Anyone use the blender pot mod in their Strats?

[tremoloman***]

Do any of you use the blender pot mod in your Stratocasters?

For those of you who don't know what I'm referring to, a blender is simply a control that allows you to mix the neck or bridge pickup into the signal with no additional hardware with any standard Stratocaster.

In the neck (5) position, it blends in the bridge pickup. In the bridge (1) position it blends in the neck pickup. You can add as much or as little as you want. I find this great for warming up the bridge. In positions (2) & (4), you have the option of turning on all 3 pickups and mixing the balance between each setting.

Your middle tone control becomes a "master" control which works in all 5 positions. I find this mod far better than the vintage wiring and gives you a greater variety of tones for basically the cost of time and effort.



Here's a great diagram explaining how to perform this simple mod. It literally takes only minutes and is 100% reversible.
http://electron.tailfeatherz.com/c21.html

I've done this to my "Marilyn" Strat and absolutely LOVE it! I'm planning on doing the same mod to the rest of my non-S1 equipped fleet.

-tremoloman

[Tone2TheBone]

I will tonight!!!!

[Tone2TheBone]

Trem - I've been doing some research on blender pots and I'm also considering trying one as a "no load" tone pot. From zero to "9" the pot acts like a normal tone pot with capacitor etc. Full on at 10 the pot is not in the circuit and is bypassed creating a no load situation on the pickups. This might sound good on the Strat when I might be wanting more treble for darker amps and it might work good on the Les Paul when I want the all out pickup to jack, Eddie Van Halen tone, on humbuckers. This depends on whether I like the blender circuit or not but it IS an interesting idea for other guitars maybe.

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

I run it on my 58 RI , very versatile mod , no negative impacts whatsoever .. heres a pic inside my 58, and yes thats a 3-way switch , anyway great mod ..

Attachment 494

[Robert****]

Thanks for that info Tremoloman, great post!

[kerc]

Awesome idea! I will do this on my Hamer after I get the pups from GFS...

[Tone2TheBone]

I run it on my 58 RI , very versatile mod , no negative impacts whatsoever .. heres a pic inside my 58, and yes thats a 3-way switch , anyway great mod ..

Attachment 494

I notice you're running the resistor in parallel on your treble bleed circuit, Duncan style. Did you try running it in series to compare? I've only run it in series and wondered if there is a difference or not.

[tremoloman***]

I notice you're running the resistor in parallel on your treble bleed circuit, Duncan style. Did you try running it in series to compare? I've only run it in series and wondered if there is a difference or not.

Depending on which way you decide to go, each work in a different way. The link I posed describes it better than I can, but I opted to go with the parallel method becuase:

• parallel adds the neck pickup blender to positions 1 & 2
• parallel adds the bridge pickup blender to positions 4 & 5
• parallel adds the new combination of both outer pickups in parallel
• parallel adds the new combination of all three pickups in parallel

I love the Telecaster-like tone this option offers. I also use the neck to warm up the bridge when it is too bright or distorted. It's a really cool mod IMHO. Next time I do a string change I am going to install a no-load pot so I don't have any bleed-through. It's very minimal, but I'm a perfectionist.

[Tone2TheBone]

Tremo - Oh I was asking about 6S9L's treble bleed circuit on his volume pot.

From what I told you earlier I hooked it up the way you're describing which is "parallel blender" on the diagram from your link. Question though.....my tone knob that "used to be" for the neck is NOW the master tone knob for all positions right? If so...then I think it would be cool to add another no-load pot at that location to do what I described above. This way I'd have both the blender circuit and a no-load bypass on the TONE. If I opted to get the no-load for the blender then I'd have the 2 NLs wired in.

[tremoloman***]

Question though.....my tone knob that "used to be" for the neck is NOW the master tone knob for all positions right? If so...then I think it would be cool to add another no-load pot at that location to do what I described above. This way I'd have both the blender circuit and a no-load bypass on the TONE. If I opted to get the no-load for the blender then I'd have the 2 NLs wired in.

Yes, the old neck tone becomes the master tone like the picture I posted above. Then the old middle pickup tone control becomes the blender. Adding a no-load tone control just assures you that you will completely terminate the citcuit by rolling it off. Using the stock tone control, I have a little bleed through but not enough to really affect my tone. I will install a no-load pot during my next strign change though.

Hope you like it!

[Tone2TheBone]

Well I like it and I don't like it. I like what it does....just not to my only STRAT! If I had 2 Strats I'd probably do one with the blender. I really need my neck only Strat sound. I need the bell man! Using a no-load might work but I might save the mod for this Strat when I get a Japanese Fender or a JV. In the mean time thank God I have my Muddy Tele! TWANGCRUNCH!

[duhvoodooman***]

If I had 2 Strats I'd probably do one with the blender. I really need my neck only Strat sound. I need the bell man!

That's right where my head is at, too. This looks like a very cool mod to try out, but I could never part with that pure Strat neck tone--the BELL, indeed! But if/when I add a 2nd Strat to my arsenal, I'll definitely be giving this a try....

[ted s]

Task #1.. get a Strat.
Task #2. do this mod.

[tremoloman***]

With a no-load pot, you should retain the regular Strat tone and give yourself additional tone options. If you lost the regular tone of a Strat, it wouldn't be worth doing! The mod doesn't alter the tone of my guitar with I turn the blender off. Don't lose faith just yet my friend... give the no-load pot a try.

[duhvoodooman***]

Well, how about some sound clips, so we can hear what these mods do firsthand?

[Tone2TheBone]

I was planning on doing some, then I immediately soldered everything back the way it was.