Strat volume mod, a must do for $2

[LARRY L]

I own an American 2007 Strat and found a nice easy mod to keep the tone the same even when turned down to 1. Radio shack .001 uF cap 2 pack (small orange red) $1 100ohm .5watt resistor 5 for $1 Just solder them in parallel to the two main leads on the volume pot, pay no mind to the wires grounded on the pot. It is that simple!

 

You will get a clear crisp tone basically no change at any volume level. I now can use my vol knob. Why Fender does not do that stock is beyond me, for $3 I can do 4 Srats! I got the idea from my PRS guitar.

[Beyer160]

Some folks like the fact that you can "mellow" the tone by rolling back the volume, especially on a Strat where you don't have a tone control for each pickup. It sounds different than adjusting the tone, also.

 

I did this on my Tele, though.

[LARRY L]

With 2 tone knobs already, for me it is much more usable to have a volume only knob.

[WRGKMC]

That mod has been around forever, its called a trebble bleed mod. Some fenders had it and some didnt, depending on the guitar. Weather its good or not depends on alot of factors. If you get you gain from the amp you may like the fact that the guitar mellows out as you turn down to get a crunch sound as you turn down. Those who gibsons are quite familure with the mellowing effect and learn to use it to their benifit. They dial in their amp tone with knobs set to like 7 then when you turn up the knobs for lead you have a presence boost that cuth through the mix. you learn to use gin knobs to balance your tone that way.

 

I do like a trebble bleed on a tele, and some strats. I have used it on gibsons but, its really not my thing on those. I've also used a tone pot on a strat and used it to add a specific amoint of trebble bleed. Instead of using the resistor use a pot to dial in the amount you want. If you get real fancy you can also do a band pass wiring and pass the sound through a cap to remove bass. Wire both toa pot and get a TBX type tone blender. only tahes two caps and a spare pot.

[Alexbiscuit]

i use my volume knob as gain control basically

[LARRY L]

 

That mod has been around forever, its called a trebble bleed mod. Some fenders had it and some didnt, depending on the guitar. Weather its good or not depends on alot of factors. If you get you gain from the amp you may like the fact that the guitar mellows out as you turn down to get a crunch sound as you turn down. Those who gibsons are quite familure with the mellowing effect and learn to use it to their benifit. They dial in their amp tone with knobs set to like 7 then when you turn up the knobs for lead you have a presence boost that cuth through the mix. you learn to use gin knobs to balance your tone that way. I do like a trebble bleed on a tele, and some strats. I have used it on gibsons but, its really not my thing on those. I've also used a tone pot on a strat and used it to add a specific amoint of trebble bleed. Instead of using the resistor use a pot to dial in the amount you want. If you get real fancy you can also do a band pass wiring and pass the sound through a cap to remove bass. Wire both toa pot and get a TBX type tone blender. only tahes two caps and a spare pot.

 

 

I use a volume peddle and would just leave my volume knob cranked to get the full range of tone out of the pickup. I can see the benefit perhaps dialing in on 7. But for me, I cannot regain the clarity by EQ'g the amp if the pickup is not first sending the highs. I always get mud. I have a couple modded Deluxe Reverbs Reissues and they do have a nice clean highs.

[Task]

I put a treble bleed (treble bypass) on all my guitars. Can't stand mud when backing down the volume.

[wagdog]

It's a treble bleed.

 

And, it does, as I've learned, also modify the tone of your guitar with the vol on 10. I used to swear by using the treble bleed, but now I don't, as I've also grown to like the mellow tones of turning down the vol knob and bleeding off some treble at the same time.

[tiltsta]

I have this wired on all my strats and teles, but not on my humbucker guitars.

 

You want to really blow your mind and see something fender should have added to the strat decades ago, search for a CTS blender pot. I have this on all but one of my strats, and it makes for an incredibly more useful instrument. Best of all, the pot is under ten bucks.

[LARRY L]

 

It's a treble bleed. And, it does, as I've learned, also modify the tone of your guitar with the vol on 10. I used to swear by using the treble bleed, but now I don't, as I've also grown to like the mellow tones of turning down the vol knob and bleeding off some treble at the same time.

 

I had not noticed anything different, please explain what you heard on 10.

[LARRY L]

 

I have this wired on all my strats and teles, but not on my humbucker guitars. You want to really blow your mind and see something fender should have added to the strat decades ago, search for a CTS blender pot. I have this on all but one of my strats, and it makes for an incredibly more useful instrument. Best of all, the pot is under ten bucks.

 

 

So what does it do? It sounds interesting.

[WRGKMC]

With the volume on max the cap and resistor are shorted and have no effect on the tone. The only thing that might affect the tone/gain are the pot resistance to ground. The bleeder is on the hot legs and if anything, it helps conduct better. If you're in doubt simply connect them then disconnect it and wou wont hear any difference with volume full up.

 

You must beware of what you read. Theres more bullcrap out there spread around by idiots who have no degree in electronics nor any understanding of how and why things work.

[Invader.CC]

I use my Volume knob for tone control so although interesting for me it would severally limit what i use the volume knob for..I work the volume knob continuously when i'm playing for a mellower tone or cleaner tone is called for then crank it up for more crunch..

[mrbrown49]

Glad you like it but I'm not a fan either.

 

 

With the volume on max the cap and resistor are shorted and have no effect on the tone. The only thing that might affect the tone/gain are the pot resistance to ground. The bleeder is on the hot legs and if anything, it helps conduct better. If you're in doubt simply connect them then disconnect it and wou wont hear any difference with volume full up. You must beware of what you read. Theres more bullcrap out there spread around by idiots who have no degree in electronics nor any understanding of how and why things work.

 

 

That's actually why I don't like it. On 10 it sound normal, and the sound changes as soon as you start rolling it back. Sounds ok with gain, but I mostly play clean and the treble bump is quite noticable. The character can also change depending on the rest of the signal change. With one cable it'll sound fine, but start adding pedals and other cables and it's response can get wonky. Sure that happens to some extent with out a bleed, but it seems more noticable with the bleed installed.

[LARRY L]

 

With the volume on max the cap and resistor are shorted and have no effect on the tone. The only thing that might affect the tone/gain are the pot resistance to ground. The bleeder is on the hot legs and if anything, it helps conduct better. If you're in doubt simply connect them then disconnect it and wou wont hear any difference with volume full up. You must beware of what you read. Theres more bullcrap out there spread around by idiots who have no degree in electronics nor any understanding of how and why things work.

 

I was thinking the same thing that they would short out, why do people just like to confuse things or shoot just shoot down an idea with garbal.

[wagdog]

 

I was thinking the same thing that they would short out, why do people just like to confuse things or shoot just shoot down an idea with garbal.

 

 

Read this post: http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?2649184-Treble-bleed-mod-full-volume-tone-loss&p=40409363&viewfull=1#post40409363

 

You'll notice I'm quoted in there, saying the same thing you're saying now... and I don't say it any more.

[dabbler]

OR, swap out your cap for a 0.005 or 0.002mf and you will get more USABLE range out of your tone control (the changes will be more gradual, but even with the tone at 0 you will have a USABLE tone). It will help smooth out your volume knob AND it will make the volume have less effect on tone. THIS is what strat mfrs should be putting in at the factory!

 

I also wire the first tone knob to the neck and also the middle pup and the second tone knob to the bridge pup on all my strat style guitars.

[ashasha]

 

Sorry, but this is incorrect. A volume pot does create a shunt resistance across the pickup, but the value is fixed at whatever the pot resistance is - it is not dependent on the position of the pot . A volume pot functions by creating a voltage divider ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltage_divider ). As others have stated, when the pot is in the wide open position, there is essentially a dead short between the wiper and top contact of the pot . This completely bypasses the treble bleed all together. It cannot effect the sound. This is true for any treble bleed circuit I've ever seen - I suppose there could be mutant variations out there. And yes, I am an electrical engineer (UofL Speed Scientific School 1983).

Now he's talking about the treble bleed mostly, BUT it means that because I frickin' forgot about the third leg being shorted to the back of the pot (which is ground) that the signal does in fact pass through the pot's resistive element. The pickup sees the full load of the pot and it's fixed. The wiper is basically tapping the signal from different points of the resistive element....

 

This just blew my mind because I've been arguing with people who claim to have heard sound improvements with new pots because I overlooked that damn leg making it a voltage divider all this time.

 

I don't care if I'm wrong, it happens, but I hate giving wrong information out to others. That pisses me off to no end.

 

So it's late and I'm tired, but with that little tidbit of information that was probably not seen by many people after GomezAdams1 posted it was missed until you posted the link here. I'll look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow, but I'm not feeling good about what I thought was correct all this time.

 

But of course it's still just resistance; there shouldn't be a lot of reactance of any type in a pot of any grade so it's probably not as dramatic as I'm making it out to be...but I still had my electrical theory wrong.