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What happens if I desolder one tone pot on my Stratocaster?


niceguy

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OK, it's a HSS strat. I'd like to remove one tone pot and move the volume pot to the next hole, so that there's only two controls: volume and one tone. This way, the volume knob is out of the way.

 

I never adjust my tone knobs (flame on!)---they're always full on 10. So, I'm fine if there's tone control only for one pickup, instead of two tone controls. I know there's a wiring mod where I can have one tone knob affect all the positions, but I don't care enough to bother.

 

Can I simply desolder the wires connected to the second tone control and remove the pot? Will the tone remain on 10, so to speak, if the tone pot isn't there?

 

:confused:

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OK, it's a HSS strat. I'd like to remove one tone pot and move the volume pot to the next hole, so that there's only two controls: volume and one tone. This way, the volume knob is out of the way.


I never adjust my tone knobs (flame on!)---they're always full on 10. So, I'm fine if there's tone control only for one pickup, instead of two tone controls. I know there's a wiring mod where I can have one tone knob affect all the positions, but I don't care enough to bother.


Can I simply desolder the wires connected, say, the second tone control and remove the pot? Will the tone remain on 10, so to speak, if the tone pot isn't there?


:confused:

 

Nothing that will cause tone loss will happen as far as I know.

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Can I simply desolder the wires connected to the second tone control and remove the pot? Will the tone remain on 10, so to speak, if the tone pot isn't there?


:confused:

 

It'll be more like it was on 12 or 13; the PU should be noticeably brighter. That's part of why the bridge PU sounds a little ice-picky on a stock Strat.

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It'll be more like it was on 12 or 13; the PU should be noticeably brighter. That's part of why the bridge PU sounds a little ice-picky on a stock Strat.

 

Damn, that's what I was worried about... Looks like I'll have to mod it for one master tone :mad:

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i did a master vol and master tone on one of my project strats and it got the cumbersome first pot out of the way of my strumming hand which was a good thing. i did add a mini toggle for series/split/parallel control of the humbucker, as well as a push/pull pot for phase switching of the middle pickup. the guitar has many combinations of useable tones with this modification.

 

redstrat002w.jpg

 

yes, depending on your wiring (post a pic will ya?), you can likely disengage the tone pot without any issues. and if the new found brightness is too much, there are ways to simulate the load of a pot to take off a little edge from the pickup, no biggie.

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Here's a follow-up question:




Can I use the pots that are already in my Strat? Or, are the values different when using just one tone knob?

 

 

are you asking if one of the stock tone pots will work as a master tone? yes, absolutely. you may wish to tweak your cap(s) values since it may affect the degree of high attenuation differently for different pickups.

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i did a master vol and master tone on one of my project strats and it got the cumbersome first pot out of the way of my strumming hand which was a good thing. i did add a mini toggle for series/split/parallel control of the humbucker, as well as a push/pull pot for phase switching of the middle pickup. the guitar has many combinations of useable tones with this modification.


redstrat002w.jpg

yes, depending on your wiring (post a pic will ya?), you can likely disengage the tone pot without any issues. and if the new found brightness is too much, there are ways to simulate the load of a pot to take off a little edge from the pickup, no biggie.

 

Why does it have a Carvin Floyd?

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i did a master vol and master tone on one of my project strats and it got the cumbersome first pot out of the way of my strumming hand which was a good thing. i did add a mini toggle for series/split/parallel control of the humbucker, as well as a push/pull pot for phase switching of the middle pickup. the guitar has many combinations of useable tones with this modification.


redstrat002w.jpg

yes, depending on your wiring (post a pic will ya?), you can likely disengage the tone pot without any issues. and if the new found brightness is too much, there are ways to simulate the load of a pot to take off a little edge from the pickup, no biggie.

Excellent---I'll post a pic tomorrow, as it's quite late now.

 

How would I simulate a potentiometer load? Perhaps I can simply solder a resistor of the same value in place of the pot?

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Here's a follow-up question:


I want to use this wiring diagram.


Can I use the pots that are already in my Strat? Or, are the values different when using just one tone knob?

 

You don't even have to do that much of a change.

 

To wire you remaining Tone as a master, just solder a jumper between the lugs on the Tone-side of the switch.

 

Takes this...(ignore the "Vol Kit")

standard_strat.gif

 

And mod it to this...

modded_strat.jpg

 

The big limiting factor to being able to move the pots each one one position is going to be wire length.

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Why does it have a Carvin Floyd?

 

because i bought the licensed Floyd from Carvin...but here is where it gets wierd...this licensed Floyd was made by Kahler...that's right. it has that stamped on the other side.

You just don't see many Carvin Kahler Floyds out there, y'know. :confused:

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because i bought the licensed Floyd from Carvin...but here is where it gets wierd...this licensed Floyd was made by Kahler...that's right. it has that stamped on the other side.

You just don't see many Carvin Kahler Floyds out there, y'know.
:confused:

 

No I dont, I didnt even knew the ripped them off.

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Is there a way to replace a tone pot with a resistor or something? That way, the pot can be removed without tone change, right?

 

Yes, you can. If the original pot was 250k ohms (the usual for passive single coils), you can run a 250k ohm resistor and whatever capacitor was originally used, in series, to ground. You said you usually leave your tone knobs in one position anyway, so taking one out of the loop and substituting a resistor of the same value (or less if you usually had the knob lower than 10) serves the same purpose.

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