Damn knob....product idea

[KaiserSoze]

So I have a strat volume speed knob that I keep accidentally hitting and lowering the volume.  My controls are strat setup with volume/tone, but the bottom hole is a toggle switch. 

Anyway, I wondered if anyone has seen some kind of guard that would be attached to the post and be a half-circle around the volume knob so that I could adjust it with my pinkie from the bottom (volume swell-style) but would cover the top so I don't keep accidentally moving the damn thing.

Or could be the next Stew-mac product idea I guess.

 

[mayfly]

Sounds like you should make one.  Lexan is your friend.

 

[Cagey]

You could fab one up out of a strip of aluminum or steel flat stock so it's sort of a U shape with a hole or slot cut in one side. Loosen the nut that holds the pot in place, slide the thing under it, and you'd be able to get at two sides of the knob but not the other two. Sorta like the square metal piece of StewMac's knob & bushing puller...

I would suggest just buying one of those, but it's one of those things StewMac thinks is worth a lot more than it is. They want $45 for it.

 

[erogenousjones17]

I think that's a great idea. Quick, get a prototype together before someone steals it and makes millions!

But does StewMac seriously want $45 for that thing? Couldn't you make one for, like, twenty cents?

 

[Cagey]

I exaggerated a little bit. Actually, they only want $44.95. Then $9 shipping.

 

[erogenousjones17]

That's far more reasonable. :tard:

 

[KaiserSoze]

I guess I'll dig out the tin-snips and a beer can.  Chances are I have something in the garage that I can rig.  I really should make sure its a good tone wood though so I dont drastically change the way it sounds......Would ebony make it too bright or should I stick with mahogany??

 

[erogenousjones17]

Why not go the exotic route? Canary? Korina? Pressboard? :laughing7:

 

[stubhead]

I still maintain I could beat an army of Stew-Mackies armed with their damn-fool gadget in a "Knob-Off Death Match" armed with my trusty.... two butter knives. Speed, execution, style, versatility, strength, the butter knives have it whipped in every single possible way. If you're girly about your pwecious finish and you can't find butter knives with smooth spines, try... two strips of goddam cardboard! Do you have any idea of how many butter knives you could buy at the Salvation Army for $44.95?!? Do you know what CARDBOARD is... holy smackerals, are they just pouring "stupid" right in the drinking water these days.... :icon_scratch:

 

[mullyman]

I still maintain I could beat an army of Stew-Mackies armed with their damn-fool gadget in a "Knob-Off Death Match" armed with my trusty.... two butter knives. Speed, execution, style, versatility, strength, the butter knives have it whipped in every single possible way. If you're girly about your pwecious finish and you can't find butter knives with smooth spines, try... two strips of goddam cardboard! Do you have any idea of how many butter knives you could buy at the Salvation Army for $44.95?!? Do you know what CARDBOARD is... holy smackerals, are they just pouring "stupid" right in the drinking water these days.... :icon_scratch:

I got that beat....and I'm sure I'm not the first because I picked it up somewhere else. I take a thin wash cloth, slide it under the knob, pull the corners together, twist, and pull. Takes the knob right off with ZERO chance of scratching anything.
MULLY

 

[mullyman]

As for the original post in this thread, remove your switch in that bottom hole and open another hole for it. Move everything down one. Don't put black tape over the Volume pot hole though, that's my signature move.  :headbang:
MULLY

 

[swarfrat]

I think that's a great idea. Quick, get a prototype together before someone steals it and makes millions!

But does StewMac seriously want $45 for that thing? Couldn't you make one for, like, twenty cents?

Yes, but that's twenty cents for making the thingamajig, and $44.80 for knowing how to market it.

 

[line6man]

Personally, what I would do is run to the hardware store and pick up an appropriately sized copper fitting cap like this:

And then drill a hole in the center, cut through the diameter of the circle with a hacksaw, from the open side to the capped side, and then make another cut on the cap size, perpendicular to the first cut, to remove the unwanted material. (If that makes sense.) Then you can file all the sawmarks and polish it up nicely to be plated or painted to match your hardware.

 

[stubhead]

or use a smaller knob.... :dontknow:



The placement of the first strat knob is one of about twelve things "Leo got wrong" on the Stratocaster.* Which is why no one playing one has ever amounted to much. I had a real one once that wore the skin off the back of my little finger when I was in my Morsey speed-picking phase. In retrospect, I probably could have done something, but I was young... enthusiastic... stoned to the gills on crappy pot...

*(Unless you're Jeff Beck, who wraps his little finger around the tone knob [#2 position], his ring finger around the volume knob [hooked to the bridge PU], his middle finger under the [specially-deformed] whammy bar and his index finger on the tip of the bar. But Leo Fender didn't know Jeff Beck was coming - he's just a freak of nature, like Cindy Crawford's cheekbones, Mrs. Pitt's suckerfish lips or Britney Spear's mind. No one can predict these things.)

 

[mullyman]

The placement of the first strat knob is one of about twelve things "Leo got wrong" on the Stratocaster.* Which is why no one playing one has ever amounted to much.

I think...

Jimi Hendrix
Yngwie J Malmsteen
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Eric Clapton
Dave Murray
David Gilmour
Robert Cray
Richie Blackmore
John Mayer
Mark Knopfler

and a whole slew of others would have something to say about that.
MULLY

 

[bagman67]

With stubby, I think it's a safe bet that he's joking - much of what looks like flamebait is often insight couched in sarcasm, irony, or surrealism with our friend the Head of Stub.

 

[swarfrat]

What's even more ironic is Mully coming to the defense of Leo's volume knob placement, even in a backhanded way.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

:doh:

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Yes.  Take him sarcastically serious or you risk harm to yourself.  Along those lines, once you incorporate lesser fingers into volume technique while picking, you find all other guitars have the volume knob in the wrong place.  You'll be turning Tele control plates around in no time.  And I like Line6man's solution the best so far.

 

[stubhead]