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Fewer Knobs The Better


oatmeal

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I am building a guitar from scratch. All I have left to do before a pre-finish build up is wire the electronics.

There are a few things that I am uncertain of, so I will give ya'll more info than you probably need.

First off, I'm looking for a 250k/250k concentric pot with a 3/4" bushing for tone and drive. That's my real issue, I can't find one anywhere.

Ok, any other suggestions on my parts or design would be appreciated.

I want versatile guitar, but not one that is confusing or gaudy with a whole bunch of switches. I cut a mahogany body for an S/S/H configuration. I have all SD pups: an alnico II for neck, a hot stack (humbucker) for mid, and a pearly gates for bridge. I think that I have decided to reverse the polarity (switch the hot and ground?) on the alnico II and move it to the middle position for simplicity of wiring to a five way switch (full hum canceling operation). I'm planning to use the 2nd configuration (H/S/H).

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Then I want a 500K push/pull volume pot to switch series/parallel for all the combinations (I don't know if that's possible), and the concentric pot for tone and a drive circuit that I have yet to decide on.

That's it, 1 switch, and 2 knobs. Clean.

Any help with the pot or any other advise (i.e.: push/pull s/p won't work, polarity issue, pup choices stink) would be awesome.

Thanks

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I don't know why they are so hard to find in those values. How about a 300k/300k dual concentric pot? It's close and with some additional resistors may work for your circuit.

~David

I've found a 250k/250k, but i need the 3/4" theaded bushing to get though the front. It's rear routed and I'm afraid to route it any thinner than 1/2", because in the freak chance it could get hit, the knobs may push through the body.

I've considered routing it thinner and then gluing a thin steel plate inside to reinforce it.

Weird, I know.

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I don't know why they are so hard to find in those values. How about a 300k/300k dual concentric pot? It's close and with some additional resistors may work for your circuit.

~David

I've found a 250k/250k, but i need the 3/4" theaded bushing to get though the front. It's rear routed and I'm afraid to route it any thinner than 1/2", because in the freak chance it could get hit, the knobs may push through the body.

I've considered routing it thinner and then gluing a thin steel plate inside to reinforce it.

Weird, I know.

It's a realistic fear, and TBH I hadn't thought of that really when I designed my double neck. Whatever, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

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I always leave the wood about 3/16" thick under the knobs and I've never had a problem. I'd say you're more likely to snap off your headstock than break through into the control cavity.

ok... Ya'll have have convinced me. I'll route it thinner.

So, does anyone have any coments or conformation on the rest of my wiring (revesing the neck pup and moving to the middle, series/parallel push/pull).

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If you're not doing inset knobs like on a prs, you'll want to route the cavity at a bit of an angle so the inside of it is parallel with the outside. It's not entirely necessary, but it will give you a more uniform thickness as well as make the bottom of the knobs parallel to the top of the guitar.

peace,

russ

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  • 4 weeks later...

Going back to Myka's comment with the spruce, I am building a semi-hollow with spruce top that is 3/16" and I have NO fear of break through. And Bennedetto's video says he gets his spruce tops to like 1/8" thick and they're fine (granted he doesn't have to worry about knobs... but still, just so you get an idea how powerful wood is... especially when you're considering how spruce isn't exactly the STRONGEST wood out there compared to some others you might be using as a top.)

Chris

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Then I want a 500K push/pull volume pot to switch series/parallel for all the combinations (I don't know if that's possible)

That isn't possible. You could do it for one of the humbuckers or you could split them both, but you can't do series/parallel mods with two pups and only one push/pull.

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