different from what i described.

so how many volumes and tones do you have?



unk

[RandomHero]

I can understand removing the tone pot, but the volume? I couldn't imagine that!

I realize this is an issue of personal opinion, but I find my drive channels on my amp become a -lot- more useful when I can attenuate the input signal and change the "flavor" of the gain. With a cranked metal-esque stack, I can find a pup combo on my guitar and roll that volume off to find anything from a bluesy grind, to classic tube warmth, all the way up to the full potential of blast-your-face-off distortion! =D

[mlrpa]

I have to agree with Random on this. Rolling down the volume, allows for more flavor from the amp!
If worried about tone loss as you roll the volume down, simply add a .001 cap between the 1st two legs on th vol pot.

[sumgai]

I have to agree with Random on this. Rolling down the volume, allows for more flavor from the amp!
If worried about tone loss as you roll the volume down, simply add a .001 cap between the 1st two legs on th vol pot.

Ah, but then you've just defeated the very purpose of minimalism - the idea is to eliminate any possible tone-robbing circuitry. I am also a fan of minimalism..... on the guitar. My current guitar has a volume pot, but only because it's there - it houses the S1 4PDT that came on the ax, so I just left it in place. The next time I change strings, though, I'm gonna lift out the scratchplate, and bypass the control. Afterall, I've go no less than three different volume pedals on the floor already!


sumgai