Left handed bass electronics

[BackDaddy]

hi guys, just found this forum and has been very handy was just wondering if anyone has any experience with left handed bass electronics, i was looking at trying to get a seymour duncan stc 3a preamp installed in my bass but apparently it can't be done in left handed... Are there any brands that support left handers worth looking at? i am after a 3 band eq and i have 4 potholes... i am able to get mec but it costs 3 times as much and i already have mec 2 way electronics in it

cheers

 

[Dan025]

if you dont mind me asking, why would it be different from rigt handed? are the pots mounted to a board or something?

 

[BackDaddy]

the knobs are reversed, eg.  counter clockwise to increase volume... plus they say the harnesses are wired to suit a right hand config... i guess i could get it to work using the pots in reverse, don't really want to do that tho

 

[Cagey]

If the pots are free (ie: not mounted to a PC board), then all you need to do is swap the wires from side to side on the pot. Leave the center lug alone. Although, if they're log (audio) taper pots, they'll work in the right direction but the response won't be right. All the control will seem to be at one end of the rotation, as if you'd put in a linear pot. I'd check on that before I committed to anything.

 

[BackDaddy]

surely there must be a company that is lefty friendly though.

 

[Cagey]

You would think. There have been lots of left-handed instruments made over the years - where do those parts come from? Or, have leftys just traditionally put up with goofy controls? I know with the electronics parts like pots the only way anybody makes those inexpensively enough to actually be able to sell them is by making them by the bajillion. Since only a small portion of the population is left-handed, and only a small percentage of those play electric instruments, the market for those parts is pretty tiny.

 

[BigBeard]

Guess what.......  My American Standard Strat ('92)  has regular right handed pots.  So when I turn it all the way up the number on the knob is 1 instead of 10.  Big deal, I have never even used the numbers on the knob.  In all the guitars I have built, I have never used 'lefty' pots.  I don't see the big deal about lefty pots,  and I am one of those lefty's that thinks the industry blatently discriminates against us.  I honestly don't think you'll notice a 'problem' using standard controls

 

[AutoBat]

http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/electrical_ctspots.htm
^^ the bottom left has CTS 250K & 500K left handed pots.

 

[BackDaddy]

cool, i guess i can embrace using reverse controls or buy a preamp that is not prewired and get the pots i need. cheers

 

[SkuttleFunk]

I build about 50% of my custom basses in a lefty configuration, many of them active ...

when looking at the preamp controls, you're good to go if the design utilizes linear taper pots - all you'll need to do is reverse the wiring so you can have controls rotating the proper direction. things start to get shady when the design utilizes an audio taper, and depending on your ear, the pot value, and the preamp you may or may not be able to get away with simply swapping the leads. in this latter case, if the controls just don't sound right to your ear you'll need to source the proper rated pot in a reverse audio taper configuration. this is easy for 250K and 500K pots, but it's more difficult to find other values consistently available (unless you're a electronics whiz and find pleasure digging thru the Mouser.com site)

I've done a couple lefty builds where the player preferred to have their controls 'backwards' simply because they'd become accustomed to using righty pot configurations all these years

all the best,

R

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Just for completeness sake: A-audio pot, B-linear pot, C-reverse Audio pot.  So a, "C250K " would be a reverse audio taper 250K pot.
Patrick

 

[BackDaddy]

cheers guys all sorted, the tone pots in the preamp are linear and i can use existing reverse audio taper pots for volume

 

[Dan025]

Just for completeness sake: A-audio pot, B-linear pot, C-reverse Audio pot.  So a, "C250K " would be a reverse audio taper 250K pot.
Patrick

thats what everyone says and that would make sense but this http://sound.westhost.com/pots.htm says otherwise, does anyone have any inside information? i would like to know whats true?

 

[Cagey]

Just for completeness sake: A-audio pot, B-linear pot, C-reverse Audio pot.  So a, "C250K " would be a reverse audio taper 250K pot.
Patrick

thats what everyone says and that would make sense but this http://sound.westhost.com/pots.htm says otherwise, does anyone have any inside information? i would like to know whats true?

It's all over the place. For instance, from a Bournes data sheet, they list

Standard Resistance Range
Linear Tapers (A, B, E, & H) .........................(B & E) 1 K ohms to 1 megohm ......................... (A & H) 100 ohms to 1 megohm
Audio Tapers (C, D, F, G, S, & T) .................(D,G,S, & T) 1 K ohms to 1 megohm ................. (C & F) 1 K ohms to 1 megohm

From Bitechnologies...

From Vishay...

I could keep going, but it should be clear from these examples that taper designations are far from "standard", and have more variations than most people are aware of. Of course, getting some of those parts wouldn't be easy - many of them are designed for very specific applications and/or manufacturers, so they don't show up in anybody's catalog or inventory.