Where To Purchase Blend Pots?

[j. pierce]

I ordered four blend pots the other day from Stew Mac. They showed up, and none of them are blend pots - they're dual audio taper pots, like a stereo volume control. (With a center detent, however.)

I called Stew Mac on the phone, they're going to send me new ones and a slip to mail back the bad ones free of charge. Took a while to explain to the phone jockey exactly what the problem was (I'm not the most eloquent fellow when explaining electrical concepts) but they were all very nice to me and were more than glad to try and make good on this. They assure me that they'll check the new ones before they send them out.

Thing is, this isn't the first time this has happened to me ordering blend pots from them. And I've stumbled across a post on the Fender forum from a fellow who had the same conundrum.

I've nothing against Stew Mac, they're customer service is great, in general I have no problems with them, (other than the cost of shipping, but I've mailed enough things to know those expenses are going up and it isn't their fault.) But just from a general hassle point of view, I'd like to order blend pots from another source next time I need some; but searching, I haven't found blend/balance pots anywhere in values that are usuable for passive guitar pickups - does anyone know another source? I'm probably missing something obvious.

Thanks!

[thegarehanman]

Um....stewmac's site says that their blend pot is a dual audio taper pot. You realize at the center detent, neither signal is bled off at all, right? I'm not seeing how this is not a blend pot. You wire one like you would a normal volume pot with one signal, then you wire the other pot backwards with the other signal you wish to blend...or am I missing something?

peace,

russ

[j. pierce]

Well, not exactly. (And I've compared this to a known "proper" blend pot I ordered quite some time back from Stew Mac and have in another guitar)

If you look at Stew Mac's page for the blend pot, you'll also notice this:

Our unique audio-taper pots controls the signal mix from two pickups or sources, panning from one source to another, with both signals full at the center detent

(emphasis mine)

The way it works, is that at the center position of the knob, you have the full resistance to ground (like a volume knob on 10) for both pickups - so neither one is attenuated. As you turn the control one direction from left, it attenuates one pickup. As you turn it the other way, it attenuates the other. (Reducing the resistance from the p'ups output to ground, like turning down a volume control.) On each half of the pot, the resistance should stay the same for half the turn, then start changing. If I wire up what I have, the middle position gets me both pickups at half volume. Which turns out to be much quieter than either pickup at full volume on it's own. Also, because the taper isn't reversed on one section of the pot, the blend there is doesn't quite work out right. (One of the volume attenuations is backwards, so the range of movement gets all bunched up at one end)

Last time I had this problem, I didn't really understand what was going on, other than I was getting reduced volume at most settings. Joe Arthur explained it me very well in this thread. After that hassle, I made a habit of checking these pots before I did anything. I was hoping that Stew Mac had the correct part (which I have received from them before) this time.